2005 French Grand Prix
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The 2005 French Grand Prix was a Formula One race, held on July 3, 2005, at Magny-Cours.
Report
After the debacle that was the 2005 United States Grand Prix, Formula One moved back to Europe for the busiest month in its 56-year history, with the French Grand Prix being the first of four races to be held in the five weekends of July. At the start of the weekend, McLaren and Renault appeared to be the fastest, topping the time sheets for both practice sessions on Friday. However, Kimi Räikkönen suffered an engine failure, using a new-spec Mercedes V10, and would be forced to lose 10 grid positions as a result. Renault scored the two fastest times in Saturday practice 1 by over 1 second, but only 9 cars ran in the session. Giancarlo Fisichella was quickest in the final practice session before qualifying, but Räikkönen was close behind.Qualifying ran almost in the same order as the grid for the previous race, as 14 cars pulled out before the first lap. The Minardis and Jordans ran uncharacteristically late in the session, but were unable to improve on the bottom 4 positions. Williams, who had struggled all weekend despite several new aerodynamic updates to the car, were 13th and 14th, while Sauber scored their best positions of the year in 10th and 11th. Fernando Alonso scored pole position, ahead of Toyota's Jarno Trulli, while Räikkönen scored 3rd, which would become 13th after his penalty. The top 9 drivers in qualifying were covered by less than one second.
The start of the race saw Alonso get away from the line very quickly, leaving Trulli to fend off Michael Schumacher through the first few corners, while Rubens Barrichello leap-frogged Takuma Sato into 4th 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 3 seconds, while Räikkönen moved up another position to 10th by passing Jacques Villeneuve. Red Bull Racing's Christian Klien became the first retirement of the race, the team citing a sudden lack of fuel pressure in the engine. Alonso continued pulling away from the pack, setting consecutive fastest laps to extend his lead over Trulli to 7 seconds after just 5 laps. Trulli, clearly holding Michael Schumacher up, was lapping around 1.5 seconds slower than Alonso, but Schumacher was unable to find a way past for several laps, allowing Alonso to increase his lead to 19 seconds before the first drivers began to take their first pitstops.
Minardi driver Patrick Friesacher was the first to pit, on lap 13, followed by Sato, Felipe Massa, Ralf Schumacher and Tiago Monteiro on lap 15, then Narain Karthikeyan and Christijan Albers on lap 16. On lap 17, Rubens Barrichello was the first of the front-runners to stop, from 4th position. The following lap, both Trulli and Michael Schumacher pitted, giving Schumacher his first chance to get ahead of the Italian. Schumacher appeared to take on very little fuel, while Trulli took on more than expected, allowing Schumacher ahead as they exited the pits. Nick Heidfeld, struggling in 13th position also made his first pitstop. Alonso finally pitted on lap 20, leading by nearly 30 seconds, allowing him to rejoin without losing a position. The pitstop sequence allowed the two long-running McLaren drivers into 2nd and 3rd positions, with Juan Pablo Montoya ahead of Räikkönen. On lap 21, David Coulthard made his pitstop, rejoining alongside, and nearly colliding with Heidfeld, who he had been battling with all afternoon. Heidfeld retained his position. Meanwhile, Sato managed to outbrake Barrichello at the Adelaide hairpin, taking 6th.
Both McLaren drivers continued their first stint, as Räikkönen set consecutive fastest laps on laps 24 and 25, before Montoya took his pitstop, rejoining ahead of Michael Schumacher to take 3rd. Räikkönen continued to put in very quick laps in an attempt to leap-frog Montoya, cutting the gap to Alonso to 9.2 seconds. Räikkönen finally pitted on lap 28, highlighting his incredible qualifying performance, taking 3rd despite having significantly more fuel than those ahead of and behind him. Räikkönen's quick laps paid off, allowing him to retain his 2nd position over Montoya. Sato attempted another move at the hairpin, this time on Trulli, but was unsuccessful, losing several positions as he outbraked himself and ran wide. On lap 30, Alonso had extended his lead to 30 seconds, which would easily allow him an extra pitstop without losing track position.
Michael Schumacher was again one of the first front-runners to pit, refuelling on lap 34 for his second stop. Friesacher became the second retirement, entering the gravel trap having apparently suffered a puncture to his Bridgestone tyre. Lap 38 saw Heidfeld take his second stop for the race, but he was still struggling outside the top 10. Barrichello pitted on lap 40, temporarily dropping back from 6th to 10th position. On the same lap, Christijan Albers flew into the gravel after braking for the hairpin, apparently having suffered the same fate as his teammate, a damaged rear tyre which ended his race. Alonso, still with a big lead, took his second stop on lap 41, rejoining with a 14 second margin to second-placed Räikkönen. Meanwhile something was obviously wrong with Montoya's car as he slowed and began lapping 2 seconds off the pace. He retired from 3rd position on lap 46, with the car's hydraulics system failing. 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, with Heidfeld pitting in consecutive laps, complaining that his car was impossible to drive. The team inspected the car for possible suspension damage, but found none, later saying the problem was caused by the car's faulty differential system. With all but the top 4 cars lapped, Sato unfortunately ran over some gravel in the Estoril corner, forcing him off the circuit, and costing him 10th position to David Coulthard. Lap 55 saw Räikkönen take his second and final stop for the race, leaving him in 2nd position, around 33 seconds behind Alonso. Alonso pitted for his final refuel on lap 58, easily rejoining ahead of Räikkönen. Fisichella gained ground on Michael Schumacher, but he required another pitstop, which he took on lap 58. Fisichella stalled as he attempted to leave his pit box, forcing the Renault mechanics to restart his engine, and possibly costing him two valuable positions. Heidfeld pitted for the sixth time on the same lap, causing him to fall even further behind.
With 8 laps remaining, Alonso remarkably lapped 4th-placed Jenson Button, leaving only the top three drivers on the lead lap. Alonso crawled over the finish line on the final lap to take his fifth, and Renault's 6th win of the season. Räikkönen ensured the gap in the championship standings only widened by 2 points by finishing 2nd, while Michael Schumacher picked up a timely Ferrari podium, allowing him too to stay in the championship hunt. Button came in 4th to score BAR's first points of the year, followed by Trulli, Fisichella, Ralf Schumacher and Villeneuve in the pointscoring positions. The result left Alonso still with a commanding 24 point championship lead, with 69 points to Räikkönen's 45, while Michael Schumacher stays close behind on 40. Renault also leads the constructors championship on 89 points, with McLaren in second on 71, just 2 points ahead of Ferrari on 69.
Classification
Qualifying
Race
Notes
- Pole position: Fernando Alonso 1:14.412
- † Kimi Räikkönen received a 10 position grid penalty for an engine change on Friday.
- Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen 1:16.423
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