2005 Belgian Grand Prix

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2005 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 16 of 19 in the 2005 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	11 September 2005
Official name	2005 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix
Location	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	6.976 km (4.335 mi)
Distance	44 laps, 306.944 km (190.726 mi)
Weather	Wet and dry
Pole position
Driver	Juan Pablo Montoya	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:46.391
Fastest lap
Driver	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota
Time	1:51.543 on lap 44
Podium
First	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes
Second	Fernando Alonso	Renault
Third	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda
Lap leaders

The 2005 Belgian Grand Prix (officially the 2005 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix)^[1] was a Formula One motor race held on 11 September 2005 at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Spa, Belgium. It was the sixteenth race of the 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship and the 62nd Belgian Grand Prix.

The 44-lap race was won by Finnish driver Kimi Räikkönen, driving a McLaren-Mercedes, after he started from second position. Räikkönen's Colombian teammate, Juan Pablo Montoya, took pole position and led until his second pit stop on lap 33; he then maintained second place until a late collision with Brazilian driver Antônio Pizzonia in the Williams-BMW. Spaniard Fernando Alonso thus took second in his Renault, with Englishman Jenson Button third in a BAR-Honda.

With three races remaining, Alonso led the Drivers' Championship by 25 points from Räikkönen, needing only six more to clinch the title. In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren reduced Renault's lead to six points.

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	Nat	Driver
McLaren-Mercedes		Alexander Wurz
Sauber-Petronas		-
Red Bull-Cosworth		Vitantonio Liuzzi
Toyota		Ricardo Zonta
Jordan-Toyota		Nicolas Kiesa
Minardi-Cosworth		Enrico Toccacelo

Report[]

Background[]

Before the race, Renault were leading the Constructors' Championship with 144 points and McLaren were second with 136 points, with Ferrari third on 58 points. In the World Drivers' Championship, Renault driver Fernando Alonso was leading with 103 points; Kimi Räikkönen was second on 76 points, 27 points behind Alonso. Behind Alonso and Räikkönen in the Drivers' Championship, Michael Schumacher was third on 55 points in a Ferrari, with Juan Pablo Montoya and Jarno Trulli on 50 and 43 points respectively.^[2]

Practice and qualifying[]

Four practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—two on Friday from 11:00 to 12:00 and 14:00 to 15:00 local time, with the final two sessions held on Saturday morning between 09:00 to 09:45 and 10:15 to 11:00.^[3]

Saturday's afternoon qualifying session took place as a one-lap session held between 13:00 and 14:00. Drivers went out one at a time in the reverse order of their finishing positions at the previous race. The cars ran on the fuel that would be used for the Sunday race.^[3]

Giancarlo Fisichella started the race from 13th place – the result of a ten-place grid penalty given for an engine change between final practice and qualifying on the Saturday.^[4]

Race[]

Kimi Räikkönen won the race for the second consecutive year for McLaren.

The race took place in the afternoon from 14:00 local time. On lap 11 Fisichella had an accident at Eau Rouge, emerging unhurt from his wrecked Renault but this brought out the safety car.^[5] On lap 14, Takuma Sato hit Michael Schumacher's car from behind, causing both to retire.^[4] Antônio Pizzonia crashed into Juan Pablo Montoya—in second position at the time—shortly before the finish of the race.^[4] Jacques Villeneuve was able to finish sixth by virtue of a one-stop pit strategy, while other drivers stopped as many as five times.

This race saw the Jordan team score their final point, courtesy of Tiago Monteiro, while the BAR team achieved their last podium finish through Jenson Button. Also, Ralf Schumacher scored his last, and Toyota's first, fastest lap.

Post-race[]

The race stewards ruled that Sato had caused the collision with Schumacher, and he would consequently drop ten places on the grid for the next Grand Prix in Brazil. They also fined Pizzonia $8,000 for his collision with Montoya.^[6]

Unusually, McLaren did not send a representative to the podium to collect the constructors' trophy, so, Räikkönen accepted it on behalf of the team.^[7]

Classification[]

Qualifying[]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Lap	Gap
1	10	Juan Pablo Montoya	McLaren-Mercedes	1:46.391
2	9	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:46.440	+0.049
3	6	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	1:46.497	+0.106
4	16	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:46.596	+0.205
5	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:46.760	+0.369
6	17	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	1:47.401	+1.010
7	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:47.476	+1.085
8	12	Felipe Massa	Sauber-Petronas	1:47.867	+1.476
9	3	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	1:47.978	+1.587
10	7	Mark Webber	Williams-BMW	1:48.071	+1.680
11	4	Takuma Sato	BAR-Honda	1:48.353	+1.962
12	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Cosworth	1:48.508	+2.117
13	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	1:48.550	+2.159
14	11	Jacques Villeneuve	Sauber-Petronas	1:48.889	+2.498
15	8	Antônio Pizzonia	Williams-BMW	1:48.898	+2.507
16	15	Christian Klien	Red Bull-Cosworth	1:48.994	+2.603
17	20	Robert Doornbos	Minardi-Cosworth	1:49.779	+3.388
18	21	Christijan Albers	Minardi-Cosworth	1:49.842	+3.451
19	18	Tiago Monteiro	Jordan-Toyota	1:51.498	+5.107
20	19	Narain Karthikeyan	Jordan-Toyota	1:51.675	+5.284
Source:[8]

Race[]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	9	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	44	1:30:01.295	2	10
2	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	44	+ 28.394	4	8
3	3	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	44	+ 32.077	8	6
4	7	Mark Webber	Williams-BMW	44	+ 1:09.167	9	5
5	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	44	+ 1:18.136	12	4
6	11	Jacques Villeneuve	Sauber-Petronas	44	+ 1:27.435	14	3
7	17	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	44	+ 1:27.574	5	2
8	18	Tiago Monteiro	Jordan-Toyota	43	+ 1 Lap	19	1
9	15	Christian Klien	Red Bull-Cosworth	43	+ 1 Lap	16
10	12	Felipe Massa	Sauber-Petronas	43	+ 1 Lap	7
11	19	Narain Karthikeyan	Jordan-Toyota	43	+ 1 Lap	20
12	21	Christijan Albers	Minardi-Cosworth	42	+ 2 Laps	PL
13	20	Robert Doornbos	Minardi-Cosworth	41	+ 3 Laps	PL
14	10	Juan Pablo Montoya	McLaren-Mercedes	40	Collision	1
15	8	Antônio Pizzonia	Williams-BMW	39	Collision	15
Ret	16	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	34	Accident	3
Ret	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Cosworth	18	Engine	11
Ret	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	13	Collision	6
Ret	4	Takuma Sato	BAR-Honda	13	Collision	10
Ret	6	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	10	Accident	13
Source:[9]

• Doornbos and Albers started the race from the pitlane.

Championship standings after the race[]

• Bold text indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Fernando Alonso 111 2 Kimi Räikkönen 86 3 Michael Schumacher 55 4 Juan Pablo Montoya 50 5 Jarno Trulli 43 Source: [10]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Renault 152 2 McLaren-Mercedes 146 3 Ferrari 90 4 Toyota 80 5 Williams-BMW 59 Source: [10]

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

See also[]

• 2005 Spa-Francorchamps GP2 Series round

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2005 Belgian Grand Prix.

Coordinates: 50°26′14″N 5°58′17″E / 50.43722°N 5.97139°E / 50.43722; 5.97139