2005 San Marino Grand Prix

2005 San Marino Grand Prix
Previous←	2005 Bahrain Grand Prix
Round	4 of 2005
Next→	2005 Spanish Grand Prix
Race Details
Date	24 April, 2005
Race Number	735
Official Name	Formula 1 Gran Premio Foster's di San Marino 2005
Location	Autodromo Enzo I Dino Ferrari Imola, Italy
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.933 km (3.065 mi)
Distance	62 laps, 305.846 km (190.044 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes
Time	2:42.880
Fastest Lap
Driver	Michael Schumacher Ferrari
Time	1:21.858 on lap 48
Podium
First	Fernando Alonso
Second	Michael Schumacher
Third	Alexander Wurz
Lap Leaders

The 2005 San Marino Grand Prix, officially known as the Formula 1 Gran Premio Foster's di San Marino 2005, was the fourth race of the 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship, which took place at the Autodromo Enzo I Dino Ferrari on 24 April 2005. The race, which was the 25th San Marino Grand Prix to be staged, would see Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher duel for victory in the closing stages.

Qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix would once again see the pecking order revised, as Kimi Räikkönen emerged with pole position ahead of Alonso. Jenson Button was next ahead of Mark Webber, while Schumacher would start down in thirteenth.

The start of the race would see Räikkönen's McLaren-Mercedes instantly leap into the lead, swatting away Alonso's small lunge into turn two. Behind, Schumacher made next to no ground with an okay start, holding onto his thirteenth place grid position as the field largely got away in grid order.

Räikkönen went on to dominate the opening stages of the race establishing a fair lead over Alonso to suggest that he was on a very light fuel load. Alonso himself, meanwhile, was easing clear of Button's BAR-Honda, while Schumacher began to move up the field after some early retirements.

Indeed, Giancarlo Fisichella was the first significant driver to retire for Renault, before a driveshaft failure dumped Räikkönen out of contention. That handed the lead to Alonso on lap nine, with the Spaniard now in total control with a comfortable lead over Button.

Into the first pit-window and Schumacher had found himself stuck in a train of cars behind Jarno Trulli, and would only make ground when others stopped ahead of him. Yet, once the Italian racer did pit Schumacher, now the only driver stuck in the queue, was able to deliver two quick laps to jump everyone else in the battle, emerging in in fourth behind Alexander Wurz.

Out front, meanwhile, Alonso would briefly lose the lead to Button during their first stops, but would regain his comfortable margin when the Brit pitted. However, the second stint would be all about Schumacher's pace, with the German ace reeling in Button's BAR, prompting Alonso to make an early second stop to cover.

Schumacher duly caught and passed Button two laps before the Brit stopped, and hence led the race for three laps before making his final stop. The #1 Ferrari duly rejoined the race in second with twelve laps to go, and quickly set about demolishing what remained of Alonso's lead.

The final eight laps of the race would have the tifosi on their feet, with Schumacher's scarlet Ferrari weaving around in Alonso's mirrors in hopes of forcing a move. His best opportunities came at Tosa in the closing stages, as well as a couple of lunges at Acqua Minerale, although the #5 Renault would remain stubbornly ahead.

Indeed, after one more lunge at Variante Alta on the final lap the race was run, with Alonso fending off the scarlet Ferrari to secure his third win in a row. Behind, Button would finish a distant third only to be disqualified for having an underweight car, meaning Wurz completed the podium. Jacques Villeneuve, Trulli, Nick Heidfeld, Webber and debutante Vitantonio Liuzzi claimed the remaining points.

After the race BAR appealed their double disqualification, citing a fuel system anomaly, and received a date for an FIA tribunal on 5 May. However, the tribunal used BAR's defence to hand the team a two race ban for a "highly regrettable negligence and lack of transparency", as using fuel as ballast was against F1's rules.

Background

Two wins and a second place for Fernando Alonso in the opening three rounds had left the Spaniard atop the Championship as the European season approached, leaving Bahrain with 26 points. That translated into a ten point advantage over second placed Jarno Trulli, with the Italian racer six ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella in third. Behind, Ralf Schumacher and David Coulthard completed the top five, level on nine, with fourteen drivers on the score board.

In the Constructors Championship Renault continued their early-season break away at the head of the pack, departing Sakhir on 36 points and a nine point advantage. Toyota had remained their closest challengers, while McLaren-Mercedes had moved into third, and just managed to stay within a race weekend's worth of points of the early leaders. Behind, Williams-BMW moved into fourth ahead of Red Bull-Cosworth, while Ferrari slipped to sixth.

Entry list

The full entry list for the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix is outlined below:

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
1	Michael Schumacher	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F2005	Ferrari	055 3.0 V10	B
2	Rubens Barrichello	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F2005	Ferrari	055 3.0 V10	B
3	Jenson Button	Lucky Strike BAR Honda	BAR	007	Honda	RA005E 3.0 V10	M
4	Takuma Sato	Lucky Strike BAR Honda	BAR	007	Honda	RA005E 3.0 V10	M
5	Fernando Alonso	Mild Seven Renault F1 Team	Renault	R25	Renault	RS25 3.0 V10	M
6	Giancarlo Fisichella	Mild Seven Renault F1 Team	Renault	R25	Renault	RS25 3.0 V10	M
7	Mark Webber	BMW Williams F1 Team	Williams	FW27	BMW	P84-5 3.0 V10	M
8	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Williams F1 Team	Williams	FW27	BMW	P84-5 3.0 V10	M
9	Kimi Räikkönen	West McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-20	Mercedes	FO 110R 3.0 V10	M
10	Alexander Wurz	West McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-20	Mercedes	FO 110R 3.0 V10	M
11	Jacques Villeneuve	Sauber Petronas	Sauber	C24	Petronas	05A 3.0 V10	M
12	Felipe Massa	Sauber Petronas	Sauber	C24	Petronas	05A 3.0 V10	M
14	David Coulthard	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB1	Cosworth	TJ2005 3.0 V10	M
15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB1	Cosworth	TJ2005 3.0 V10	M
16	Jarno Trulli	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota	TF105	Toyota	RVX-05 3.0 V10	M
17	Ralf Schumacher	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota	TF105	Toyota	RVX-05 3.0 V10	M
18	Tiago Monteiro	Jordan Grand Prix	Jordan	EJ15	Toyota	RVX-05 3.0 V10	B
19	Narain Karthikeyan	Jordan Grand Prix	Jordan	EJ15	Toyota	RVX-05 3.0 V10	B
20	Patrick Friesacher	Minardi F1 Team	Minardi	PS05	Cosworth	TJ2005 3.0 V10	B
21	Christijan Albers	Minardi F1 Team	Minardi	PS05	Cosworth	TJ2005 3.0 V10	B
Test Drivers for Practice Sessions Only
35	Pedro de la Rosa	West McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-20	Mercedes	FO 110R 3.0 V10	M
37	Christian Klien	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB1	Cosworth	TJ2005 3.0 V10	M
38	Ricardo Zonta	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota	TF105	Toyota	RVX-05 3.0 V10	M
39	Robert Doornbos	Jordan Grand Prix	Jordan	EJ15	Toyota	RVX-05 3.0 V10	B
Source:

Qualifying

Qualifying Results

The full qualifying results for the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Time			Gap
				Q1	Q2	Total
1	9	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:19.886	1:22.994	2:42.880	—
2	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:19.889	1:23.552	2:43.441	+0.561s
3	3	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	1:20.464	1:23.641	2:44.105	+1.225s
4	7	Mark Webber	Williams-BMW	1:20.442	1:24.069	2:44.511	+1.631s
5	16	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:20.492	1:24.026	2:44.518	+1.638s
6	4	Takuma Sato	BAR-Honda	1:20.851	1:24.807	2:44.658	+1.778s
7	10	Alexander Wurz	McLaren-Mercedes	1:20.632	1:24.057	2:44.689	+1.809s
8*	12	Felipe Massa	Sauber-Petronas	1:20.593	1:24.337	2:44.930	+2.050s
9	8	Nick Heidfeld	Williams-BMW	1:20.807	1:24.389	2:45.196	+2.316s
10	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	1:20.892	1:24.351	2:45.240	+2.363s
11	17	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	1:20.994	1:24.422	2:45.416	+2.536s
12	11	Jacques Villeneuve	Sauber-Petronas	1:20.999	1:25.260	2:46.259	+3.379s
13	6	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	1:21.708	1:25.002	2:46.710	+3.830s
14	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:20.260	1:26.984	2:47.244	+4.364s
15	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Cosworth	1:21.632	1:26.438	2:48.070	+5.190s
16	15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Red Bull-Cosworth	1:21.804	1:26.351	2:48.155	+5.275s
17	19	Narain Karthikeyan	Jordan-Toyota	1:23.123	1:28.876	2:52.099	+9.219s
18	18	Tiago Monteiro	Jordan-Toyota	1:25.100	1:29.152	2:54.252	+11.372s
19*	20	Patrick Friesacher	Minardi-Cosworth	1:26.484	1:30.564	2:57.048	+14.168s
NC*	21	Christijan Albers	Minardi-Cosworth	1:25.921	—
Source:

• ^T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car to set their best time in that session.
• Bold indicates a driver's best/qualifying time.
• * Massa, Friesacher and Albers all received ten place grid penalties for changing their engines.

Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
	______________
Row 1	1	______________
	Kimi Räikkönen	2
	______________	Fernando Alonso
Row 2	3	______________
	Jenson Button	4
	______________	Mark Webber
Row 3	5	______________
	Jarno Trulli	6
	______________	Takuma Sato
Row 4	7	______________
	Alexander Wurz	8
	______________	Nick Heidfeld
Row 5	9	______________
	Rubens Barrichello	10
	______________	Ralf Schumacher
Row 6	11	______________
	Jacques Villeneuve	12
	______________	Giancarlo Fisichella
Row 7	13	______________
	Michael Schumacher	14
	______________	David Coulthard
Row 8	15	______________
	Vitantonio Liuzzi	16
	______________	Narain Karthikeyan
Row 9	17	______________
	Tiago Monteiro	18
	______________	Felipe Massa
Row 10	19	______________
	Patrick Friesacher	20
	______________	Christijan Albers

Race

Results

The full results for the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	62	1:27:41.921	2	10
2	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	62	+0.215s	13	8
3	10	Alexander Wurz	McLaren-Mercedes	62	+27.554s	7	6
4	11	Jacques Villeneuve	Sauber-Petronas	62	+1:04.442	11	5
5	16	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	62	+1:10.258	5	4
6	8	Nick Heidfeld	Williams-BMW	62	+1:11.282	8	3
7	7	Mark Webber	Williams-BMW	62	+1:23.297	4	2
8	15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Red Bull-Cosworth	62	+1:23.764	15	1
9*	17	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	62	+1:35.841	10
10	12	Felipe Massa	Sauber-Petronas	61	+1 Lap	18
11	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Cosworth	61	+1 Lap	14
12	19	Narain Karthikeyan	Jordan-Toyota	61	+1 Lap	16
13	18	Tiago Monteiro	Jordan-Toyota	60	+2 Laps	17
DSQ†	3	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	62	+10.481s	3
DSQ†	4	Takuma Sato	BAR-Honda	62	+34.783s	6
Ret	21	Christijan Albers	Minardi-Cosworth	20	Hydraulics	20
Ret	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	18	Electrical	9
Ret	9	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	9	Driveshaft	1
Ret	20	Patrick Friesacher	Minardi-Cosworth	8	Clutch	19
Ret	6	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	5	Accident	12
Source:

• ^T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car.
• * Ralf Schumacher awarded a 25 second time penalty for an unsafe release.
• ^† Button and Sato were disqualified from the results of the race after their cars were found to be underweight.

Milestones

• Rubens Barrichello made his 200th Grand Prix start.
• Debut race for Vitantonio Liuzzi.
• Fourth career victory for Fernando Alonso.
• Renault secured their 21st win as a constructor.
  • Also their 101st win as an engine supplier.
• Liuzzi scored his maiden points finish.
• Second podium finish for Alexander Wurz.

Standings

Victory for the third race in a row left Fernando Alonso in command of the Championship, leaving San Marino with 36 points. Jarno Trulli remained his closest challenger but had slipped sixteen behind, while Giancarlo Fisichella was over two and a half races worth of points off his teammate. Instead, the Italian racer now shared ten points with Michael Schumacher, but was ahead courtesy of his win in Australia, while Nick Heidfeld headed a quartet of drivers with nine points.

In the Constructors Championship it was Renault who continued to lead the way, eking out their advantage once again to sit seventeen clear of their nearest rivals. Toyota were those main challengers, although they were coming under increasing pressure from McLaren-Mercedes in third. Behind, Ferrari had moved level with Williams-BMW to inch closer to the front, while BAR-Honda's post-race disqualification had denied them their first points of the campaign.

World Championship for Drivers Pos. Driver Pts. +/- 1 Fernando Alonso 36 — 2 Jarno Trulli 20 — 3 Giancarlo Fisichella 10 — 4 Michael Schumacher 10 ▲10 5 Nick Heidfeld 9 ▲5 6 Ralf Schumacher 9 ▼2 7 David Coulthard 9 ▼2 8 Mark Webber 9 ▲1 9 Rubens Barrichello 7 ▼3 10 Juan Pablo Montoya 8 ▼3 11 Kimi Räikkönen 7 ▼3 12 Alexander Wurz 6 ▲11 13 Jacques Villeneuve 5 ▲3 14 Pedro de la Rosa 4 ▼3 15 Christian Klien 3 ▼3 16 Felipe Massa 2 ▼3 17 Vitantonio Liuzzi 1 ▲6

World Championship for Constructors Pos. Team Pts. +/- 1 Renault 46 — 2 Toyota 29 — 3 McLaren-Mercedes 25 — 4 Ferrari 18 ▲1 5 Williams-BMW 18 ▼1 6 Red Bull-Cosworth 13 ▼1 7 Sauber-Petronas 7 —

Only point scoring drivers and constructors are shown.

References

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