2005 Formula One World Championship (Alt)

This is a fictional account of an alternative version of the 2005 F1 season. For the real 2005 season, see the 2005 Formula One World Championship

The **2005 FIA Formula One World Championship** was the 59th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 56th FIA Formula One World Championship, contested over a then-record 19 Grands Prix. It commenced on 6 March 2005 and ended 16 October.

## Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers were competitors in the 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship.

* † All engines were 3.0-litre, V10 configuration. 2005 was the final year of this engine formula.

### Team changes

**Jordan: Ford -> Toyota.** Toyota-powered Jordan Grand Prix was purchased by Midland Group, although the team continued as Jordan. Sauber switched from Bridgestone to Michelin tyres over the winter, further severing their ties with the Ferrari team.

At the Hungarian Grand Prix, West McLaren Mercedes became Team McLaren Mercedes.

Shortly after the United States Grand Prix, Peter Sauber announced that Credit Suisse had sold BMW their majority share in his Sauber team, which announced its intention to run as BMW's factory team in 2006.

### Driver changes

**Giancarlo Fisichella: Sauber -> Renault.** Renault partnered Fernando Alonso with the 2004 Sauber driver Giancarlo Fisichella, in a straight swap with Jacques Villeneuve (who had taken over from Jarno Trulli at Renault for the last three races of the season).

**Mark Webber: Jaguar -> Williams, Nick Heifeld: Jordan -> Williams** Williams employed an all-new driver line-up in 2005, having signed Jaguar's Mark Webber and Jordan's Nick Heidfeld to replace Mika Häkkinen and Ralf Schumacher. Häkkinen moved back to McLaren, in place of the Jaguar-bound David Coulthard (who took Webber's vacated seat), while Ralf Schumacher signed for Toyota. This meant that Ricardo Zonta, who had raced for Toyota in five of the final six races of 2004, returned to a third driver role in 2005. Olivier Panis, who had driven in seventeen out of eighteen races for Toyota in 2004, was retained by the team in the dual capacity of advisor and test driver. Cristiano da Matta, who had started the 2004 season with Toyota, returned to Champ Car in 2005. Jarno Trulli joined as Toyota's second driver.

Jordan's other driver from the end of 2004, Timo Glock, also switched to Champ Car for 2005, leaving Jordan with two vacant seats. They were taken by Tiago Monteiro (a test driver for Minardi in 2004) and Narain Karthikeyan, both Formula One debutants, who had both competed in the previous year's World Series by Nissan season. Giorgio Pantano, who raced for Jordan for the majority of 2004, left Formula One altogether, joining the Super Nova Racing team for the inaugural GP2 Series season.

Minardi also ran an all-new line-up in 2005, with their 2004 drivers—Gianmaria Bruni (who switched to GP2 in 2005) and Zsolt Baumgartner—being replaced by a pair of debutants: Patrick Friesacher and Christijan Albers, who had competed in International Formula 3000 and DTM, respectively, during the previous season.

### Mid-season changes

* BAR test driver Anthony Davidson raced in Malaysia in place of an ill Takuma Sato. Sato returned to the seat for the next race.
* Vitantonio Liuzzi and Christian Klien were both contracted to Jaguar to participate in at least three races, and agreed to share their race seat for the season. While Klien, who had raced for Jaguar in 2004, drove in the first three races, Liuzzi replaced him for the San Marino, Spanish, Monaco, and European Grands Prix. Klien returned for the Canadian Grand Prix, and completed the remainder of the season.
* Robert Doornbos was Jordan's third driver for nine of the first eleven races of the season. Franck Montagny replaced him at the European Grand Prix, while Jordan were banned from using a third car at the Canadian Grand Prix after using too many tyres at the previous race. Nicolas Kiesa replaced Doornbos for the German Grand Prix onwards, when the Dutchman replaced Patrick Friesacher at Minardi due to sponsorship issues.
* Chanoch Nissany became Minardi's third driver for the Hungarian Grand Prix. He was replaced by Enrico Toccacelo for the Turkish Grand Prix and Italian Grand Prix. Nissany was the first Israeli to participate in a Formula One weekend.
* Antônio Pizzonia replaced Nick Heidfeld at Williams for the Italian Grand Prix, when Heidfeld decided to withdraw after complaining of a severe headache. Earlier in the week, he had crashed heavily during a test session at Monza. Heidfeld had been due to return for the Brazilian Grand Prix, but after having a motorcycle accident he was forced to sit out the remainder of the season, with Pizzonia continuing to race for Williams in Heidfeld's absence.

## Season calendar

The 2005 Formula One calendar featured one new event, the Turkish Grand Prix.

## Rule changes

### Technical regulations

* A major change in 2005 was the outlawing of tyre changes during pit stops. Now a driver had to use one set of tyres during qualifying and the race itself. The reason for this rule change was to motivate the teams to select harder tyre compounds with less grip, reducing cornering speeds, which was intended to improve safety. Tyre changes were allowed for punctures and for wet weather, under the direction of the FIA. The FIA had to post a "change in climatic conditions" notice in order for tyre changes to occur normally as a force majeure. After Kimi Räikkönen's disastrous accident at the Nurburgring when his suspension collapsed after a flat-spotted tyre ripped the carbon fibre suspension apart, team principals and the FIA agreed that a single tyre change per car could be made without penalty, provided it was to change a tyre that had become dangerously worn like Räikkönen's had. Preserving a single set of tyres for the entire race became a new challenge for drivers; the challenge for tyre manufactures was to produce more durable, long-lasting compounds. Michelin-shod runners had a distinct advantage over their Bridgestone counterparts.
* Formula One engines had to last two race weekends, double that demanded by 2004 regulations. A driver who needed to change an engine was subject to a 10-place grid penalty for the race. Designed to limit revs and power outputs demanded by greater reliability, this regulation was also a cost-cutting measure for engine manufacturers. After the initial race of the season, the FIA acted to close a loophole in this new regulation exposed by BAR, who deliberately pitted their cars rather than finish the race.
* The technical aerodynamics regulations were modified to improve competition, especially for cars travelling in another car's air flow wake in order to overtake. By changing the size and placement of both front and rear wings, as well as requiring higher noses, the new rules attempted to reduce downforce by roughly one-quarter, but teams developed other chassis innovations to reclaim much of that "lost" downforce, which made following another car even harder than the previous season. Front wings have been lifted by 5 cm (50 mm), to reduce downforce, while the rear wings have been brought forward 15 cm (150 mm) relative to the centre line between the rear wheels.
* This was the final season in which the 3.0-litre V10 engine configuration was used by all teams. New changes in the technical regulations saw a 2.4-litre V8 engine configuration being introduced by the FIA for the 2006 Formula One season; however, the FIA granted an exemption for teams who were unable to re-engineer (or various reasons, or could not afford a V8 engine in time for 2006. Budget or resource-limited teams were allowed to run a rev-limited 3.0-litre V10. Ten of the eleven teams ran with a conventional 2.4L V8 for 2006, with the exception of Scuderia Toro Rosso, who continued and were permitted by the FIA to use a rev-limited *Cosworth TJ2006* 3.0L V10 powerplant.

### Sporting regulations

* If a driver stalled his car while entering the final grid, the other cars were sent instantly to a new warm-up lap, instead of all drivers stopping their cars and waiting a couple of minutes for a new start. The stalled car is pushed to the pit lane and the grid is clear when the drivers return.
* When the race was red-flagged, the timekeeping system would not stop. The drivers would stop on the start/finish straight, and the restart would take place behind the safety car instead of a standing start which was used earlier. Although this rule came in effect in 2005, it was first used at the 2007 European Grand Prix.
* Also in safety car situations, the rules were changed to allow the safety car to use the pit lane if necessary. This rule change was made following Ralf Schumacher's accident in 2004 United States Grand Prix.

## Results and standings

The 2005 Formula One calendar featured a new event in Turkey, just miles from the Europe–Asia dividing line. The newly built circuit in Istanbul joined the 2004 newcomers Bahrain and China. The 2005 season witnessed two of the hottest Grands Prix ever: the track temperature at the beginning of the Malaysian event was 51 °C (124 °F), while in Bahrain the mercury soared past 56 °C (133 °F).

### Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top eight classified finishers.