In my recent Saudi Arabian Grand Prix-Cap podcast episode, my friend Tom Horrox, from The Monkeyseat Podcast, said: “Not every race can be a soap opera.”
The same can be said of an F1 season. They can’t all be like 2021, with excitement, controversy and tension everywhere you looked.
Sometimes a team simply does such a better job than the others, or a driver is superior to his opposition, resulting in a season with less competition for the world championship title.
This mini-series of blog posts aims to explore the seasons I feel are underrated in history. Of course, this is only how I feel about the season.
Fans can attach themselves to a given season for varying reasons. Maybe their favourite driver became champion or had a break through year. Perhaps there was a car that was innovative or stood out from the rest.
It could have also been the joyous escapism from everyday life, which after all, any sport is for so many fans.
I’m starting this series with 2005, where Fernando Alonso claimed his first world championship with Renault, who he is currently still racing with, under the banner of Alpine.
Alonso entered 2005 as a grand prix winner from 2003, having already scored three pole positions and collected eight podium finishes, including his maiden victory in Hungary.
State of the Sport
2004 had been a disappointing year for neutral fans of the sport as Michael Schumacher and Ferrari crushed the field with the incredible F2004. Off the back of a wild and exciting 2003, only the Tifosi were celebrating come the end of 2004.
What could Formula 1 and the FIA do keep the product interesting and the racing close? The only thing they could, which was to change the rules.
Among the new rules for 2005 were changes to the front and rear wings, designed to reduce downforce and improve the ability to follow closely.
The front wing was raised by 50mm and the rear wing brought forwards by 150mm, relative to the centre line of the rear wheels.
The most obvious rule change banned tyre changes during race pitstops, except for on safety grounds.
This rule in particular, would lead F1 to one of its darkest days.
There is one other rule change that would prove very influential, but I’ll touch on that one later on.
The early 2000’s had seen Michael Schumacher dominate in his Ferrari, with little opposition. It had also seen two future world champions cut their teeth, in Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.
The pair debuted together at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix for Minardi and Sauber respectively.
Raikkonen had impressed enough to be offered drives for 2002 by both McLaren and Ferrari, the Finn replacing his compatriot Mika Hakkinen, who went into a sabbatical.
Alonso joined Renault, run by his manager Flavio Briatore, as test driver for 2002 before graduating to a race seat in 2003.
These two hard chargers had been making waves with wins in 2003 and 2004, now they were ready for an assault on Schumacher’s crown in ’05.
Story of the season
The rule changes had achieved a shift in the competitive order as Bridgestone had not produced as good a tyre as rivals Michelin.
Ferrari too were wrong footed, as their racing philosophy was ruined. Their successful tactic of shorter, faster stints, like the famous four-stop strategy in Magny-Cours, were out the window.
The Michelin rubber had a much better temperature range, which kept them competitive despite hot conditions, while the Bridgestone’s preferred cooler days.
As a result, Renault stole a march on the field, winning the first four races, three in a row for Alonso following Giancarlo Fisichella’s opening victory.
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McLaren had shown the MP4-20 had speed too, as they scored the fastest lap in Malaysia and Bahrain, before taking pole in San Marino with Raikkonen.
The race in Imola was an all-time classic, with Schumacher and Alonso battling for the lead in the closing stages. It was the first test of Fernando’s championship credentials, which he passed, despite the best efforts of Schumacher to get by.
Raikkonen would deliver on McLaren’s promise in Spain and Monaco, and was set to do so again at the Nürburgring until a dramatic suspension failure on the final lap, handing Alonso a lead extending victory.
Alonso would make a rare error in Canada, causing suspension damage and a DNF, while Juan Pablo Montoya exited the pit lane when the red light was on, leading to the Colombian being black flagged, handing Raikkonen an important victory.
After eight races, it was clear that Renault and McLaren were the two fastest cars. A trend had been set though. Renault’s R25 was quick and reliable, while the MP4-20 was an incredible fragile rocket-ship.
Round nine of the 2005 season was at Indianapolis, played host to one of the most controversial days in Formula 1 history.
The Michelin’s had been suffered catastrophic failures on the banking of turn 13, which led to a heavy accident in practice for Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher. His team mate Jarno Trulli would take a pole position he would never see the benefit of.
With the teams and the FIA, headed by the late Max Mosley, at loggerheads over a multitude of issues, no solution was found and F1 had one of its darkest days in Indiana.
Michael Schumacher would take his and Ferrari’s only win of the year, in a farcical 6-car race after all the Michelin shod teams were forced to withdraw at the end of the formation lap.
With 10 races remaining, Alonso held a 22-point advantage over his Finnish opponent.
Try as he might, Raikkonen could not stop that lead from growing in the second half of the year, almost always due to events out of his control.
Engines had to complete two consecutive race weekends in 2005, another of the new rules. A premature engine change would result in a 10-place grid drop on Sunday.
Raikkonen’s would have to endure grid drops in France, Britain and Italy. Raikkonen qualified 3rd, 2nd and fastest in each of those three races. Alonso finished ahead of him in all three races as a result.
The Finn’s Mercedes engine let him down again in Germany, when leading at Hockenheim.
The MP4-20’s fragility was torpedoing any hopes of the driver’s title.
A win in Belgium was confidence boosting for the 25-year-old Finn, but it left Alonso on the brink of his first title heading to Brazil.
The Spaniard would need only 6 points, 3rd or better, to become the youngest champion in Formula 1 history, aged 24.
Alonso qualified on pole in Sao Paulo and clinched his maiden title with 3rd place at Interlagos, leading to an incredible release of emotion stood atop his R25.
The drivers title may have been sealed but the constructors crown remained disputed, with McLaren leading the way heading to Japan.
In 2005, the qualifying format was one-lap per driver. Initially, it was an aggregate, two session affair but with TV companies unable to cover the more important Sunday segment, fans & teams unhappy with the arrangement, it was simplified to a single session on Saturday after six races.
The single session would be run in reverse finishing order from the previous race.
A typhoon on Saturday had left the early runners in qualifying at the mercy of the weather, with Alonso, Raikkonen & Montoya stuck towards the back. Fisichella however, started 3rd.
Japan 2005 is arguably the greatest race of all time as we witnessed Raikkonen and Alonso fight through the field from 17th and 16th on the grid.
Alonso put the mother of all overtakes on Schumacher, passing the German on the outside of 130R, a high speed, 320km/h corner.
Despite that pass, it was Raikkonen who’s strategy and pace had put him in position to chase race leading Fisichella, whom Kimi despatched with a dramatic move on the final lap.
This was a fully dry race, with a safety car period from lap 2 to lap 8, after Montoya had crashed at the final corner.
A stunning performance from Raikkonen, showing could have been had the McLaren stayed in one piece all season.
Renault won the constructors title in China, the season closer, after Montoya saw his race ruined by a loose drain cover, which damaged his car. Alonso won the race, clinching the French manufacturer’s first team crown.
Alonso won 7 races en route to the title, with a total of 15 podium finishes and a crushing 21 point winning margin.
What made 2005 great?
The 2005 season was a brilliant season for me, on a personal level, as two of my favourite drivers at the time were both emerging as championship contenders, while the seemingly endless hold Ferrari had on the sports titles had been broken.
Growing up as a McLaren fan, I felt Ferrari and Schumacher did not always conduct themselves in a particularly ingratiating way.
The team orders debacle at the end of the 2002 Austrian GP, where they had ordered Rubes Barrichello to let Schumacher pass on the last lap to win the race, despite the German holding a comfortable points advantage, had left a sour taste in many fans’ mouths.
There was also the conclusion to the 2002 United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis. It looked as though the Italian team had attempted to stage a dead heat on the line. They later claimed Schumacher was trying to give Barrichello back the lost victory from Austria.
Ferrari had also managed to force a modification to the Michelin tyres in 2003 as Raikkonen and Montoya challenged Schumacher for the title.
Rightly or wrongly, Ferrari won the final three races following the adjustment to the French rubber, clinching Schumacher’s sixth-title, with a seventh arriving in 2004.
2005 felt like a watershed moment for the sport as Alonso and Raikkonen became the title protagonists, building on Jenson Button’s breakthrough year in 2004.
After years of seeing red at the front, it was refreshing to see different teams and names at the top of the order, especially with the particular strengths of each car providing a fascinating competitive duel.
It could have become a season for the ages had the McLaren held its reliability more regularly. Raikkonen arguably lost at least 30 points due to his various issues.
Race | Points loss reason | Predicted points lost |
San Marino GP | Driveshaft failure | 10pts |
European GP | Suspension failure due to flat-spotted tyre | 6pts, subject to pitting for new tyre. |
German GP | Hydraulic failure | 10pts |
Italian GP | Engine change grid drop | 5pts, Raikkonen finished 4th, while Montoya won from the inherited pole position. |
Of course, this is all conjecture as a motor race is highly unpredictable, no matter how predictable it may seem. But without a couple of these failures, the battle at the top of the championship would have certainly had a different dynamic.
As a result of Raikkonen's numerous reasons for losing points, we rarely got to see the title protagonists in wheel-to-wheel combat. An all out battle for victory between the pair eluded us all season.
When the duo were together on the track, especially later in the season, Alonso knew he only had to play percentages to reach the title.
He probably also recognised it was likely only a matter of time before the McLaren broke down again.
Raikkonen and Alonso were the first of the “new generation” of racing drivers, with many of their outstanding qualities in the next phase of superstar drivers.
They set the standard incoming drivers had to meet, but they were also rising to the same level of Schumacher, something no one had really been able to achieve regularly since Mika Hakkinen in the late 90’s.
2005 was an important season for Formula 1 as it heralded a shift in the pecking order with Alonso and Raikkonen showing that they were the future of the sport.
If Schumacher wanted his title back in 2006, he would have to fight very hard indeed to reclaim it.
As it turned out, he and Alonso did go to battle for the ’06 title, the Renault driver sealing his second, and currently final, triumph as Schumacher went into his first retirement.
Raikkonen would move to Maranello to replace the seven-time world champion, while Alonso joined McLaren, a deal he had signed at the end of 2005.
The stage was set for the pair to dispute the world championship for many seasons to come. Little did they know about two up and coming driver’s who had other ideas.
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