| 2005 French Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 10 of 19 in the2005 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 |  Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | |||
| Time | 1:16.423 on lap 25 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Renault | ||||
| Second | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| Third | Ferrari | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2005 French Grand Prix (officially theFormula 1 Grand Prix de France 2005) was aFormula One motor race held on 3 July 2005 at theCircuit de Nevers Magny-Cours nearMagny-Cours inFrance. It was the tenth race of the2005 FIA Formula One World Championship. The 70-lap race was won frompole position byFernando Alonso, driving aRenault, with Drivers' Championship rivalKimi Räikkönen finishing second in aMcLaren-Mercedes andMichael Schumacher third in aFerrari.
The French Grand Prix was the tenth race of the 2005 season and after the controversialUnited 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.
At the start of the weekend,McLaren andRenault appeared to be the fastest teams, topping the time sheets for both practice sessions on Friday. However,Kimi Räikkönen suffered anengine failure, using a new-specMercedesV10, 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.
The qualifying session ran in markedly cool conditions than expected but theMichelin tyres still had the advantage over theBridgestones.[3]Fernando Alonso scored his second consecutivepole position, withToyota'sJarno Trulli alongside him on the front row. Räikkönen's penalty dropped him from third to 13th, thus promotingMichael Schumacher in theFerrari to third. TheSaubers ofFelipe Massa andJacques Villeneuve were 10th and 11th respectively (subsequently promoted to 9th and 10th), whileWilliams, who had struggled all weekend despite several newaerodynamic updates to the car, were 13th and 14th. TheJordans andMinardis filled the back two rows. The session was incredibly close as the top nine drivers were covered by less than a second.[3]
The start of the race saw Alonso speed away quickly, leaving Trulli to fend off Michael Schumacher through the first few corners, whileRubens Barrichello leap-froggedTakuma Sato into fourth place. Räikkönen was able to pass bothMark Webber andRalf 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'sChristian 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 withJuan 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 hisMinardi 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 ahydraulics 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 asNick 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 toDavid 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-placedJenson 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 scoreBAR's first points of the year, with Trulli, Fisichella, Ralf Schumacher and Villeneuve completing the top eight.[4]
The bottom six teams in the2004 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 forOlivier Panis.
| Constructor | Nat | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| McLaren-Mercedes |  | Pedro de la Rosa |
| Sauber-Petronas | none | |
| Red Bull-Cosworth |  | Vitantonio Liuzzi |
| Toyota |  | Olivier Panis |
| Jordan-Toyota |  | Robert Doornbos |
| Minardi-Cosworth | none |
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Lap | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:14.412 | — | 1 |
| 2 | 16 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 1:14.521 | +0.109 | 2 |
| 3 | 9 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:14.559 | +0.147 | 131 |
| 4 | 1 |  Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 1:14.572 | +0.160 | 3 |
| 5 | 4 |  Takuma Sato | BAR-Honda | 1:14.655 | +0.243 | 4 |
| 6 | 2 |  Rubens Barrichello | Ferrari | 1:14.832 | +0.420 | 5 |
| 7 | 6 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Renault | 1:14.887 | +0.475 | 6 |
| 8 | 3 |  Jenson Button | BAR-Honda | 1:15.051 | +0.639 | 7 |
| 9 | 10 |  Juan Pablo Montoya | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:15.406 | +0.994 | 8 |
| 10 | 12 | Felipe Massa | Sauber-Petronas | 1:15.566 | +1.154 | 9 |
| 11 | 11 |  Jacques Villeneuve | Sauber-Petronas | 1:15.699 | +1.287 | 10 |
| 12 | 17 | Ralf Schumacher | Toyota | 1:15.771 | +1.359 | 11 |
| 13 | 7 |  Mark Webber | Williams-BMW | 1:15.885 | +1.473 | 12 |
| 14 | 8 | Nick Heidfeld | Williams-BMW | 1:16.207 | +1.795 | 14 |
| 15 | 14 | David Coulthard | Red Bull-Cosworth | 1:16.434 | +2.022 | 15 |
| 16 | 15 |  Christian Klien | Red Bull-Cosworth | 1:16.547 | +2.135 | 16 |
| 17 | 19 |  Narain Karthikeyan | Jordan-Toyota | 1:17.857 | +3.445 | 17 |
| 18 | 20 | Patrick Friesacher | Minardi-Cosworth | 1:17.960 | +3.548 | 18 |
| 19 | 18 |  Tiago Monteiro | Jordan-Toyota | 1:18.047 | +3.635 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 |  Christijan Albers | Minardi-Cosworth | 1:18.335 | +3.923 | 20 |
Source:[5] | ||||||
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Tyre | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | M | 70 | 1:31:22.232 | 1 | 10 |
| 2 | 9 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren-Mercedes | M | 70 | + 11.805 | 13 | 8 |
| 3 | 1 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | B | 70 | + 1:21.914 | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 3 | Jenson Button | BAR-Honda | M | 69 | + 1 lap | 7 | 5 |
| 5 | 16 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | M | 69 | + 1 lap | 2 | 4 |
| 6 | 6 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Renault | M | 69 | + 1 lap | 6 | 3 |
| 7 | 17 | Ralf Schumacher | Toyota | M | 69 | + 1 lap | 11 | 2 |
| 8 | 11 | Jacques Villeneuve | Sauber-Petronas | M | 69 | + 1 lap | 10 | 1 |
| 9 | 2 | Rubens Barrichello | Ferrari | B | 69 | + 1 lap | 5 | |
| 10 | 14 | David Coulthard | Red Bull-Cosworth | M | 69 | + 1 lap | 15 | |
| 11 | 4 | Takuma Sato | BAR-Honda | M | 69 | + 1 lap | 4 | |
| 12 | 7 | Mark Webber | Williams-BMW | M | 68 | + 2 laps | 12 | |
| 13 | 18 | Tiago Monteiro | Jordan-Toyota | B | 67 | + 3 laps | 19 | |
| 14 | 8 | Nick Heidfeld | Williams-BMW | M | 66 | + 4 laps | 14 | |
| 15 | 19 | Narain Karthikeyan | Jordan-Toyota | B | 66 | + 4 laps | 17 | |
| Ret | 10 | Juan Pablo Montoya | McLaren-Mercedes | M | 46 | Engine | 8 | |
| Ret | 21 | Christijan Albers | Minardi-Cosworth | B | 37 | Puncture | 20 | |
| Ret | 20 | Patrick Friesacher | Minardi-Cosworth | B | 33 | Puncture | 18 | |
| Ret | 12 | Felipe Massa | Sauber-Petronas | M | 30 | Hydraulics | 9 | |
| Ret | 15 | Christian Klien | Red Bull-Cosworth | M | 1 | Fuel pressure | 16 | |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Previous race: 2005 United States Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2005 season | Next race: 2005 British Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2004 French Grand Prix | French Grand Prix | Next race: 2006 French Grand Prix |
46°51′51″N3°09′49″E / 46.86417°N 3.16361°E /46.86417; 3.16361
