2005 Brazilian Grand Prix

  2005 Brazilian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 17 of 19 in the 2005 Formula One season
Date	September 25, 2005
Official name	XXXIV Grande Prêmio do Brasil
Location	Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo, Brazil
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.309 km (2.677 mi)
Distance	71 laps, 305.939 km (190.067 mi)
Weather	Cloudy, dry
Pole position
Driver	Fernando Alonso	Renault
Time	1:11.988
Fastest lap
Driver	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:12.268 on lap 29
Podium
First	Juan Pablo Montoya	McLaren-Mercedes
Second	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes
Third	Fernando Alonso	Renault

The 2005 Brazilian Grand Prix (formally the XXXIV Grande Prêmio do Brasil) was a Formula One motor race held on at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil on 25 September 2005. The race, contested over 71 laps, was the fifteenth round of the 2005 Formula One season. The race was won by McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya, who took the final race victory of his career, ahead of his team-mate, Kimi Räikkönen, who finished second. Renault driver Fernando Alonso became the Drivers' Champion for the first time after he finished the race in third place. Only he and Räikkönen had entered the race within mathematical contention of winning the title, and Alonso's podium ensured that he did with two rounds remaining. Alonso also qualified in pole position for the race, but the fastest lap went to Räikkönen.

Summary

Qualifying

As Takuma Sato was subject to a ten-place grid penalty given for the accident in the 2005 Belgian Grand Prix where he crashed into Michael Schumacher, Sato did not attempt a qualifying lap. Jarno Trulli also had a ten-place penalty, in his case the result of an engine change before qualifying. The Italian started from 18th on the grid.

Race

Juan Pablo Montoya won the race ahead of teammate Kimi Räikkönen; McLaren's first 1-2 finish since the 2000 Austrian Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso finished 3rd and thus became World Champion for the first time, at the time the youngest ever champion at 24 years and 59 days. Jacques Villeneuve was forced to start from pit lane as a penalty for infringement of parc ferme regulations. After getting involved in an accident at the start of the race, Mark Webber was able to rejoin, over 20 laps behind the leaders and do some laps, sufficient to position himself fourth in the official qualifying order for the subsequent Grand Prix at Suzuka. Due to a driveshaft failure, this was Tiago Monteiro's only retirement of the 2005 season.

Classification

Commentators have judged Renault's qualifying performance as evidence that their "conservative phase" was over. Renault's Pat Symonds had said that the team was not aiming to settle for a simple podium finish, rather they were aiming to win. BBC's Maurice Hamilton said that "the thought that Fernando Alonso might cruise to the Championship.....was dispelled in the most convincing fashion." McLaren CEO Ron Dennis remained confident of his team's race strategy given Juan Pablo Montoya's strong second position, despite a major error in the qualifying lap of Kimi Räikkönen.

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Lap	Gap
1	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:11.988	—
2	10	Juan Pablo Montoya	McLaren-Mercedes	1:12.145	+0.157
3	6	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	1:12.558	+0.570
4	3	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	1:12.696	+0.708
5	9	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:12.781	+0.793
6	15	Christian Klien	Red Bull-Cosworth	1:12.889	+0.901
7	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:12.976	+0.988
8	16	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:13.041	+1.053
9	12	Felipe Massa	Sauber-Petronas	1:13.151	+1.163
10	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	1:13.183	+1.195
11	17	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	1:13.285	+1.297
12	11	Jacques Villeneuve	Sauber-Petronas	1:13.372	+1.384
13	18	Tiago Monteiro	Jordan-Toyota	1:13.387	+1.399
14	7	Mark Webber	Williams-BMW	1:13.538	+1.550
15	8	Antônio Pizzonia	Williams-BMW	1:13.581	+1.593
16	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Cosworth	1:13.844	+1.856
17	19	Narain Karthikeyan	Jordan-Toyota	1:14.520	+2.532
18	21	Christijan Albers	Minardi-Cosworth	1:14.763	+2.775
19	4	Takuma Sato	BAR-Honda	No time
20	20	Robert Doornbos	Minardi-Cosworth	No time	Spin

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	10	Juan Pablo Montoya	McLaren-Mercedes	71	1:29:20.574	2	10
2	9	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	71	+2.527	5	8
3	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	71	+24.840	1	6
4	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	71	+35.668	7	5
5	6	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	71	+40.218	3	4
6	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	71	+1:09.173	9	3
7	3	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	70	+1 Lap	4	2
8	17	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	70	+1 Lap	10	1
9	15	Christian Klien	Red Bull-Cosworth	70	+1 Lap	6
10	4	Takuma Sato	BAR-Honda	70	+1 Lap	19
11	12	Felipe Massa	Sauber-Petronas	70	+1 Lap	8
12	11	Jacques Villeneuve	Sauber-Petronas	70	+1 Lap	20
13	16	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	69	Engine	17
14	21	Christijan Albers	Minardi-Cosworth	69	+2 Laps	16
15	19	Narain Karthikeyan	Jordan-Toyota	68	+3 Laps	15
Ret	18	Tiago Monteiro	Jordan-Toyota	55	Driveshaft	11
NC	7	Mark Webber	Williams-BMW	45	+26 Laps	12
Ret	20	Robert Doornbos	Minardi-Cosworth	34	Engine	18
Ret	8	Antônio Pizzonia	Williams-BMW	0	Collision	13
Ret	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Cosworth	0	Collision	14

Standings after the race

• Bold text indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Fernando Alonso 117 2 Kimi Räikkönen 94 3= Juan Pablo Montoya 60 3= Michael Schumacher 60 5 Giancarlo Fisichella 45

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Mercedes 164 2 Renault 162 3 Ferrari 98 4 Toyota 81 5 Williams-BMW 59

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Previous race: 2005 Belgian Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 2005 season	Next race: 2005 Japanese Grand Prix
Previous race: 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix	Brazilian Grand Prix	Next race: 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 2005 Brazilian Grand Prix. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.