2005 French Grand Prix
Race 10 of 19 in the 2005 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 3 July 2005
Official name Formula 1 Grand Prix de France 2005[1]
Location Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours
Magny-Cours, France
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.411[2] km (2.741 miles)
Distance 70 laps, 308.586[2] km (191.746 miles)
Weather Sunny, Air: 32 °C (90 °F), Track 53 °C (127 °F)
Pole position
Driver
Renault
Time 1:14.412
Fastest lap
Driver Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes
Time 1:16.423 on lap 25
Podium
First
Renault
Second
McLaren-Mercedes
Third
Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 2005 French Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Grand Prix de France 2005) was a Formula One motor race held on 3 July 2005 at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours near Magny-Cours in France. It was the tenth race of the 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship. The 70-lap race was won from pole position by Fernando Alonso, driving a Renault, with Drivers' Championship rival Kimi Räikkönen finishing second in a McLaren-Mercedes and Michael Schumacher third in a Ferrari.

Report

Background

The French Grand Prix was the tenth race of the 2005 season and after the controversial United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis two weeks previously, Formula One returned to Europe for the busiest month in its 56-year history, with Magny-Cours being the first of four races to be held in the five weekends of July.

Practice

At the start of the weekend, McLaren and Renault appeared to be the fastest teams, topping the time sheets for both practice sessions on Friday. However, Kimi Räikkönen suffered an engine failure, using a new-spec Mercedes V10, and was forced to drop ten grid positions as a result. Renault set the two fastest times in Saturday practice 1 by over one second, but only nine cars ran in the session. Giancarlo Fisichella was quickest in the final practice session before qualifying, with Räikkönen was close behind.

Qualifying

The qualifying session ran in markedly cool conditions than expected but the Michelin tyres still had the advantage over the Bridgestones.[3] Fernando Alonso scored his second consecutive pole position, with Toyota's Jarno Trulli alongside him on the front row. Räikkönen's penalty dropped him from third to 13th, thus promoting Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari to third. The Saubers of Felipe Massa and Jacques Villeneuve were 10th and 11th respectively (subsequently promoted to 9th and 10th), while Williams, who had struggled all weekend despite several new aerodynamic updates to the car, were 13th and 14th. The Jordans and Minardis filled the back two rows. The session was incredibly close as the top nine drivers were covered by less than a second.[3]

Race

The start of the race saw Alonso speed away quickly, leaving Trulli to fend off Michael Schumacher through the first few corners, while Rubens Barrichello leap-frogged Takuma Sato into fourth place. Räikkönen was able to pass both Mark Webber and Ralf Schumacher to move into 11th position by the end of the first lap. By the second lap, Alonso had extended his lead to nearly three seconds, while Räikkönen moved up another position to tenth by passing Villeneuve. Red Bull's Christian Klien became the first retirement of the race on lap 2 due to a lack of fuel pressure. Alonso continued pulling away from the pack setting consecutive fastest laps.

Barrichello was the first of the front-runners to stop; from fourth position. The following lap both Trulli and Michael Schumacher pitted allowing Schumacher to emerge ahead having been stuck behind Trulli's Toyota since the beginning. Alonso finally pitted on lap 20 while leading by nearly 30 seconds allowing him to rejoin without losing a position. The pitstop sequence allowed the two long-running McLarens into 2nd and 3rd positions with Juan Pablo Montoya ahead of Räikkönen. Both McLaren drivers continued their first stints before Montoya pitted on lap 25 rejoining ahead of Michael Schumacher to take third. Räikkönen stayed out for three more laps and finally pitted on lap 28. Those laps did make the difference and he came out ahead of Montoya.

Patrick Friesacher became the second retirement when he stopped on lap 34. On lap 37, Christijan Albers crashed his Minardi heavily after spinning in turn 2. Alonso stopped for the second time on lap 41 rejoining with a 14-second margin to the second-placed Räikkönen. Meanwhile, Montoya began to struggle and ultimately retired from third position on lap 46 with a hydraulics failure. This allowed Michael Schumacher to move into the final podium position, which he held after his final pitstop on lap 51. Williams' dismal day continued as Nick Heidfeld pitted complaining that his car was impossible to drive. With all but the top four cars lapped, Sato ran wide briefly into the gravel at Estoril corner, which cost him 10th position to David Coulthard. Fisichella stalled as he attempted to leave his pit box on lap 58. Renault mechanics had to restart his engine costing him two valuable positions.

With eight laps remaining, Alonso lapped fourth-placed Jenson Button, leaving only the top three drivers on the lead lap. Alonso crossed the finish line to take his fifth and Renault's sixth win of the season. Räikkönen finished 11.8 seconds behind Alonso, ensuring that the gap in the championship standings increased by only two points, while Michael Schumacher picked up a timely podium for Ferrari, allowing him to stay in the championship hunt as well. Button came in fourth to score BAR's first points of the year, with Trulli, Fisichella, Ralf Schumacher and Villeneuve completing the top eight.[4]

Friday drivers

The bottom six teams in the 2004 Constructors' Championship were entitled to run a third car in free practice on Friday. These drivers drove on Friday but did not compete in qualifying or the race.

This was the last appearance for Olivier Panis.

ConstructorNatDriver
McLaren-Mercedes Spain Pedro de la Rosa
Sauber-Petronas none
Red Bull-Cosworth Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi
Toyota France Olivier Panis
Jordan-Toyota Monaco Robert Doornbos
Minardi-Cosworth none

Classification

Qualifying

PosNoDriverConstructorLapGapGrid
1 5 Spain Fernando Alonso Renault 1:14.412 — 1
2 16 Italy Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:14.521 +0.109 2
3 9 Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:14.559 +0.147 131
4 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:14.572 +0.160 3
5 4 Japan Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:14.655 +0.243 4
6 2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:14.832 +0.420 5
7 6 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:14.887 +0.475 6
8 3 United Kingdom Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:15.051 +0.639 7
9 10 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.406 +0.994 8
10 12 Brazil Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:15.566 +1.154 9
11 11 Canada Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas 1:15.699 +1.287 10
12 17 Germany Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:15.771 +1.359 11
13 7 Australia Mark Webber Williams-BMW 1:15.885 +1.473 12
14 8 Germany Nick Heidfeld Williams-BMW 1:16.207 +1.795 14
15 14 United Kingdom David Coulthard Red Bull-Cosworth 1:16.434 +2.022 15
16 15 Austria Christian Klien Red Bull-Cosworth 1:16.547 +2.135 16
17 19 India Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:17.857 +3.445 17
18 20 Austria Patrick Friesacher Minardi-Cosworth 1:17.960 +3.548 18
19 18 Portugal Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:18.047 +3.635 19
20 21 Netherlands Christijan Albers Minardi-Cosworth 1:18.335 +3.923 20
Source:[5]
Notes
  • ^1 – Kimi Räikkönen received a 10 position grid penalty for an engine change on Friday.

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5 Spain Fernando Alonso Renault M 70 1:31:22.232 1 10
2 9 Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes M 70 + 11.805 13 8
3 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari B 70 + 1:21.914 3 6
4 3 United Kingdom Jenson Button BAR-Honda M 69 + 1 lap 7 5
5 16 Italy Jarno Trulli Toyota M 69 + 1 lap 2 4
6 6 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Renault M 69 + 1 lap 6 3
7 17 Germany Ralf Schumacher Toyota M 69 + 1 lap 11 2
8 11 Canada Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas M 69 + 1 lap 10 1
9 2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari B 69 + 1 lap 5
10 14 United Kingdom David Coulthard Red Bull-Cosworth M 69 + 1 lap 15
11 4 Japan Takuma Sato BAR-Honda M 69 + 1 lap 4
12 7 Australia Mark Webber Williams-BMW M 68 + 2 laps 12
13 18 Portugal Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota B 67 + 3 laps 19
14 8 Germany Nick Heidfeld Williams-BMW M 66 + 4 laps 14
15 19 India Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota B 66 + 4 laps 17
Ret 10 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes M 46 Engine 8
Ret 21 Netherlands Christijan Albers Minardi-Cosworth B 37 Puncture 20
Ret 20 Austria Patrick Friesacher Minardi-Cosworth B 33 Puncture 18
Ret 12 Brazil Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas M 30 Hydraulics 9
Ret 15 Austria Christian Klien Red Bull-Cosworth M 1 Fuel pressure 16
Sources:[6][7]

Championship standings after the race

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

See also

References

  1. ↑ "French". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 2005-08-26. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Grand Prix de France". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original on 2007-06-07. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  3. 1 2 "Alonso on pole in France". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. 2 July 2005. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014.
  4. ↑ "Alonso makes it five in France". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. 3 July 2005. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014.
  5. ↑ "FORMULA 1 Grand Prix de France 2005 - Qualifying". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 24 August 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  6. ↑ "FORMULA 1 Grand Prix de France 2005 - Race". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  7. ↑ "2005 French Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 3 July 2005. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  8. 1 2 "France 2005 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 17 March 2019.

46°51′51″N 3°09′49″E / 46.86417°N 3.16361°E / 46.86417; 3.16361

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