The 2005 Japanese Grand Prix (officially known as the 2005 Formula One Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One race which was held at Suzuka International Racing Course on 9 October 2005. It was the eighteenth and penultimate round of the 2005 Formula One World Championship, the thirty-first running of the Japanese Grand Prix and nineteenth to be held at Suzuka.
Kimi Räikkönen won the race after starting from seventeenth, overtaking long-time race leader Giancarlo Fisichella on the final lap to win a race that saw many overtaking manoeuvres. Fisichella’s teammate Fernando Alonso completed the podium, having come through from sixteenth, including an overtake on Michael Schumacher around the outside of 130R corner.Raikkonen steals Japanese GP win retrieved from BBC Sport, 9 October 2005
The race marked Ralf Schumacher’s sixth and final pole position in Formula One.Ralf charges to Japanese GP pole retrieved from BBC Sport, 8 October 2005
This was also Räikkönen's last win until the 2007 Australian Grand Prix, his last win for McLaren, the team's last win until the 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix, and the last win for a driver that started lower on the grid until Max Verstappen at the 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix.
Background Fernando Alonso was crowned world champion at the previous round in Brazil, but the battle for the Constructors’ Championship between McLaren-Mercedes and Renault continued at the penultimate round, with McLaren leading by two points.Alonso clinches Formula One title retrieved from BBC Sport, 25 September 2005
At a press conference before the Japanese Grand Prix, Honda announced the acquisition of all shares in BAR. Toyota decided to bring the renewed TF105B to the last two races of the season.
Antônio Pizzonia, who had driven for Williams in the three previous Grands Prix, was confirmed as a replacement for the injured Nick Heidfeld for the last two races of the season as well. One option to replace Heidfeld in the last two races was test driver Nico Rosberg, but the team decided against this as Rosberg had not previously driven at the two circuits.
Practice Teams that finished fifth or lower in the 2004 Constructors’ Championship were entitled to run a third car in free practice on Friday. These drivers participated on Friday, but did not compete in qualifying or the race. Of the six teams, only four had third drivers at Suzuka: McLaren (Pedro de la Rosa), Red Bull (Vitantonio Liuzzi), Toyota (Ricardo Zonta) and Jordan (Sakon Yamamoto).
Pedro de la Rosa was fastest in first free practice, completing 23 laps and finished more than half a second ahead of Ricardo Zonta, who was more than a second faster than Michael Schumacher in FP2.PRACTICE 1 retrieved from Formula One, 7 October 2005PRACTICE 2 retrieved from Formula One, 7 October 2005 The weather took a turn for the worse on Saturday and had an effect on the amount of running in the final two practice sessions. Michael Schumacher ended up top of the timesheets in FP3, over two seconds quicker than Kimi Räikkönen, with Giancarlo Fisichella clocking the fastest time in final practice, edging out Narain Karthikeyan by 0.014s.PRACTICE 3 retrieved from Formula One, 8 October 2005PRACTICE 4 retrieved from Formula One, 8 October 2005
Qualifying Qualifying was held on a wet track, with conditions later deteriorating, forcing some of the usual front runners to qualify near the back of the grid. Ralf Schumacher qualified on pole, edging out Jenson Button by 0.035s. Fisichella was third, with home favourite Takuma Sato in fifth. The end of qualifying saw the top finishers from the last race attempt to set a lap time. But by this point the conditions had worsened and Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Räikkönen and Juan Pablo Montoya all qualifying in fourteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth places respectively. Montoya did not set a lap time. Jarno Trulli and Tiago Monteiro also failed to set a time.
Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Lap Gap Grid117 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:46.106—123 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 1:46.141+0.035236 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:46.276+0.1703415 Christian Klien Red Bull-Cosworth 1:46.464+0.358454 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 1:46.841+0.7355614 David Coulthard Red Bull-Cosworth 1:46.892+0.786677 Mark Webber Williams-BMW 1:47.233+1.1277811 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas 1:47.440+1.334892 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:48.248+2.14291012 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 1:48.278+2.172101119 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 1:48.718+2.61211128 Antonio Pizzonia Williams-BMW 1:48.898+2.792121321 Christijan Albers Minardi-Cosworth 1:50.843+4.73713141 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:52.676+6.570141520 Robert Doornbos Minardi-Cosworth 1:52.894+6.78815165 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:54.667+8.56116179 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 2:02.309+16.203171810 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes No time181916 Jarno Trulli Toyota No time192018 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota No time20 Notes – Kimi Räikkönen received a 10-place grid penalty for an engine change. – Juan Pablo Montoya did not complete the timed lap. – Jarno Trulli spun on a timed lap in turn nine. – Tiago Monteiro spun out in turn nine on the out lap.
Race Ralf Schumacher maintained the lead off the start, while Giancarlo Fisichella jumped Jenson Button and Red Bull's David Coulthard moved from sixth to eighth. But local hero Sato ran wide into the gravel at turn one and his right-front tyre was sideswiped by Rubens Barrichello. Both continued, but the left rear of Barrichello's Ferrari was punctured, leading to a pit stop at the end of lap one. Alonso made a flying start and was up to seventh by the time the field was completing the first lap. Raikkonen went straight on at the Casio Triangle chicane, before teammate Juan Pablo Montoya crashed heavily while coming onto the pit straight after trying to drive around the Sauber of Jacques Villeneuve, but the Canadian squeezed him and onto the gravel, making the Colombian the first retirement of the afternoon and severely damaging McLaren's Constructors' Championship hopes. The accident resulted in the safety car being deployed.
On lap 10, Sato attempted to overtake Trulli into the chicane, but never looked like pulling the move off and the resulting contact forced Trulli into retirement. Ralf was the first of the leaders to pit, coming in for the first of three stops at the end of lap 13. This counted him out of the running for the race victory, with Fisichella assuming the lead.
On lap 19, Alonso pulled off one of the most audacious overtaking manoeuvres with a pass around the outside of Michael Schumacher at the infamous 130R corner. Raikkonen had a sniff of passing the seven-time world champion into the very next turn, the Casio Triangle, but had to settle in behind the Ferrari. Alonso stopped first of the trio, but because he pitted for fuel before Michael and Raikkonen, he came back out behind the duo, with Raikkonen passing Michael on the pit straight on lap 29. On lap 32, Michael went deep into the chicane, giving Alonso the opportunity to pass again, which he did down the pit straight and swept into turn one ahead of the German.
Raikkonen made his final stop on lap 45, handing the lead back to Fisichella. But as he emerged from the pits, Raikkonen was about to go on a thrilling charge. Alonso had closed up to the back of the Williams-BMW of Mark Webber by the end of lap 49 and despite being forced onto the grass, the world champion was able to complete the overtake on the Australian and took third place. Raikkonen took 1.3 seconds out of Fisichella's lead on lap 49 and was now right on the rear-wing of the Italian. Raikkonen lined up the overtake going into the chicane, but Fisichella went defensive, leaving him vulnerable to an attack from Raikkonen, who was given all the motivation he needed to slingshot past the Renault into turn one to complete a brilliant recovery drive for his seventh win of the season.
Post-race Jacques Villeneuve had 25 seconds added to his race time for causing Juan Pablo Montoya to crash out on the first lap, while Takuma Sato was disqualified from the final classification for his lap 10 collision with Jarno Trulli which caused the Italian to retire from the race.
Race classification DriverConstructorTyreTime/RetiredPoints19 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 53 1:29:02.212 17 1026 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 53 +1.633 3 835 Fernando Alonso Renault 53 +17.456 16 647 Mark Webber Williams-BMW 53 +22.274 7 553 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 53 +29.507 2 4614 David Coulthard Red Bull-Cosworth 53 +31.601 6 371 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 53 +33.879 14 2817 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 53 +49.548 1 1915 Christian Klien Red Bull-Cosworth 53 +51.925 41012 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 53 +57.509 10112 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 53 +1:00.633 91211 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas 53 +1:23.221 81318 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 52 +1 Lap 201420 Robert Doornbos Minardi-Cosworth 51 +2 Laps 151519 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 51 +2 Laps 111621 Christijan Albers Minardi-Cosworth 49 +4 Laps 13 8 Antônio Pizzonia Williams-BMW 9 Spun off 12 16 Jarno Trulli Toyota 9 Collision damage 10 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 0 Accident 184 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 52 Caused collision with Trulli 5 Notes – Jarno Trulli started from the pit lane. – Jacques Villeneuve was handed a 25-second time penalty for his collision with Juan Pablo Montoya. – Takuma Sato finished thirteenth but was disqualified from the final classification for his collision with Jarno Trulli.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings DriverPoints1 Fernando Alonso1232 Kimi Räikkönen104 13 Michael Schumacher62 14 Juan Pablo Montoya605 Giancarlo Fisichella53Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Constructor Points 11 Renault176 12 McLaren-Mercedes1743 Ferrari1004 Toyota825 Williams-BMW64Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References