Results from the 2005 Malaysian Grand Prix
At the fourth Malaysian Grand Prix, it was again Renault that was victorious, setting an early pace to the season while Ferrari flounder. With already their second win this season, Renault emerge with Fernando Alonso topping the Drivers' Championship this early in the season with 16 points. Alonso's team mate Giancarlo Fisichella won in Australia two weeks ago -and Alonso is the first ever Spaniard to lead the F1 Championship. Second place went to Jarno Trulli for Toyota, which was surprising for many and Toyota's first podium finish. Team Toyota have so far this season shown the consistency that they have badly lacked. Third place went to Nick Heidfeld, driving for Williams-BMW.
This year's race was a big change from last year's Grand Prix, where Michael Schumacher lead from the grid to finish. This year it was Alonso that dominated from pole position to first place. Renault were secretly hoping for a one-two finish at Sepang, when Fisichella was running in third place. But these hopes quickly dissipated, when Fisichella collided with Mark Webber, with 18 laps to go.
The new FIA regulations did play some havoc at Sepang, touted as the hottest race on the F1 Championship calendar. Some teams were having problems with gripping and wear, with both Alonso and Trulli commenting after the race that they did reduce their pace towards the end of the race to preserve their tyres. Spectators also benefited from the rule, as they were witness to some thrilling racing, particularly between team mates Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld with Ralf Schumacher. In the end, it was Webber that spun out as he battled with Fisichella, stating lack of tyre grip as the main contributing factor.
After Toyota's impressive run, Red Bull Racing is the team to compliment. Both David Coulthard and Christian Klien drove great races -Klien more so than Coulthard, who lost six seconds after spinning out in lap 25 - and came in sixth and eights respectively. This team is showing speed and reliability that no one would have predicted just a few weeks ago! This is a team to watch.
The big losers of the Malaysian Grand Prix were no doubt BAR-Honda. After having taken advantage of a loop-hole in the new FIA regulations after the Australian Grand Prix. Both drivers, Takuma Sato and Jenson Button retired out of the Australian Grand Prix as a strategy to be able to start the Malaysian Grand Prix with new engines. This allowed them to circumvent the new one-engine, two race rule, but this loophole has since been closed. However, whether it was hubris or simply bad luck, both cars ended up retiring from the race with major engine problems and niether progreesed beyonf five laps.
This win in Malaysia of course puts Renault in an early lead in the Constructors' Championship this year, with 26 points. Trailed by Toyota with 12 points and an impressive Red Bull Racing with 11 points. With Ferrari behind Red Bull with 10 points. This season is so far turning out to be more interesting than many had predicted!
Full race result from Sepang (2005)
- Fernando Alonso - Renault 1h31m33.736s
- Jarno Trulli - Toyota +24.3s
- Nick Heidfeld - Williams-BMW +32.1s
- Juan Pablo Montoya - McLaren-Mercedes +41.6s
- Ralf Schumacher - Toyota +51.8s
- David Coulthard - Red Bull Racing +72.5s
- Michael Schumacher - Ferrari +79.9s
- Christian Klien - Red Bull Racing +80.8s
- Kimi Raikkonen - McLaren-Mercedes +81.5s
- Felipe Massa - Sauber-Petronas +1 lap
- Narain Karthikeyan - Jordan-Toyota +2 laps
- Tiago Monteiro - Jordan-Toyota +3 laps
- Christijan Albers - Minardi-Cosworth +4 laps