2005 Malaysian Grand Prix

2005 Malaysian Grand Prix
Race 2 of 19 in the 2005 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Race details
Date	20 March 2005
Official name	2005 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix
Location	Sepang International Circuit Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.543 km (3.444 miles)
Distance	56 laps, 310.408 km (192.879 miles)
Weather	Fine, Air: 34–36 °C (93–97 °F) and Track: 44–50 °C (111–122 °F)
Attendance	106,422 (Weekend)
Pole position
Driver	Fernando Alonso	Renault
Time	3:07.672 (aggregate)
Fastest lap
Driver	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:35.483 on lap 23
Podium
First	Fernando Alonso	Renault
Second	Jarno Trulli	Toyota
Third	Nick Heidfeld	Williams-BMW
Lap leaders

The 2005 Malaysian Grand Prix (officially the 2005 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix) was a Formula One race held at Sepang on 20 March 2005.

Report

Background

After the Australian Grand Prix, Giancarlo Fisichella led the Drivers' Championship by two points ahead of Rubens Barrichello and four points ahead of Fernando Alonso. In the Constructors' Championship, Renault led Ferrari by eight points and Red Bull by nine points.

At BAR, after free practice on Friday, Takuma Sato was struck by a fever, following which the doctors advised him against taking part in the race. Therefore, from free practice on Saturday onwards, the second car was entrusted to third driver Anthony Davidson. For Davidson, the race was his first Grand Prix start since the 2002 Belgian Grand Prix.

The race also marked Rubens Barrichello's 200th Grand Prix.

Race

At the start, Alonso and Jarno Trulli were able to maintain their respective positions on the starting grid, followed by Fisichella and Mark Webber. Further back, Nick Heidfeld overtook the two Red Bulls and was now behind Kimi Räikkönen.

At the start of the second lap, Jenson Button attacked Räikkönen on the start-finish straight and overtook him, but retired immediately afterwards due to engine failure. At the same time, Patrick Friesacher in the Minardi went off the track in the first corner and also retired. A similar fate befell the other Honda engine, Davidson's, which caused a small fire.

During the 23rd lap, Räikkönen, who was in sixth place at the time, suffered a puncture and had to give up all desire to win. Three laps later, Jacques Villeneuve went off the track in the first corner and was the fourth driver to retire. Six laps later, Ralf Schumacher and Webber collided on the main straight, but without causing too much damage to the cars. Nineteen laps from the end, in the final corner, Webber tried to overtake Fisichella on the outside for third place, but the two collided: the Italian ended up on top of the Australian and both had to retire. Heidfeld benefited from this and took third place.

The Alonso ultimately won the race ahead of the Trulli and Heidfeld. For Alonso it was the second victory and the first since the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix. Alonso's win made him the first Spaniard ever to lead the Formula 1 World Championship. It was Heidfeld's second podium finish and first since the 2001 Brazilian Grand Prix.

The race also marked Toyota's first-ever podium in Formula One and first Asian-licensed constructor to score a podium since 1968 United States Grand Prix when John Surtees drove for Honda in the 3rd place.

The race ended Ferrari's run of 22 consecutive podium finishes, which started at the 2003 Italian Grand Prix.

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	No	Driver
McLaren-Mercedes	35	Pedro de la Rosa
Sauber-Petronas		none
Red Bull-Cosworth	37	Vitantonio Liuzzi
Toyota	38	Ricardo Zonta
Jordan-Toyota	39	Robert Doornbos
Minardi-Cosworth		none

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Total	Gap	Grid
1	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:32.582	1:35.090	3:07.672		1
2	16	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:32.672	1:35.253	3:07.925	+0.253	2
3	6	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	1:32.765	1:35.683	3:08.448	+0.776	3
4	7	Mark Webber	Williams-BMW	1:33.204	1:35.700	3:08.904	+1.232	4
5	17	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	1:33.106	1:35.901	3:09.007	+1.335	5
6	9	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:32.839	1:36.644	3:09.483	+1.811	6
7	15	Christian Klien	Red Bull-Cosworth	1:33.724	1:35.865	3:09.589	+1.917	7
8	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Cosworth	1:33.809	1:35.891	3:09.700	+2.028	8
9	3	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	1:33.616	1:36.216	3:09.832	+2.160	9
10	8	Nick Heidfeld	Williams-BMW	1:33.464	1:36.453	3:09.917	+2.245	10
11	10	Juan Pablo Montoya	McLaren-Mercedes	1:33.333	1:36.757	3:10.090	+2.418	11
12	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	1:34.162	1:37.340	3:11.502	+3.830	12
13	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:34.072	1:37.561	3:11.633	+3.961	13
14	12	Felipe Massa	Sauber-Petronas	1:34.151	1:37.733	3:11.884	+4.212	14
15	4	Anthony Davidson	BAR-Honda	1:34.866	1:37.024	3:11.890	+4.218	15
16	11	Jacques Villeneuve	Sauber-Petronas	1:34.887	1:38.108	3:12.995	+5.323	16
17	19	Narain Karthikeyan	Jordan-Toyota	1:37.806	1:39.850	3:17.656	+9.984	17
18	18	Tiago Monteiro	Jordan-Toyota	1:37.856	1:40.106	3:17.962	+10.290	18
19	20	Patrick Friesacher	Minardi-Cosworth	1:39.268	1:41.918	3:21.186	+13.514	201
20	21	Christijan Albers	Minardi-Cosworth	1:40.432	1:42.569	3:23.001	+15.329	19
Sources:

Notes

• ^1 – Patrick Friesacher received a 10-place grid penalty for an engine change.

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	M	56	1:31:33.736	1	10
2	16	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	M	56	+24.327	2	8
3	8	Nick Heidfeld	Williams-BMW	M	56	+32.188	10	6
4	10	Juan Pablo Montoya	McLaren-Mercedes	M	56	+41.631	11	5
5	17	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota	M	56	+51.854	5	4
6	14	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Cosworth	M	56	+1:12.543	8	3
7	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	B	56	+1:19.988	13	2
8	15	Christian Klien	Red Bull-Cosworth	M	56	+1:20.835	7	1
9	9	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes	M	56	+1:21.580	6
10	12	Felipe Massa	Sauber-Petronas	M	55	+1 Lap	14
11	19	Narain Karthikeyan	Jordan-Toyota	B	54	+2 Laps	17
12	18	Tiago Monteiro	Jordan-Toyota	B	53	+3 Laps	18
13	21	Christijan Albers	Minardi-Cosworth	B	52	+4 Laps	19
Ret	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	B	49	Handling	12
Ret	6	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault	M	36	Collision	3
Ret	7	Mark Webber	Williams-BMW	M	36	Collision	4
Ret	11	Jacques Villeneuve	Sauber-Petronas	M	26	Spun Off	16
Ret	3	Jenson Button	BAR-Honda	M	2	Engine	9
Ret	4	Anthony Davidson	BAR-Honda	M	2	Engine	15
Ret	20	Patrick Friesacher	Minardi-Cosworth	B	2	Spun Off	20
Sources:

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos.	Driver	Points
2	1	Fernando Alonso	16
1	2	Giancarlo Fisichella	10
1	3	Rubens Barrichello	8
5	4	Jarno Trulli	8
1	5	David Coulthard	8
Source:

Constructors' Championship standings

	Pos.	Constructor	Points
	1	Renault	26
4	2	Toyota	12
	3	Red Bull-Cosworth	11
2	4	Ferrari	10
	5	Williams-BMW	10
Source:

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