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.

This was the first race since the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix where neither Ferrari driver finished on the podium.

David Coulthard's sixth place finish ensured he overtook Nigel Mansell as the UK's all time highest F1 points scorer, a record held by Lewis Hamilton .

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 20 20 21 Christijan Albers Minardi-Cosworth 1:40.432 1:42.569 3:23.001 +15.329 19 Notes – 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 56 1:31:33.736 1 10 2 16 Jarno Trulli Toyota 56 +24.327 2 8 3 8 Nick Heidfeld Williams-BMW 56 +32.188 10 6 4 10 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 56 +41.631 11 5 5 17 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 56 +51.854 5 4 6 14 David Coulthard Red Bull-Cosworth 56 +1:12.543 8 3 7 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 56 +1:19.988 13 2 8 15 Christian Klien Red Bull-Cosworth 56 +1:20.835 7 1 9 9 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 56 +1:21.580 6 10 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 55 +1 Lap 14 11 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota 54 +2 Laps 17 12 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota 53 +3 Laps 18 13 21 Christijan Albers Minardi-Cosworth 52 +4 Laps 19 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 49 Handling 12 6 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 36 Collision 3 7 Mark Webber Williams-BMW 36 Collision 4 11 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas 26 Spun Off 16 3 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 2 Engine 9 4 Anthony Davidson BAR-Honda 2 Engine 15 20 Patrick Friesacher Minardi-Cosworth 2 Spun Off 20

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings 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 8Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Constructor Points 1 Renault 26 4 2 Toyota 12 3 Red Bull-Cosworth 11 2 4 Ferrari 10 5 Williams-BMW 10Source:

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

References