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2005 BAHRAIN F1 GRAND PRIX

2005 F1 GP: BAHRAIN F1 GP: R3 of 19, April 3, 2005

RACE RESULT: ALONSO WINS; SCHUMACHER RETIRES

100TH WIN FOR RENAULT

ALONSO: "It was the hottest race I've ever been in, but the car was extremely strong ... The R25 was perfect today, and the team has been fantastic all weekend, with no mistakes"

• For the second race in a row Fernando Alonso started from pole and won the race. He leads the championship on 26 points from Trulli (Toyota) on 16 points.
• World champion Michael Schumacher retired after mechanical problem on lap 12. This is his first retirement since 2001. "I picked up some debris following Fernando and may have damaged a radiator to break. But I am not too upset. I was running second and the car is fast. We are still encouraged.We are strong - don't worry."
• Toyota continues its best ever result with Trulli 2nd and Ralf Schumacher 4th.
  TRULLI: "I am so pleased with this result. After Malaysia, I thought we would be competitive and to claim our second consecutive podium is fantastic. The car performed amazingly well, it was quick and reliable with no issues whatsoever. The braking, cooling, Michelin tyres, engine, everything worked well. I realised midway through the race that it was futile to try and catch Fernando and we were safely in second, which is tremendous for everyone in the team. I would like to thank all the team for this result, but we still have one place ahead of us, so we must keep pushing with that as the target."
• Both BAR-Honda cars failed to finish.

APR 3, 2005 - EXTREME HIGH TEMP: 42° AIR TEMP; 52° TRACK TEMP

• 57 LAP RACE
• 1 Fernando Alonso , Renault , 57 laps
• 2 Jarno Trulli , Toyota +13.4s
• 3 Raikkonen, McLaren-Mercedes +32
  "I am very pleased with third place after a difficult two qualifying sessions. The car felt really good in the race, but unfortunately I was stuck behind a lot of traffic early on. I managed to gain a few places, but once I was in third position the front two cars were too far ahead for me to catch them and in agreement with the team we decided to conserve the engine for Imola."
• 4 R. Schumacher, Toyota +53
  "Another great result for the team after our success in Malaysia. I had a good race, although it was pretty slippery, but that is to be expected at this track. The end result was dictated by the mistake in qualifying yesterday which bumped me down to eleventh but the team did a great job to move me up some positions on the grid. We have two cars in the points, including one on the podium, so well done to Jarno and everyone in the team both here and in Cologne. After my 5th place in Malaysia and now 4th in Bahrain, it must be my turn for the podium next."
• 5 De La Rosa, McLaren-Mercedes +1m 4s
  "I had a great time racing today. My lap times were consistently fast when I had a clear track ahead. However most of the race I had fights with competitors which kept me busy. I gave it my all to win the battles against Takuma Sato, Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button and Mark Webber. It was hard work to make my way through the field after a difficult first few laps coming from ninth after the first lap. I must thank the whole team who have worked so hard to provide me with a car that was both fast and reliable."
• 6 Webber , Williams-BMW
• 7 Massa, Sauber
• 8 Coulthard, Red Bull-Cosworth
• 9 Barichello, Ferrari
• 10 Monteiro 11 Villeneuve 12 Friesacher 13 Albers

RETIREMENT

• M Schumacher/Ferrari - lap 12 spin; hydraulic problem
• Fisichella/Renault - engine
• Heidfeld/Williams - lap 26, blown engine
• Sato/BAR - brakes
• Button/BAR - clutch
• Klien/Red Bull - retire at race start
• Karthikeyan/Jordan

RACE REVIEW:

RENAULT:

• Fernando wins his second consecutive race, while Giancarlo retired early with an engine failure.
• Fernando Alonso dominated this afternoon's Bahraini Grand Prix at the Sakhir circuit. At the wheel of his R25, the Spaniard scored the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team's third victory of the season, and the third of his career, two weeks after winning in Malaysia.
• It was also an historic moment in Renault's sporting history: this success marked the hundredth win for a Renault engine in Formula 1, the twentieth for a Renault chassis, and this win is the first time in history that a Renault chassis has won three consecutive races.
• Fernando Alonso, Winner: "The R25 was perfect today, and the team has been fantastic all weekend, with no mistakes. To score 26 points out of 30 possible is brilliant, but we need to stay cautious: we have only done three races out of nineteen in a very long season. However, I think that if we stay competitive like we are, and if we can avoid mechanical problems, then we will be hard to beat."
• Giancarlo Fisichella, retired, lap 3: "It is normal that I feel extremely disappointed after retiring from a race where I could have scored a very strong result. The car felt great on the first lap, when I gained positions and felt like I could get even more. Then, the engine lost power and I was called into the pits to retire. I hope things will go better in Italy in three weeks."
• Flavio Briatore, Managing Director: "This was a fantastic result for the whole team. Fernando dominated from start to finish: he had a nice fight with Michael, but after the Ferrari retired he just had to manage his tyres, his engine and the gap to Jarno. We are all disappointed for Giancarlo, but I know he will fight back strongly at the next race. Well done to everybody at Enstone and Viry; we are all proud to bring Renault their hundredth Formula One victory."
• Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: "To see a driver control a race like Fernando did this afternoon is an impressive sight. His performance is even more remarkable when you consider he did not even use all the revs available on the engine in the opening laps. He seemed capable of increasing his pace when necessary, without putting undue stress on the car. We are sorry for Giancarlo, whose engine started to fail on lap two. We knew there was nothing we could do, but given the way in which the race unfolded, he could have scored a very strong result. We also need to thank Michelin: the tyres were really put to the test this weekend, with track temperatures over 50°C. Once again, the tyres were excellent in every area: they were quick over one lap, and consistent all the way through the race."

PRE RACE:

SCHUMACHER, PRE RACE: " One of the things I've learned from the past is that every Formula One season has its different phases, and this season will be longer than every one before it ... A lot is still going to happen. That things can change quickly as we're seeing right now and that with good work you can move up."

• SCHUMACHER: I realised immediately that the F2005 is fast
  "It's always a great feeling to get behind the wheel of a new car. It was wonderful to get in it and finally drive it ... I realised immediately that the F2005 is fast. I can already say it's a step forward and I'm undoubtedly satisfied"
• FERRARI (Jean Todt): "The tests at Mugello confirmed the car's capability. We will have two F2005s, one for each driver, and one F2004 that was used in Australia and Malaysia as a back-up."
• BARRICHELLO: "The new car is quicker. It is particularly amazing to drive through the high speed corners. It is better on the braking and in almost every area. At Mugello, my first impressions were really positive and the car brought a smile to my face. With the F2005 we can really fight the opposition."
• MONTOYA TO MISS RACE: "I'm obviously disappointed not to be able to race ... but we have to follow the advice of the medical team" - he has shoulder injury. Pedro de la Rosa will fill in for Montoya.

CIRCUIT / RACE:

• Circuit: Bahrain International Circuit, Kingdon of Bahrain
• opened on March 17, 2004
• first F1 race in 2004
• located 25kms from Bahraini capital (Al Manamah)
• 5.417 km / 3.366 mile circuit; 1 km long straight
• 2004 BAHRAIN GP RESULT:
• 1 Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, B, 57 laps
• 2 Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari, B +1.3s
• 3 Jenson Button, BAR Honda, M +26.6s
• 4 Trulli, Renault, M +32s
• 5 Sato, BAR, M +52s
• 6 Alonso, Renault +53s

QUALIFYING:

GRID, APR 3, 2005

• 1 Fernando Alonso, Renault *2nd consecutive pole*
  "The second qualifying session is always difficult: it is the first hot lap of the day for the drivers, and you need to find the limit straight away. The wind was strong again today, and the circuit conditions a little bit worse than yesterday afternoon. But nevertheless I managed to do a good lap, and tried not to make any mistakes. It wasn't perfect, but I did what was necessary to keep pole position."
• 2 Michael Schumacher, Ferrari
  "I must say that the car felt really good with a heavy fuel load, which is something we had already seen in private testing. On my lap, I made a mistake at Turn 4, which cost me some time, but not enough to have lost me pole. I am happy to be on the front row and am looking forward to a good race."
• 3 Jarno Trulli, Toyota
  "For the first time this season, I will not start from the front row of the grid, but I think third is a still a good result and representative of our current competitiveness. I am starting on the cleaner side of the track, which will hopefully enable me to get a better start than my immediate challengers and from there we have to look at finishing amongst the frontrunners."
• 4 Nick Heidfeld , Williams-BMW
  "I have equalled today my best ever qualifying position in Formula 1 and I am very pleased. Starting from the second row I am potentially much closer to a podium finish here than I was in Malaysia where I started tenth and managed to get into third place.We have a good car for the race and a good strategy. There's no doubt that our car has definitely taken a step forward with the new parts that we have introduced here."
• 5 Mark Webber, Williams-BMW
  "It is pretty harsh to expect the drivers to do a perfect lap on Sunday morning since fuel load, track and wind conditions - especially here - have changed since yesterday afternoon. Some of the corners were very good for me, some others less perfect, but all in all I had a fairly satisfying lap and I have improved one position from yesterday's qualifying."
• 6 Ralf Schumacher , Toyota
• 7 Christian Klien , Red Bull-Cosworth
• 8 Pedro de la Rosa , McLaren-Mercedes
• 9 Raikkonen , McLaren-Mercedes
• 10 Fisichella , Renault
• 11 Button 12 Massa 13 Sato 14 Coulthard 15 Vileneuve 16 Monteiro 17 Karthikeyan 18 Albers 19 Friesacher 20 Barrichello

SAT, QUALIFYING 1, APR 2, 2005

• 1 Fernando Alonso, Renault 1m 29.848 (vs 2004 pole 1m 30.139)
  "The R25 was handling very well on my timed lap, and the Michelin tyres had a very strong level of performance. On the tyre side, this performance is the confirmation that they are competitive in very different conditions, on contrasting types of circuit; it also shows this is true for our chassis-engine package. I lost some time in the final corner, but I still had some margin: I will need to push the car even more tomorrow morning in order to maintain the gap."
• 2 Jarno Trulli, Toyota +0.14s
  "Another excellent result, not only for myself, but for the whole team who have again performed magnificently. We have showed that if we perform consistently over the weekend, then we can be right up there when it counts. We have to keep up this pace tomorrow. The car is better than in yesterday's sessions, but it is still not entirely to my driving style with some oversteer, which lost me some time over the lap. All in all, we are pleased with second and hope to have a replay of our Malaysian success in tomorrow's race."
• 3 Michael Schumacher, Ferrari +0.38
  "It is fair to say that Malaysia gave us a wake up call and I must thank the team for the great effort it has made to move the new car schedule forward. It was important to have it here in Bahrain because of the new engine rule. All the work has paid off, we are back near the top and the gap to the two guys ahead of me is quite reasonable. We and Bridgestone seem to be back on track. So far this season we have been off the pace in qualifying and a bit better in the race. Now, we are reasonable in qualifying and our race pace seems good too. Over the course of all the practice sessions here we have made steady progress with the car-tyre package."
• 4 Nick Heidfeld , Williams-BMW +0.54
• 5 Giancarlo Fisichella , Renault +0.59
• 6 Mark Webber, Williams-BMW +0.74
• 7 Kimi Raikkonen, McLaren-Mercedes +0.746
• 8 Christian Klien , Red Bull-Cosworth
• 9 Pedro de la Rosa , McLaren-Mercedes
• 10 Felipe Massa , Sauber-Petronas
• 11 Ralf Schumacher 12 Jenson Button 13 Takuma Sato 14 David Coulthard 15 Rubens Barrichello 16 acques Villeneuve 17 Narain Karthikeyan 18 Tiago Monteiro 19 Christijan Albers 20 Patrick Friesacher

FRI, SESSION 2, APR 1, 2005

• 1 *Alex Wurz, McLaren-Mercedes 1m 30.695s (vs 2004 pole 1m 30.139)
• 2 Fernando Alonso, Renault +1.2
• 3 *Vitantonio Liuzzi, Red Bull-Cosworth +1.6
• 4 Pedro de la Rosa , McLaren-Mercedes
• 5 Michael Schumacher, Ferrari +1.7
• 6 Jarno Trulli, Toyota +1.9
• 7 Fisichella 7 Raikkonen 8 Button 10 R Schumacher 11 Heidfeld 12 Sato 13 Klien 14 *Zonta 15 Webber 16 Coulthard 17 Massa 18 Karthikeyan 19 *Doornbos 20 Villeneuve
• * reserve driver

FRI, SESSION 1, APR 1, 2005

• 1 *Ricardo Zonta, Toyota 1m 31.449s (vs 2004 pole 1m 30.139)
  "I think we had a good opening practice session this morning, in which we were able to complete everything on our task list, including set-up and balance changes to the car. The all-important second practice proved to be somewhat troublesome after a gearbox problem kept me in the garage for most of the session. We therefore could not compare the Michelin tyres as planned, so we effectively lost our third car advantage today."
• 2 Michael Schumacher, Ferrari +0.6
• 3 *Vitantonio Liuzzi, Red Bull-Cosworth +1.06
• 4 *Alex Wurz, McLaren-Mercedes +1.65
• 5 Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari +1.66
• 6 Pedro de la Rosa , McLaren-Mercedes +1.8
• 7 Webber 8 Raikkonen 9 Button 10 Heidfeld

RACE PREVIEW:

• RED BULL, McLAREN-MERCEDES, TOYOTA, RENAULT, WILLIAMS-BMW
• MICHELIN, FERRARI, BAR-HONDA

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