2005 Formula 1 Season In Review


By Normski
February 1 2006

Normski's review of a very exciting and at times most controversial season. From Giancarlo's surprise win to Ferrari's fall and from the Indianapolis debacle to Renault's victory of both titles over the McLaren team, it is all here in our 2005 review. 2005 Formula 1 Season In Review

2005 Formula 1 Season In Review

Normski
They say that the fate of a man can be decided in his name, to see if this is the case lets take a look at the top 8 drivers from last season:

Michael - From the Hebrew name Miyka'el which meant "who is like God?"

Rubens - Rubens was not found in this database.

Jenson – Jenson was not found in this database.

Fernando - Possibly means "ready to journey" from Gothic fardi "journey" and nand "ready"

Juan Pablo – (John and Paulus) this name owes its consistent popularity to two New Testament characters, both highly revered as saints

Jarno – Tough, Tenacious

Kimi – Kimi was not found in this database

Takuma – (Takumi) Means "artisan" in Japanese.

From this you can conclude that Michael truly is a god-like form (his 7 titles, or a load of hokey-pokey?), Fernando is ready to go on, or to take a journey (win the world title?) Juan Pablo is a saint (not to cameramen), Jarno is a tough cookie (the perseverance with Renault?) and Takuma is an artist. As for the rest of them they’re just making up the numbers.

F1 2005’s journey began here in Melbourne, Australia, with some new faces:

-Renault had signed Giancarlo Fisichella from Sauber

-McLaren signs Juan Pablo Montoya from Williams

-Williams picks up Nick Heidfeld from Jordan and Mark Webber from Jaguar

-BAR had fought on to keep Jenson Button

-Sauber signs Jacques Villeneuve from a sabbatical

-Toyota hires Jarno Trulli (albeit in 2004) and Ralf Schumacher from Williams

-Red Bull takes David Coulthard from McLaren and bringing in Tonio Liuzzi

-Jordan Tiago Monteiro and Narian Karthikeyen

-And Finally Minardi with Christian Albers from the DTM, Patrick Freisacher and later Robert Doornbos.

Effectively meaning that only Ferrari and BAR (once they’d been through the divorce courts) had retained the same drivers. Various circumstances had caused drivers to move teams, Fisichella because he thought it was a wise move, Webber so he could return to Renault some-day, Heidfeld as a chance to prove himself, Coulthard in a bid to re-ignite his F1 career and Trulli for beating Alonso. Jaguar has also been bought by Red Bull, who in turn spent over $10million on paint for the trucks.

Last season saw new rules to make things tighter between the teams, so naturally Ferrari stormed to the front and won by miles, Alonso scraping in 3rd. 2005 saw the same happen, but strangely not with Ferrari but two Italians (and no it wasn’t a strange delirious dream we all had either). One might argue the weather helped them, one might argue we are still dreaming, either way, Giancarlo Fisichella was his name, grabbing pole position from err… Trulli in the Toyota. Funny old world.

Fisi’s season started brightly… well the first race anyhow, surely anyone with half a brain could see what would happen next once he won, which he did. The Toyota slipped back to 9th with Tyre problems, and Alonso completed a comeback from 13th on the grid to take 2nd. Guess that’s what happens when there’s a wet qualifying session. Ferrari as of such, showed not much signs of life.

Meanwhile in the boardroom of Toyota F1, the following discussion was taking place:

"You mean there’s another Schumacher? Why did we sign this one, and not that one?"

Malaysia saw for the 2nd race in succession the Toyota of Trulli on the front row, something they had never managed to do in the previous 3 years. Ralf Schumacher, similar to Ferrari remained showing no signs of life. Fernando Alonso, who had much difficulty in season 2004 keeping his car on the track in quail or the races, discovered his winning credentials as he strolled to victory, Trulli a comfortable 2nd and Nick Heidfeld a brilliant 3rd, perhaps a turn in fortunes for the invisible Grove team?

Bahrain and finally the Toyota was toppled from the front row. Only for it to qualify 3rd. Michael Schumacher was the man to achieve this feat, with Fernando Alonso again on pole. As Alonso got off to a fantastic start the Toyota was challenging the Ferrari for 2nd. Yes that is correct; the Toyota was challenging the Ferrari for 2nd. Michael, oblivious to the pairs coming together in Malaysia 2003 which runined Trulli’s race tried the same move, this time without the same consequences. Several laps later and Alonso had won. Again. The Toyota 2nd and 2nd in the WCC, a remarkable feat for them.

Onto Imola….CHEATS, LIARS, THIEVES, SCOUNDRELS, BAN THEM AT ONCE! BAR are found to have an illegal fuel tank on their car… perhaps explaining their sudden form in 2004? Whether or not 5 other teams redesigned their cars after this remained to be seen, but FINALLY we saw a battle between the Champion and the pretender to the throne. Fernando Alonso drove as Trulli had done at Monaco the previous year to prevent Michael Schumacher from taking the win, a mere 0.090 separated them at the flag, in a tense and close race to the finish, something that ITV-F1 UK viewers were unable to see as they had an add-break. So hands up, who bought Calgon washing powder in the past year? A VW Golf or a LG phone? If you did, you are very, very bad people! (Luckily having RTL we saw the final few laps and burst into laughter as an add break appeared on the other channel). Jenson Button claimed 3rd but was then removed of it and it handed to Alexander Wurz, deputising for Juan Montoya who had a shoulder injury… the fact his wife had given birth to Sebastian Montoya was of no connection. Jacques Villeneuve discovered how to finish 4th in a GP after being overshadowed by Massa frequently (much like Ralf who was fast becoming a waste of money, $18 million for him, Willi Weber must’ve been laughing!) and BAR were stripped of all their points and a 2 race ban put in place.

Speaking of which, there was something of a baby boom in F1... Juan and Connie had Sebastian, Jarno and Wife had Enzino, Antonio and wife had a kid, along with Heidfeld and partner in June with Juni, and later Takuma Sato announcing he and his partner were expecting.

Onto Spain and Finally Kimi Räikkönen’s luck changed (perhaps he found some garlic) with a fine win in Barcelona, could he be the one to halt Alonso’s WDC charge? That blooming’ Toyota was 3rd again, and still it wasn’t Ralf, he finished 4th brining their best F1 result to date. Something for the non-tifosi as Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher finally had a mechanical glitch, it’s not nice to say this but couldn’t it have happened sooner… like sometime in 2004 perhaps?

The Monaco GP I did not view as I was on a vacation with the DJ Dallow Groupies (a god-awful DJ from here) to Belgium, whilst you were in the comfort of your own homes watching the most glamorous race of the year outside of the USA, I was walking round a graveyard in the soaking rain.

Back a week later for Europe at the Nurburgring (why they can’t race on the ‘ring like the DMSB I don’t know, perhaps they think someone would do a Matthias Schlappi…pull out a 20sec. lead each lap?) where those cheaters returned, With a fine 10th and 12th, perhaps they should’ve stayed away? Nick Heidfeld scored his 2nd podium of the year behind Alonso but ahead of Barrichello who again beat Michael Schumacher. Tiago Monteiro continued his streak of finishes, this time in 15th. This was the last time F1 would be in Europe as it headed off to North America…

In Canada, the team orders of Renault were finally revealed to the public (how I would dearly love to get a copy of their communication at the 2004 USA GP…) When Fernando screamed down the radio like a little baby "I am faster than Fisi!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let me pass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" a response "of well pass him then" was enough to make even the most unhumourous of people to laugh. It all ended with Fernando a little too enthusiastic and hitting Champions Wall, along with Button. The Only difference Button was yet to win a race, and Alonso looking like he could be WDC. Ferrari claimed their first double podium of the year in 2nd and 3rd, with Kimi Räikkönen winning once more. Oh Kimi if only your car was more reliable...

Elsewhere, Trulli’s Toyota that had fallen backwards in recent races as McLaren and Ferrari got their act together was a strong 3rd, until 8 laps from the end his brakes failed. At 200mph. luckily he wasn’t at Champions Wall, and for once ITV acknowledged he was a very lucky man, as it could’ve been a very nasty accident. Like 2004 Silverstone.

The Brickyard or Indianapolis as it’s also known is a home of US Motorsport, and F1 is trying to impress the US market. For any US fans who witness this GP they were probably wondering what the hell they were watching.

At 10:18am during free practice, Ralf Schumacher hit the wall again, as he had done in 2004. He was not injured. 6 minutes later at 10:24am Ricardo Zonta Toyota’s 3rd driver had a similar incident in the internal section. Immediately stopping all testing Toyota set about finding the problem, this was traced back to severe tyre-wear. The same was later discovered with the Red Bulls and McLaren’s. It was beginning to look like a problem for the Michelin shod teams…

Despite the problems with the tyres, as Michelin set about solving the problems, Qualifying went underway. With the prospect of Zonta’s and Ralf’s crashes at the back of his mind, Toyota’s Trulli set pole. Some deemed this to be fuel for 2 laps as there would be no race, alas we shall never know.

Onto Sunday morning and nothing has been sorted, Michelin want a chicane to be built at Turn 13. Ferrari (supposedly) blocks it. Michelin threaten pull out and warn their teams to not enter for safety reasons as they cannot guarantee the tyres will last, 15 laps is thought to be the maximum. With half an hour to go before the start of the race, they are still arguing. RTL’s Florien Koening is sat on the pitlane entry wall, there are no signs of activity there, and as the parade lap gets underway the teams continue to argue.

Millions of fans from around the world stared in disbelief as Trulli led a procession of 14 Michelin shod cars into the pitlane to abort the start. The chicane had not been built, no agreement had been reached, and one of the biggest farces in F1’s history was underway. As the cameras showed them heading into the pits, it panned out to the remaining cars on the grid. 2 Ferrari’s. 2 Jordan’s and 2 Minardi’s. The race started at the fans at the brickyard were in disarray, eventually creating banners with anti-f1 slogans and chucking beer cans at the cars… one wonders if this would have happened at the super-bowl or does Janet Jackson still overshadow that? As Martin Brundle acknowledges. 1st and 2nd place is sorted, it’ll be Ferrari, but who will come 3rd? That is the battle we need to see. It turns out to be Tiago Monteiro, with Karthikeyen 4th, Albers 5th and Doornbos 6th. Minardi had now scored in 2 Indy GP’s in succession after Zsolt Baumgartner’s’ 8th last year. The only excitement during the race came when the Ferrari’s nearly took each other out at turn 1.

F1 hung its head in shame as it returned to European soil and to the middle of nowhere in France. France 2004 is remembered for Michael Schumacher’s suffice to say, odd pitstop strategy that handed a win over to Alonso, and Barrichellos’ audacious move on the final lap.

The 2005 race saw none of that, but the podium showed the state of play in F1. Alonso is leading the way, with Kimi not so far behind him, and Michael can only watch as his title slips ever further away. The prospect of 8 World Titles is beginning to look a little over the hill.

Next it’s the British GP where ITV go bonkers over the prospect of a Jenson Button maiden win, but he comes home in 5th. Qualifying is a shambles as the teams decide it is going to rain so they aim for as slow a lap as possible in session 1 to set them up for session 2. A Loophole in the rules has been discovered. Again. Juan Montoya takes the chequered flag, coming back from the shoulder injury which is obviously still hurting him as he has an ice-pack on it a lot of the time.

As it’s half distance time in the season, the contracts are up for renewal for many drivers, Jenson Button decides to go through the divorce courts once again as he now doesn’t want to drive for Williams next year. ITV-F1 are on tenterhooks and their soap opera "Jenson Button – My eternal struggle to win a GP and change my mind all the time" begins once more, following the success of Tonio and Chris’ "Our House" they obviously think this is a wise move. Problem is, Tonio and Chris of Red Bull actually are funny.

There is talk of BMW buying out Sauber seeing as Williams are too uppity to allow them to take over, and Red Bull having a B team.

Patrick Freisacher runs out of money and is replaced by Robert Doornbos. Trulli decides that getting married wasn’t as good as winning Monaco. (1st or 2nd time marriage mate?)

The German GP I did not witness, and the Turkish GP I did not witness as I had gone on vacation this time to Italy.

Returning to Hungary the scene of many boring F1 races in the past (98 and 97 not including) and Rubens Barrichello decided he was a battering ram and promptly knocked off / damaged the rear diffuser on Trulli’s car. More often than not in the past, Jarno has been accused of not being able to drive round problems on the car, adapting to the conditions, however today he did. Setting a faster, fastest lap than Ralf in the process, as it stood, with the rear diffuser intact it is likely he would have scored his 4th podium of the season. Instead Ralf did.

Yes that’s right; Ralf Schumacher managed a podium finish, shock, horror.

Belgium and Italy saw wins for McLaren as Renault slipped back slightly. It was the 2004 Spa GP that saw Michael Schumacher beaten for only the 2nd time that season, and Kimi did it again. Yet Alonso remains in the lead of the standings, Fisi’s season is still in a slide and doesn’t look like it’ll recover and the same can be said for Ferrari at their spiritual home in Monza, finishing a distant 10th and 12th...

It’s the Brazilian GP and the F1 world is on its last fingernail. We know there is going to be a new WDC and WCC, the question is, who?

Despite McLaren’s best efforts, the luck is with Alonso (STILL!) as he finishes 3rd (albeit behind both McLaren’s) and takes the title. The youngest ever F1 world champion, the Spanish kid has done it, converting a million Spanish hearts into F1 fans instead of motorbikes and rally in an instant. The disappointment of 2004 is abolished and Michael Schumacher has finally been stopped.

Tiago Monteiro’s 100% record comes to sad end retiring on lap 55.

The Japanese GP I did not witness as I was in Germany for the Beru Top10. Despite the last lap antics of Kimi Räikkönen on Giancarlo Fisichella (reminiscent to Barrichello on Trulli a year ago in France) the laps I saw were nothing compared to the Beru Top 10. Renault decides to not criticize Giancarlo and suggest a Mickey Mouse Alarm clock, instead blaming the safety car. Ralf claimed Toyota’s 2nd pole but pitted on lap 13, thus rendering it useless, like his season. Takuma Sato hits 2 cars in the space of 10 laps, managing to destroy the side-pod of Trulli’s Toyota, yet cause no damage on his car. What have they made it out of? A battering ram? Or is that what it is? A battering ram? ITV’s love fest reportedly continues as Button is 2nd on the grid, Perhaps they should have been present at the Berlin love Parade?

Finally it’s China and the season is drawing to a close, the race promises to be exciting, can Fisi make up for his earlier gaff? Can Renault win the WCC, or will McLaren snatch it after Renault have had it for so long this season?

As the race transpires, it proves races so early on in the morning really are the best ones. Michael crashes with Albers on the parade lap – a sign of things to come? Taku jump-starts once again, possibly costing him a race-seat next year… not a lot happens for a while as Alonso repeats what he did in Malaysia, until an unexpected problem….

It’s not the weather It’s not a 12 car pile up like Spa 98 James Allen hasn’t lost his voice

There’s a loose man-hole cover which has just ended Juan Montoya’s race. As ITV jump ship to an add-break, Paul Stoddart tells his drivers they don’t know what the problem is; Permane relays to Alonso that Fisi is behind him with Montoya stopping twice then there’s confusion as to why there is a safety-car. Finally we see the man-hole cover with a race marshal removing it then dancing about; next they show Safety-Car guys driving with their on-board camera before Michael spins out once more behind the safety-car.

Blimey o’Riley’s trousers it’s happening here is it not?

Narian then has a nasty shunt but is ok, which brings out the safety-car once more. The Minardi’s are loosing wheels apparently, Michael has ‘bummed behind you” according to Sauber Radio when he spun behind Massa…and them Ralf gets on the podium again. Not to mention Fernando’s god-awful singing whilst sober….

Funny old season.

It’s been an interesting season, overtaking has made a return even if the rules have been confusing at times. 2006 promises to be better…the V8’s are back, goodbye V10’s  and aerodynamic rules available from http://www.fia.com are here. There’s a few new teams about… BAR and Honda, Sauber are now BMW, Jordan are now Midland and Minardi Squada Toro Rossa. The privateers are gone. It’s a manufacturers sport and the legend of Minardi is no more. Such legendary drivers as Giancarlo Fisichella, Jarno Trulli, Mark Webber, Fernando Alonso (getting the hint it’s Flav territory) owe it to them for kick-starting their F1 careers, and who can forget Pierluigi Martini’s 1991 season, with a 2nd place on the grid and 4th in a race (sadly I’ve forgotten when these were!) or Luca Badoer’s run to 4th in Nurburgring 1999 only for it to end suddenly when his car failed. Minardi, and Jordan and Sauber have had their fair share of history in F1, whether it be nearly dying in the 1990’s, to almost winning a WDC, the fact they are gone shows F1 is the piranha club. Red Bulls PR reports were a joy to read!

The season will be remembered for its ups (more than one person challenging for the title) and it’s downs (USA) but most of all it will be remembered for the season that saw Fernando Alonso become Spain’s first F1 WDC, and the youngest WDC. Along with Jenson Button reaching 100 races and… oh Jarno Trulli is now imprisoned for Rape. There is no knowing when he will be released. (If you believe former ‘Trulli’ on Planet F1)

Driver line-up for 2006:

Ferrari – Michael Schumacher, Felipe Massa

Williams – Mark Webber,??? (Nico Rosberg)

McLaren – Kimi Räikkönen, Juan Pablo Montoya

Renault – Fernando Alonso, Giancarlo Fisichella (???)

Honda – Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello

Toyota – Jarno Trulli, Ralf Schumacher (???)

BMW – Nick Heidfeld, Jacques Villeneuve (???)

Red Bull – David Coulthard, Christian Klien (???)

Midland - ???, ???

Squada Toro Rossa – Tonio Liuzzi (???), Scott Speed (???)

‘Honda B’ (unknown if they exist)

‘Team 12 from the east’ (unknown if they exist)

Goodnight Everyone!

Events during the off-season:

GP Masters

A1 GP

Race of Champions (Coulthard and McRae confirmed?)

Bundesliga – Can Bayern win the title again, or will HSV / Schalke / Bremen stop them

Testing – back in November!

Driver of the Year: Kimi Räikkönen

Disappointment of the Year: Jenson Button (100 races, no wins, dear oh dear)

Team of the Year: Renault

The "Why the hell is he still racing" award: Takuma Sato

Rookie of the Year: Tiago Monteiro

Goodnight!

Read more from Normski here

October 19, 2005

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