F1 Legend Sim/Seasons/2005

2005 F1 Season

19 races · Renault R25

The 2005 season ended Ferrari's reign and gave birth to a new star. A rule change (a single set of tyres for the whole race) sank Bridgestone and Ferrari and opened the door to Renault and McLaren.

Aged just 24, Fernando Alonso drove the solid, reliable Renault R25 with maturity beyond his years and became the youngest world champion in history at the time, breaking Schumacher's stranglehold. His great rival, Kimi Räikkönen, was often faster with the McLaren MP4/20, but disastrous reliability squandered his chances.

The year was also marred by the embarrassing United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis, where safety problems with Michelin tyres left only six cars on track, one of the most awkward episodes in the sport's modern history.

Drivers' Champion

Fernando Alonso

Renault R25

Constructors' Champion

Renault

19 races

See the 2005 simulation Ver en español

Key moment

"Alonso celebrates the title in Brazil, the youngest champion in history at that point."

The 2005 grid, car by car

The 10 teams that raced in 2005, ordered by how good we rate the car. It is our own judgement, not an official figure: what it is worth is that the same yardstick is applied to every season since 1988, so you can compare eras.

#TeamOur ratingDrivers
1McLaren
98
Kimi Räikkönen · Juan Pablo Montoya
2Renault
97
Fernando Alonso · Giancarlo Fisichella
3Ferrari
90
Michael Schumacher · Rubens Barrichello
4Williams
86
Mark Webber · Nick Heidfeld
5Toyota
85
Ralf Schumacher · Jarno Trulli
6BAR
84
Jenson Button · Takuma Sato
7Sauber
81
Felipe Massa · Jacques Villeneuve
8Red Bull
80
David Coulthard · Christian Klien
9Jordan
73
Tiago Monteiro · Narain Karthikeyan
10Minardi
68
Christijan Albers · Patrick Friesacher

How 2005 actually ended

The official final standings, from Australian Grand Prix to Chinese Grand Prix. This is the real result, not the simulation above.

DriverPointsWinsPodiumsPoles
1Fernando AlonsoRenault1337156
2Kimi RäikkönenMcLaren1127125
3Michael SchumacherFerrari62151
4Juan Pablo MontoyaMcLaren60352
5Giancarlo FisichellaRenault58131
6Ralf SchumacherToyota45021
7Jarno TrulliToyota43031
8Rubens BarrichelloFerrari38040

Alonso took it by 21 points with 7 wins and 6 poles across 19 races. 5 different drivers won that season, and the last Grand Prix went to Fernando Alonso.

Official FIA standings via Jolpica (formerly Ergast).

What if 2005 had been raced 100 times?

We took the real 2005 grid (every car with its performance and reliability, every driver with his rating) and re-ran the full 17-race championship 100 times.

DriverAvg. finishTitles
Fernando Alonsoreal championRenaultP1.373%
Kimi RäikkönenMcLarenP1.827%
Juan Pablo MontoyaMcLarenP3.10%
Michael SchumacherFerrariP4.40%
Giancarlo FisichellaRenaultP4.50%
Rubens BarrichelloFerrariP6.10%

Fernando Alonso takes the title 73% of the time: one in every 4 simulated championships goes to somebody else, almost always Kimi Räikkönen. It was not a dominated year, it was a won one.

Tags

#alonso#raikkonen#renault#mclaren#2005#R25

Year

2005

Races

19

Winning car

Renault R25

Navigation

← 2004: Michael Schumacher2006: Fernando Alonso →

What if Senna, Hamilton or Alonso had driven the 2005 championship-winning car?

Build your own hypothesis

Hypotheses from 2005

Alonso vs Räikkönen 2005: the Asturian's first title

Duel

▶ Simulate now

Drivers of 2005

Fernando Alonso

★ 2

Kimi Räikkönen

★ 1

Keep reading

What we have measured about 2005 and about what decided it, with our own numbers.

All articles