2005 Chinese Grand Prix

2005 Chinese Grand Prix
Race 19 of 19 in the 2005 Formula One World Championship ←  Previous race Next race  →
Race details
Date	16 October 2005
Official name	2005 Formula 1 Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix
Location	Shanghai International Circuit Shanghai, China
Course	Permanent Racing Facility
Course length	5.451 km (3.387 miles)
Distance	56 laps, 305.066 km (189.559 miles)
Weather	Sunny
Attendance	270,000 (Weekend) [1]
Pole position
Driver	Fernando Alonso	Renault
Time	1.34.080
Fastest lap
Driver	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1.33.242 on lap 56
Podium
First	Fernando Alonso	Renault
Second	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes
Third	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota
Lap leaders

The 2005 Chinese Grand Prix (officially the 2005 Formula 1 Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix) ^[2] was the nineteenth and final Formula One motor race of the 2005 Formula One season which took place on 16 October 2005 at the Shanghai International Circuit. This was the second Chinese Grand Prix to be held since the event's 2004 inception.

The race was won by the new World Champion, Renault's Fernando Alonso. McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen was four seconds behind in second position, a reflection of their season long duel for the championship. Toyota driver Ralf Schumacher was third. Renault won the Constructors' Championship at this race.

This was the final race for Antônio Pizzonia and the BAR, Minardi and Jordan teams, although all three teams continued into 2006 under different names (Honda, Toro Rosso and Midland respectively). This was also the last win for a car equipped with a 6-speed gearbox and with a V10 engine.

Friday drivers

The bottom 6 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.

Constructor	No	Driver
McLaren-Mercedes	35	Pedro de la Rosa
Sauber-Petronas		-
Red Bull-Cosworth	37	Vitantonio Liuzzi
Toyota	38	Ricardo Zonta
Jordan-Toyota	39	Nicolas Kiesa
Minardi-Cosworth		-

Report

Background

After the Japanese Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso led the drivers' standings with 19 points ahead of Kimi Räikkönen and 61 points ahead of Michael Schumacher. Renault led the constructors' championship by 2 points ahead of McLaren and 76 points ahead of Ferrari. This was the final race with Jim Rosenthal as ITV anchor in the United Kingdom. For the 2006 F1 season, Steve Rider returned to his position as anchor after losing his job when ITV got the rights to broadcast for 1997. On BBC Radio 5 Live, this was Ben Edwards’s final race as radio commentator. Starting from 2006, David Croft would gain the commentary position alongside Maurice Hamilton. Edwards would later return for the 2012 F1 season replacing Martin Brundle on BBC TV commentary.

Qualifying

Alonso took pole ahead of his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella. Raikkonen finished third ahead of Jenson Button and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Race

During warmup, as the cars ran from the pits to line up on the grid, a slow-moving Michael Schumacher pulled left into the path of Christijan Albers who was at speed. The cars collided causing considerable damage to each, earning Schumacher a reprimand from the stewards after the race. ^[3] Both drivers changed to their teams' spare cars and started the race from the pitlane, along with Narain Karthikeyan. Alonso dominated the race, taking a lights-to-flag victory, capping a best-ever season for Renault which included victories in both titles. McLaren's bid for the constructors' championship effectively ended on lap 5, when Montoya's engine failed, ending his race, having also sustained damage from running over a loose drain cover. ^[4]

Renault's number two driver Giancarlo Fisichella's chances of making the podium ended when he received a drive-through penalty for obstructive driving in the pits during the second safety car period. He ended the race less than a second behind Ralf Schumacher. Red Bull's Christian Klien had a career-best drive to take fifth position with Felipe Massa, Mark Webber and Jenson Button completing the point-scoring finishers. Räikkönen recorded the race's fastest lap, a record-equalling tenth for the season.

Classification

Qualifying

Qualifying took place on October 15.

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Lap	Gap	Grid
1	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:34.080	—	1
2	6	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	1:34.401	+0.321	2
3	9	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:34.488	+0.408	3
4	3	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	1:34.801	+0.721	4
5	10	Juan Pablo Montoya	McLaren-Mercedes	1:35.188	+1.108	5
6	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:35.301	+1.221	6
7	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Cosworth	1:35.428	+1.348	7
8	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	1:35.610	+1.534	8
9	17	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	1:35.723	+1.645	9
10	7	Mark Webber	Williams-BMW	1:35.739	+1.659	10
11	12	Felipe Massa	Sauber-Petronas	1:35.898	+1.818	11
12	16	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:36.044	+1.964	12
13	8	Antônio Pizzonia	Williams-BMW	1:36.445	+2.365	13
14	15	Christian Klien	Red Bull-Cosworth	1:36.472	+2.392	14
15	19	Narain Karthikeyan	Jordan-Toyota	1:36.707	+2.627	15
16	11	Jacques Villeneuve	Sauber-Petronas	1:36.788	+2.708	16
17	4	Takuma Sato	BAR-Honda	1:37.083	+3.003	17
18	21	Christijan Albers	Minardi-Cosworth	1:39.105	+5.025	18
19	18	Tiago Monteiro	Jordan-Toyota	1:39.233	+5.153	19
20	20	Robert Doornbos	Minardi-Cosworth	1:39.460	+5.380	20
Source: [5]

Race

The race was won by Fernando Alonso in the Renault.

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	M	56	1:39:53.618	1	10
2	9	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	M	56	+4.015	3	8
3	17	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	M	56	+25.376	9	6
4	6	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	M	56	+26.114	2	5
5	15	Christian Klien	Red Bull-Cosworth	M	56	+31.839	14	4
6	12	Felipe Massa	Sauber-Petronas	M	56	+36.400	11	3
7	7	Mark Webber	Williams-BMW	M	56	+36.842	10	2
8	3	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	M	56	+41.249	4	1
9	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Cosworth	M	56	+44.247	7
10	11	Jacques Villeneuve	Sauber-Petronas	M	56	+59.977	16
11	18	Tiago Monteiro	Jordan-Toyota	B	56	+1:24.648	19
12	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	B	56	+1:32.812	8
13	8	Antônio Pizzonia	Williams-BMW	M	55	Tyre	13
14	20	Robert Doornbos	Minardi-Cosworth	B	55	Out of fuel	20
15	16	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	M	55	+1 lap	12
16	21	Christijan Albers	Minardi-Cosworth	B	51	Wheel nut	PL 1
Ret	4	Takuma Sato	BAR-Honda	M	34	Gearbox	17
Ret	19	Narain Karthikeyan	Jordan-Toyota	B	28	Accident	PL 1
Ret	10	Juan Pablo Montoya	McLaren-Mercedes	M	24	Engine	5
Ret	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	B	22	Spun off	PL 1
Sources: [2] [6]

Notes

• ^1 – Michael Schumacher, Narain Karthikeyan and Christijan Albers started from the pit lane.

Championship standings after the race

• Bold text and an asterisk indicates the World Champions.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Fernando Alonso* 133 2 Kimi Räikkönen 112 3 Michael Schumacher 62 4 Juan Pablo Montoya 60 5 Giancarlo Fisichella 58 Source: [7]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Renault* 191 2 McLaren-Mercedes 182 3 Ferrari 100 4 Toyota 88 5 Williams-BMW 66 Source: [7]

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

References

1. "Shanghai F1: A glass half full or half empty?". usa.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
2. "2005 FORMULA 1 Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix - Race". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
3. Salisbury, Matt (19 October 2005). "Albers: Schumacher admitted error". Crash. Crash Media Group. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
4. "Montoya: Drain broke whole side of car off!". Crash. 2005-10-16. Retrieved 2022-10-16.
5. "2005 FORMULA 1 Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix - Qualifying". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 5 December 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
6. "2005 Chinese Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 16 October 2005. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
7. "China 2005 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 14 March 2019.

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