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2005 MONACO F1 GRAND PRIX

2005 F1 GP: R6 of 19, 2005 Monaco GP, May 22, Monte Carlo

CIRCUIT

• Monte Carlo street circuit, Monaco
• tight street circuit; narrow, bumpy surface; difficult to overtake
• 78 lap race ; total distance 162.4 ml / 261.5 km
• 2.08 ml / 3.34 km per lap
• lap record: 1m 14.4s M Schumacher, Ferrari, 2004
• WINNERS
• 1997: M Schumacher/Ferrari
• 1998: M Hakinnen/McLaren Mercedes
• 1999: M Schumacher/Ferrari
• 2000: Coulthard/McLaren Mercedes
• 2001: M Schumacher/Ferrari
• 2002: Coulthard/McLaren Mercedes
• 2003: Juan Montoya, Williams BWM
• 2004: Jarno Trulli , Renault
• LAST YEAR RESULT
• 1 Jarno Trulli , Renault
  2 Jenson Button , BAR +0.4s
  3 Rubens Barrichello , Ferrari +15
  4 Montoya , Williams
  5 Massa , Sauber
  6 Da Matta , Toyota

RACE RESULT:

• 1 Kimi Raikkonen, McLaren-Mercedes, 78 lap race
  "This is great. To win is always fantastic, but Monaco is a special challenge. We have been strong throughout the weekend and I was able to pretty much control the race. I was able to push and open up a considerable gap, and when the time was right I simply came into the pits, refuel and still rejoin the race in the lead. After that I could take it a bit easier and look after the car and the Michelin tyres."
• 2 Nick Heidfeld, Williams-BMW +13.8s
  "I am very very pleased to get my best ever result here in Monaco. I had a very good start and I even touched Mark at the first corner, but that's racing. But then I was stuck with other drivers behind Trulli for some time so I tried to save fuel and tyres. When the safety car came out and the engineers called us both in, the guys did a fantastic job in getting us out so quickly. Then I was lucky because the engineers decided to take a risk and pit earlier, for my second stop and this allowed me to get ahead of Mark. A lot of cars seemed to have problems with their tyres today but we didn't and towards the end I pushed as hard as I could. When I caught up to Alonso I knew he was struggling with his tyres so I decided to wait for a couple of laps to weigh up the best possibility to overtake him. Fernando defended well but I was just able to out-brake him which was such a good feeling."
• 3 Mark Webber, Williams-BMW +18.4s
  "It's my first podium finish in F1 and it's very good to have two cars on the podium here, after a not so easy start to this season. Last week in Vallelunga we made a lot of tyre testing for this race and our choice paid off today because apart from McLaren today we were much stronger than anybody else. I was stuck behind Jarno in the first part of the race and it was frustrating. Then unfortunately Nick passed me at the second pit-stop and we were both again held up by Alonso, who was struggling with his tyres. Obviously, once Nick had got ahead of Fernando he made it very difficult for me into the chicane. We had a good fight and I just made it past him. It's been a great effort from WilliamsF1, BMW and Michelin. We showed today good performance and reliability. I just wished I could have driven in some clean air today!"
• 4 Fernando Alonso, Renault +36.4
  "It was a really tough race for me. I tried to look after the tyres at the start of the race, so I didn't worry too much about the fact that Raikkonen was pulling away, but in the last twenty laps, things became really difficult: I did all I could to keep the Williams behind me, but I couldn't hold them off because the rear tyres were in poor condition and they could brake much later into the Chicane. After a race like that, I think we need to look at the positive aspects: we managed to score points on an afternoon when it would have been very easy to score none at all."
• 5 Juan Montoya, McLaren-Mercedes +36.6
• 6 R Schumacher, Toyota
• 7 M Schumacher, Ferrari
  "Everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong at the beginning. I got stuck behind the Minardi that blocked the track and then I had to pit to change the nose on the car. It is clear when you look at the times that we had a very competitive race pace. It is a shame that we were not able to get the most out of it. But, given everything that happened, I have to be reasonably happy with my two points. As for my move on Rubens, we are all here to race and I did not think there was much risk involved in the move."
• 8 R Barrichello, Ferrari
• 9 Massa 10 Trulli
• 11 Villeneuve 12 Fisichella 13 Monteiro 14 Albers
• RETIREMENT:
• lap 18, Karthekeyan - mechanical
• lap 24, Coulthard - mechanical after contact with M Schumacher
• lap 30, Friesacher - crash
• lap 50, Liuzzi

POST RACE REPORT:

• 1st, McLAREN (DENNIS): "A tremendous result for the team. Kimi drove an absolute faultless race coping well with the need to pace himself to not only conserving the car but of course also the tyres. The safety car deployment caused minor confusion with our strategists working to double-check the data before making the final call on whether to bring Kimi into the pits or not. Clearly they were right and the outcome obvious. Juan Pablo had an impressive drive through the field which coupled with our strategy gave him a well deserved fifth place. A special mention to our Partner Michelin who clearly gave us the best tyres today."
• 4th, RENAULT (BRIATORE): "The only way to analyse a race like this is to look at things calmly. On the negative side, our competitors did a better job than us this afternoon and we need to understand why our car had such severe problems with tyre wear; on the positive side, it was a day when it would have been easy to score no points at all, and we still got five. Fernando worked miracles to finish fourth, while Fisico couldn't do anything as his tyre wear was even worse. This is not a performance that puts us under pressure -- we already were, as always in Formula 1. The season will be a long one, and we now that we all have to work hard to maintain our position at the top of the table."
• FERRARI (BRAWN): "It was a bit of a frustrating afternoon, because you could see in the middle of the race that our car had huge potential. Michael set the fastest lap when he still had a lot of fuel in the car. But this was typical of the type of race you can expect to have at this circuit if you do not qualify well. Basically, we had to follow other cars and were not able to use our pace. The tyres were perfect for the race, but we were not able to qualify well and here we paid very heavily for that. Things might have been different if Michael had not got caught up in the mess behind the Minardi, while Rubens stalled in the pits which cost him a lot of time. So, a lot of potential, but we could not use it."

• 2nd & 3rd, WILLIAMS RACE REPORT: BMW WilliamsF1 Team takes second and third places in Monaco
  In the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix, the BMW WilliamsF1 Team secured a fantastic double podium finish, with Nick Heidfeld securing second place and Mark Webber finishing third. The 2005 Monaco Grand Prix turned out to be a major success for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team. After qualifying, Mark Webber had said, “I think this can be our best race of the season so far.” And he was right.
  
  After the start, things didn’t look too promising as Mark dropped back from third to fifth position while Nick successfully defended his sixth place. But after using the Safety Car period (laps 24 to 28) for their first pit stops, the BMW WilliamsF1 Team drivers continued in fourth and fifth places, respectively, and closed the gap to Fernando Alonso (Renault / 2nd) and Jarno Trulli (Toyota / 3rd). When Trulli made his second stop on lap 39, the duo gave the relatively slow Alonso, who was on a one-stop strategy, a really hard time.
  
  On lap 57, Nick made his second pit stop, and while Mark was hampered by the slow Renault for one more lap, Nick used the free track to set a fast lap. Therefore, Mark rejoined the race behind Nick after his second stop on lap 58.
  
  Afterwards, the BMW WilliamsF1 Team pairing’s lap times were about five seconds faster than Alonso’s and soon they were back on the Spaniard’s diffuser. On lap 71, Nick made a stunning move to pass Alonso in the ‘Harbour Chicane‘ for second place, and three laps later, Mark repeated his team-mate’s feat to take third position, thus securing the team’s best result of the season so far. (WILLIAMS-BMW F1)
• TOYOTA (Tsutomu Tomita): "It was a very good race from Ralf and it was a very good, richly deserved result. After his crash yesterday, to drive a completely rebuilt car from last to 6th is a very good performance. It shows again that in Monaco anything can happen at any time. You just need to keep up there until the very end. By contrast, Jarno was very unlucky. Because we were on a one-stop strategy the safety car period didn't play into our hands and he ended up stuck behind another car. When he tried to pass him he went over the kerbs very heavily and then he reported a handling problem. We checked the car in the pit stop and didn't see anything which was why we sent him out again. It's a pity he missed out on points but both drivers performed very well and in terms of a spectacle this was one of the best races of the season."

QUALIFYING & RACE PREVIEW:

• RAIKKONEN ON POLE

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