Results from the 2005 San Marino Grand Prix
All eyes were in Ferrari at their home turf race in Imola in San Marino. According to sources, Ferrari broke the unwritten team rule that teams should only practice the week after a Grand Prix race. But they were testing their cars and tyres right up to the race at Imola. For Ferrari, it paid off well and its not an exaggeration that this was one of the most breath taking and stunning F1 races in a long time.
Feranando Alonso was able to pull a hat trick for Renault, with three wins already this season. He drove a flawless race, with the car continuing to perform wonderfully. The 20 laps showdown with Michael Schumacher really showed that Alonso has what it takes to be a world champion, cool under pressure with strong driving skills. Second place after Alonso was Michael Schumacher for Ferrari, a crowd pleaser and no doubt a big relief for the Ferrari team, as Rubens Barrichello retired from the race in lap 18 due to electrical problems. Schumacher pulled all stops to try to overtake Alonso, but he couldn't pull it off. A great weekend for BAR Honda, as Jenson Button sailed into third place and team mate Takuma Sato came in fifth.
This is what F1 should be all about, cliffhanging, nail biting race, not knowing the outcome until the chequered flag is waved! It started on Saturday with Kimi Raikkonen beating Fernando Alonso by the slimmest of margins to take pole position, with Jenson Button in third gird position and Michael Schumacher way behind in 13th position.
At the start of the race Kimi Raikkonen took first place position right away, pulling away from the crowd in a clear lead, followed by Alonso and Button. For the first few laps it looked like the Finnish 'iceman' was in good place to take the race, with Michael Schumacher trailing far behind the pack. But, it wasn't to be. Raikkonen had to retire from the race in lap 9 due to driveshaft problems, no doubt, extremely frustrating for both him and McLaren-Mercedes.
The last 20 laps was where this race really hotted up. Michael Schumacher crawled his way up to second place, overtaking Jenson Button to be just behind Alonso. But Alonso kept his cool, fighting off Schumacher's attempts at overtaking him and even strategically slowed down the his driving in the last few laps, so that he wouldn't catch up to the end of the pack and inadvertently give the experienced Schumacher a window to overtake him.
This weekend's results adds to Renault's leading position in the Constructors' Championship with 46 points, Toyota are in second place with 28 points and McLaren-Mercedes in third place with 24 points, while Ferrari trail in fourth with 18 points. BAR Honda's superb showing at Imola has brought them from nowhere to seventh place with a 10 point swoop, just two points behind Red Bull Racing. For the Drivers' Championship, Alonso reinforces his first place position with 36 points, Trulli remains in second place with 18 points and Michael Schumacher and Fisichella tied in third place with 10 points.
Full race result from San Marino (2005)
- Fernando Alonso - Renault 1h27m41.921s
- Michael Schumacher - Ferrari +0.2s
- Jenson Button - BAR Honda +10.4s
- Alexander Wurz - McLaren-Mercedes +27.5s
- Takuma Sato - BAR Honda +34.7s
- Jacques Villeneuve - Sauber-Petronas +64.4s
- Jarno Trulli - Toyota +70.2s
- Ralf Schumacher - Toyota +70.8s
- Nick Heidfeld - Williams-BMW +71.2s
- Mark Webber - Williams-BMW +83.2s
- Vitantonio Liuzzi - Red Bull Racing +83.7s
- Felipe Massa - Sauber-Petronas +1 lap
- David Coulthard - Red Bull Racing +lap
- Narain Karthikeyan - Jordan-Toyota +1lap
- Tiago Monteiro - Jordan-Toyota +2 laps