2005 Bahrain Grand Prix

Coordinates: 26°01′57″N 50°30′38″E / 26.03250°N 50.51056°E / 26.03250; 50.51056
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2005 Bahrain Grand Prix
Race 3 of 19 in the 2005 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date April 3, 2005
Official name 2005 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix
Location Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.412 km (3.363 miles)
Distance 57 laps, 308.238 km (191.530 miles)
Weather Sunny, 42 °C (108 °F)[1]
Attendance 77,257 (weekend)[2]
Pole position
Driver Renault
Time 3:01.902 (aggregate)
Fastest lap
Driver Spain Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes
Time 1:31.447 on lap 43 (lap record)
Podium
First Renault
Second Toyota
Third McLaren-Mercedes
Lap leaders

The 2005 Bahrain Grand Prix (officially the 2005 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix)[3] was a Formula One motor race held on 3 April 2005 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain. The 57-lap race was the third round of the 2005 Formula One season and the second running of the Bahrain Grand Prix, since its inception the year before.

The race was won by polesitter and championship leader Fernando Alonso for the Renault team. Jarno Trulli finished in second place in a Toyota car and Kimi Räikkönen completed the podium in third position for McLaren.

Friday drivers[edit]

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 Austria Alexander Wurz
Sauber-Petronas -
Red Bull-Cosworth 37 Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi
Toyota 38 Brazil Ricardo Zonta
Jordan-Toyota 39 Monaco Robert Doornbos
Minardi-Cosworth -

Report[edit]

Background[edit]

The race was only the second Formula One Grand Prix held in the Middle East, bringing the challenges of high temperatures and dusty conditions. This race also saw the Grand Prix debut of Scuderia Ferrari's new for 2005 car - the F2005. The race debut of the F2005 had originally not been expected to take place until the Spanish Grand Prix in May but following a team test at the Mugello Circuit the previous week the F2005's race debut was brought forward to the Bahrain event after what the team deemed an unsatisfactory performance at the first two races of the year in Australia and Malaysia with the F2004M, despite the fact Barrichello had scored a podium with second place in Melbourne.[4] The race was held the day after Pope John Paul II died, with several teams and drivers offering their respects, most notably Ferrari, who raced with blackened nose cones as a mark of respect. The celebrations on the podium were also muted.

The circuit had been modified slightly from 2004, with turn 4 in particular being widened on the exit.

Before the race, McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya injured his shoulder. This led to him being replaced by Pedro de la Rosa at this race, and Alexander Wurz at the next one in San Marino, before his return at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Qualifying[edit]

First qualifying on Saturday resulted in few surprises– for the first few drivers, the circuit was still somewhat sandy, providing poor grip, while the later runners performed well, with Fernando Alonso taking provisional pole with a lap time of 1:29.848.

Final qualifying on Sunday morning again passed without major incident, with Alonso taking pole position, and Michael Schumacher taking second, driving the brand-new F2005 car. Rubens Barrichello, having had gearbox problems on Friday and Saturday, qualified 15th, and elected to change his engine, resulting in him starting from the back of the grid.

Race[edit]

Race afternoon brought the highest ever recorded temperatures experienced at a Grand Prix, with air temperature of 42.6 °C (108.7 °F)[5] and track temperatures of 56 °C (133 °F). This surpassed the record temperatures of the 1955 Argentine Grand Prix and the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix. Christian Klien failed to get away from his seventh position on the grid for the formation lap. His car was pushed into the pits but could not be restarted, and he became the first of eight retirements.

The leaders made a clean start, with Alonso first to turn one. Schumacher moved from his second grid slot across to the clean side of the track, ahead of Jarno Trulli, who made a strong challenge to pass Schumacher in the first two corners, without success. Barrichello made an aggressive start, moving up to tenth by the end of lap one.

Giancarlo Fisichella's engine began to smoke during lap two, and he pulled into the pits to retire. However, as he applied the pit lane speed limiter, he felt power return, and was waved through by his team. But the resurgence was short-lived, and he was back in the pits on lap four to retire. On lap three, Narain Karthikeyan's car suffered an electrical failure that looked similar to Christian Klien's.

Schumacher continued to closely pursue Alonso until lap 12, when the world champion overshot turn nine, and performed a 270° turn in the run-off area. At the end of the lap, Schumacher coasted back to the pits, making this his first mechanical retirement since the 2001 German Grand Prix – a remarkable run of 58 consecutive Grands Prix. It later emerged that the car's hydraulics had failed, meaning he could not downshift to use engine braking for corners. Therefore, Trulli now took second place, 2.7 seconds behind Alonso, with Mark Webber in third.

On lap 18, Ralf Schumacher in fourth place made the first scheduled pit stop of the front-runners, and rejoined in 12th place. Alonso, Trulli and then Webber all pitted over the next few laps, in what appeared to be the now fairly standard three-stop pattern. After the pit stops, Alonso retained the lead, followed by Trulli, Webber, Kimi Räikkönen, Ralf, and Barrichello.

Nick Heidfeld was the next retirement, with a blown engine on lap 25, although it took him around half a lap to pull off the track to stop. He was shortly followed by Takuma Sato, whose front brakes had been smoking for a while, and who spun and then retired in the pits on lap 27. His teammate Jenson Button's brakes also appeared to be giving off more dust than usual, as Button fought to keep Pedro de la Rosa from taking his seventh place. De la Rosa was making his first start for McLaren, replacing the sidelined Juan Pablo Montoya. De la Rosa finally managed to pass Button on lap 33, outbraking him at turn one.

The following lap, Webber lost control out of turn eight, spun on the entrance to turn nine, and allowed Räikkönen and Ralf Schumacher to pass– on a circuit with very forgiving run-off areas, the spin upset the balance of Webber's car and flat-spotted his tyres.

In the next few laps, before the second pit stops, the closest fight was between Barrichello in sixth, and de la Rosa in seventh. De la Rosa continually pressured the remaining Ferrari, but initially he only succeeded in pushing himself too far, running wide at turn one, and allowing Button to close up behind him. Eventually, though, he was able to take sixth place in the final corner.

Alonso put in several fast laps to extend his lead, and pitted on lap 41. The other drivers also pitted without incident, except Button, who stalled his BAR-Honda. After several attempts at restarting the engine, he almost took his rear jack with him back into the race– only to retire at the end of the pit-lane due to a clutch failure, making this the second race in a row where both BAR drivers had retired. After the second round of pit stops, Alonso still led the race, followed by Trulli, Räikkönen, Ralf Schumacher, Webber, de la Rosa, Barrichello, and Felipe Massa.

In the closing stages, the main fight was between Webber and de la Rosa for fifth place. Webber defended strongly, but de la Rosa eventually overcame him two laps from the end of the race. Jacques Villeneuve retired from ninth place into the pits on the penultimate lap, while Barrichello slipped further and further back, allowing Massa to take seventh place and score points in his Sauber team's 200th Grand Prix, and David Coulthard took eighth place on the last lap, making Ferrari scoreless for the first time since the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Alonso won the race by a comfortable 13.4 seconds from Trulli, bringing Renault engines their 100th World Championship Grand Prix win.

Classification[edit]

Qualifying[edit]

Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Total Gap Grid
1 5 Spain Fernando Alonso Renault 1:29.848 1:32.054 3:01.902 1
2 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:30.237 1:32.120 3:02.357 + 0.455 2
3 16 Italy Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:29.993 1:32.667 3:02.660 + 0.758 3
4 8 Germany Nick Heidfeld Williams-BMW 1:30.390 1:32.827 3:03.217 + 1.315 4
5 7 Australia Mark Webber Williams-BMW 1:30.592 1:32.670 3:03.262 + 1.360 5
6 17 Germany Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:30.952 1:32.319 3:03.271 + 1.369 6
7 15 Austria Christian Klien Red Bull-Cosworth 1:30.646 1:32.723 3:03.369 + 1.467 7
8 10 Spain Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes 1:30.725 1:32.648 3:03.373 + 1.471 8
9 9 Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:30.594 1:32.930 3:03.524 + 1.622 9
10 6 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:30.445 1:33.320 3:03.765 + 1.863 10
11 3 United Kingdom Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:30.957 1:33.319 3:04.348 + 2.446 11
12 12 Brazil Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:30.933 1:34.269 3:05.202 + 3.300 12
13 4 Japan Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:31.113 1:34.450 3:05.563 + 3.661 13
14 14 United Kingdom David Coulthard Red Bull-Cosworth 1:31.211 1:34.633 3:05.844 + 3.942 14
15 2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:31.826 1:35.867 3:07.693 + 5.791 201
16 11 Canada Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas 1:32.318 1:35.665 3:07.983 + 6.081 15
17 18 Portugal Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 1:33.424 1:36.004 3:09.428 + 7.526 16
18 19 India Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:33.190 1:36.953 3:10.143 + 8.241 17
19 21 Netherlands Christijan Albers Minardi-Cosworth 1:34.005 1:36.417 3:10.422 + 8.520 181
20 20 Austria Patrick Friesacher Minardi-Cosworth 1:34.848 1:36.413 3:11.261 + 9.359 191
Sources:[6][7][8]
Notes
  • ^1 – Rubens Barrichello, Christijan Albers and Patrick Friesacher received a 10-place grid penalty for engine changes.

Race[edit]

Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5 Spain Fernando Alonso Renault M 57 1:29:18.531 1 10
2 16 Italy Jarno Trulli Toyota M 57 +13.409 3 8
3 9 Finland Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes M 57 +32.063 9 6
4 17 Germany Ralf Schumacher Toyota M 57 +53.272 6 5
5 10 Spain Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes M 57 +1:04.988 8 4
6 7 Australia Mark Webber Williams-BMW M 57 +1:14.701 5 3
7 12 Brazil Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas M 56 +1 lap 12 2
8 14 United Kingdom David Coulthard Red Bull-Cosworth M 56 +1 lap 14 1
9 2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari B 56 +1 lap 20  
10 18 Portugal Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota B 55 +2 laps 16  
11 11 Canada Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas M 54 Suspension 15  
12 20 Austria Patrick Friesacher Minardi-Cosworth B 54 +3 laps 19  
13 21 Netherlands Christijan Albers Minardi-Cosworth B 53 +4 laps 18  
Ret 3 United Kingdom Jenson Button BAR-Honda M 46 Clutch 11  
Ret 4 Japan Takuma Sato BAR-Honda M 27 Brakes 13  
Ret 8 Germany Nick Heidfeld Williams-BMW M 25 Engine 4  
Ret 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari B 12 Hydraulics 2  
Ret 6 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Renault M 4 Engine 10  
Ret 19 India Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota B 2 Electrical 17  
DNS 15 Austria Christian Klien Red Bull-Cosworth M 0 Electrical 7  
Sources:[9][10]

Championship standings after the race[edit]

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

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Top 5 - hottest races on record". Formula1.com. 8 August 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  2. ^ "Record Attendance at Sold Out 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix". f1destinations.com. 6 March 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  3. ^ "Bahrain". Archived from the original on 26 November 2005. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  4. ^ "Ferrari fear shows as new car is fast-tracked for Bahrain". Independent.co.uk. 25 March 2005.
  5. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HK7BknccFQ at 1:20
  6. ^ "2005 FORMULA 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix - Saturday Qualifying". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 24 August 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  7. ^ "2005 FORMULA 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix - Sunday Qualifying". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 24 August 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  8. ^ "Starting grid". StatsF1.com. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  9. ^ "2005 FORMULA 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix - Race". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 17 January 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  10. ^ "2005 Bahrain Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 3 April 2005. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  11. ^ a b "Bahrain 2005 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 8 March 2019.


Previous race:
2005 Malaysian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
2005 season
Next race:
2005 San Marino Grand Prix
Previous race:
2004 Bahrain Grand Prix
Bahrain Grand Prix Next race:
2006 Bahrain Grand Prix

26°01′57″N 50°30′38″E / 26.03250°N 50.51056°E / 26.03250; 50.51056