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2005 CANADIAN F1 GRAND PRIX  

2005 F1 GP: R8 of 19, 2005 Canadian GP, June 12, Montreal

• HOME GP FOR VILLENEUVE: "Montreal is a special race for me. It is my home race so it feels special to come here, but also there are many great aspects to this event. The track is located in a very nice area and the crowd is fantastic. The drivers are closer to the fans than at most tracks and it creates such a great atmosphere. I don't know of anyone coming to Montreal without being literally charmed. I hope that we will be able to score some points here as we suffered from bad luck in recent races and the team really deserves some good results." Villeneuve qualified 8th.
• CARLIN REPLACED AT JORDAN F1
  The Sporting Director of Jordan F1, Trevor Carlin will be replaced by Adrian Burgess. CARLIN: "I am very pleased to be involved in the whole Midland F1 project from its conception, and I hand over my role ... to Adrian Burgess, knowing he will do a superb job. Team owner Alex Shnaider and managing director Colin Kolles have a very clear vision of where they want to take Midland F1 and the purchase of the Jordan Grand Prix team was the first step."
• YOUNG AMERICAN DRIVER SCOTT SPEED TO BE FRIDAY TEST DRIVER
  GP2 driver will have his first F1 test drive in front of home crowd in Canada and US (next weekend)

CIRCUIT:

• Gilles Villeneuve Circuit, Montreal Canada
• 70 lap race
• total distance 189.5 miles / 305.2 km
• 2.75 miles / 4.42 km per lap
  lap record: 1m19.379sec M Schumacher, Ferrari, 1998
• WINNERS
• 2004: M Schumacher, Ferrari
• 2003: M Schumacher, Ferrari
• 2002: M Schumacher, Ferrari
• 2001: R Schumacher, Williams/BMW Michelin
• 2000: M Schumacher, Ferrari
• 1999: Hakkinen, McLaren Mercedes
• LAST YEAR RESULT
  1 M Schumacher,
  2 Rubens Barrichello
  3 Jenson Button
  4 Fisichella
  5 Raikkonen

RACE RESULT

• 1 KIMI RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes, 70 laps
• 2 M SCHUMACHER, Ferrari +1.1s
• 3 BARRICHELLO, Ferrari +39.3s
• 4 MASSA
• 5 WEBBER
• 6 R SCHUMACHER
• 7 COULTHARD
• 8 KLIEN
• 9 VILLENEUVE
• 10 MONTEIRO
• 11 ALBERS
• SAFETY CAR: LAP 50 to clear Button's car
• BLACK FLAG: MONTOYA - for exiting pitlane during red light
• RETIREMENT
• SATO, LAP 16, gearbox
• KARTHIKEYAN, LAP 22
• FISICHELLA, LAP 27, hydraulic problem - his 4th retirement of 2005
• FRIESACHER, LAP 39
• ALONSO, LAP 40, contact with wall and rear suspension
• HEIDFELD, LAP 44, engine
• BUTTON, LAP 50, contact with wall
• MONTOYA, LAP 52, black flagged
• TRULLI, LAP 63, brakes

RACE REPORT:

• WINNER, Kimi Raikkonen: "I have gained what I lost at the last race and my Championship battle is back on. I came here to get ten points and we got them and I'm really pleased. Just after my first pitstop my steering developed a problem which meant that whenever I was driving straight it was pulling to the left. After the race I learnt that the team was monitoring the situation carefully but I had to do the best I could and we made it. The team told me to take it easy but I still had to push, so it was all about finding the right balance. Towards the end Michael was catching up but it was not too much of a problem. I can't wait for the race in Indianapolis next week where I think, once again, we should be in with a good chance of winning."
• MCLAREN (Ron Dennis): "Throughout the race we had to take some difficult decisions which only increased the pressure on the pitwall. Against this backdrop the mistake was made of not calling Juan Pablo in immediately after the deployment of the Safety Car which, of course, was only compounded by him driving through the red light. This shadow should not detract from a fantastic race by both Kimi and Juan Pablo. A one-two was possible and would have most likely seen Juan Pablo take his first victory for the team. However, there are many more races this season and as always as a team we will bear the consequences of our actions whether they are positive or negative. Our strategy for the remaining races remains unchanged. We will attack with a clear intention of winning with a firm and continuing commitment to equality for the drivers."
• 2ND, Michael Schumacher: "We can be happy with this result, particularly with Rubens coming from last to third. We developed the car well over the weekend, but now we have to work on the package more to make it good in all track conditions. At the start, me and Jenson went backwards! I just had no grip. In the closing stages, I was able to close on Kimi, my pace was as good or a little bit better than his, but it was not enough to pass. He almost gave me a present when he ran wide at Turn 4, but he did not stay there long enough."
• 3RD Rubens Barrichello: "In over 200 grands prix, this is the first time I have ever started a race from the pit lane. It's nice to do something new after so many races. In the early stages, the car was difficult to drive because it was so heavy. We changed our strategy by putting some extra fuel in at the start, as it would not have been any use to make my stops at the same time as everyone else. It took me a while to pass a Minardi, but after that I pushed all the time. The pit crew did a fabulous job to call me in at just the right time. I had a little bit of oversteer and was locking the rear brakes a bit, so I think my rear tyres suffered. I was lucky when Webber ran wide, Massa tried to avoid him and I passed both of them on the outside. Apart from that my only problems were with my drinks bottle and my radio which stopped working early in the race. What happened in qualifying was a shame but to come from last to third is a great achievement."
• FERRARI (Ross Brawn): "Obviously a very pleasing result given the problems we had in the last few races. However, at the start, things looked bad with Rubens in the pit lane and Michael getting swamped at the start. He actually made a good start and his initial acceleration was good and then he seemed to run out of grip. With our very aggressive strategy, running sixth on the road was a disaster. We worked out what could be done and had a pretty good race from then on. The car was good, well balanced, but not exceptional. We were still a little bit off the pace. We got the most out of it and with our strategy around the time of the Safety Car, everything worked extremely well. The guys did a fantastic job and the Bridgestone tyres worked well right to the end. With some new developments coming, I think we can look forward to some good races in the very near future."
• Fernando Alonso (DNF): "Not a good day for me. When the light went off, the electronic system of the car had a problem and I lost a bit of time. Then, during my pit- stop, the fuel rig also had a problem. In the end, I went too wide, I touched the wall and damaged the car. This is a very disappointing result, because the week-end had been almost perfect until then."
• RENAULT (Flavio Briatore): "This was a negative week-end for us but we have to consider that so far, we've had a strong season. In this sport, you can't expect a great result at every race. The team did a great job all week-end and today both cars were extremely competitive. We have to keep this in mind and be confident that we will be back on top next week-end at Indy."
• POLE SITTER, Jenson Button: "It has been a disappointing end to what has been a very encouraging weekend. I got onto the marbles in the hairpin, went a bit wide because the rear locked up and got the tyres dirty. When I got to the chicane, I had big understeer and hit the wall off the second kerb. It was completely my mistake and very frustrating because we were looking good. My start wasn't great and the Renaults got better traction off the line which allowed them to leapfrog me. After that the car was running reasonably well. We were not on the same pace as the leaders but it was looking good for a podium finish. To end the day with no points is frustrating but we have to look at the positives from the weekend. We have made real progress and now have to work hard to make the most of that in Indy."
• BAR (Gil de Ferran): "We are obviously disappointed not to have finished the race, however that's racing and the overwhelming feeling as we leave Canada and head to the US is a very positive one. Overall, our performance was much improved from the last race and we were challenging at the front end of the field throughout the weekend. Hopefully that's where we'll be in Indianapolis."

QUALIFYING & RACE PREVIEW:

• BUTTON (BAR-HONDA) POLE: "we didn't expect to challenge the Renaults and McLarens ..."

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