Fisi Wins down under
By John Sharpe
March 6 2005
The Australian Grand prix was nothing less than perfect today as Giancarlo Fisichella was true to his word. The likeable Italian drove from start to finish capturing the first race of the Formula One season in Melbourne.
Rubens Barrichello drove his Ferrari through the field, benefited by pit stops to take second while Fisichella’s Renault teammate Fernando Alonso grabbed third with a great drive from 13th place on the starting grid.
The race got off to an exciting start with Mclaren’s Kimi Raikkonen stalling on the grid. That brought out the yellow flag just before the lights went out forcing the Finn to start form the pit lane.
With Michael Schumacher starting from 18th position, our own David Coulthard got a jump on Jacques Villeneuve and blew past him on the way to the first corner. DC showing his new and more menacing side approached Mark Webber in the Williams from the right inside and with a little lock up stole third from the hometown favorite. Red Bull Racing was clearly the surprise of the show with not only two drivers qualifying in the top ten but both DC and teammate Christain Klien driving in the points and looking solid!
Klien had a great battle with Nick Heidfeld in the Williams BMW and Juan Pablo Montoya in his Mclaren early on in the race. Klien, showing great maturity resolve, did well to hold onto sixth position. After the first round of stops, Jarno Trulli in the Toyota fell from second to sixth as he was on a lighter fuel load than the rest of the grid. As the other teams were clearly utilizing a longer first stint, Toyota was the odd team out and DC was handed second with webber, Barrichello and Montoya occupying third, fourth and fifth.
Michael Schumacher had a forgettable race as he struggled to through the field. With just under a 15 laps remaining, Michael tried to defend his position from a charging Heidfeld and squeezed him off the track and onto the grass. The Williams, losing grip, made its way back onto the track but then spears the Ferrari of Schumacher. Both end up in the gravel trap Though Michael was able to get back under way, It seems Ferrari took advantage of a loophole in the new technical regulations allowing a car retiring from a race the option of being able to change the current engine for a new one for the next grand prix. In Malaysia, Michael Schumacher, will now be using a new engine while the rest of the field still has to abide by the one engine rule for two races.
With DC running a strong second, relinquishes the position to Barrichello after a longer fuel stop due to a front nose cone change. David now ends up behind Alonso who is now in third place, completing a Renault one – three finish.
Christian Klien had a tremendous first race in only his second year to take seventh and give Red Bull two cars in the points!
Red Bull Racing did as I expected. They surprised the field. Not only did they qualify well, they drove long and hard and got fantastic reliability from the Cosworth engine.
If their performance was any indication of things to come, look out, The bulls are coming.
2005 Australian Grand Prix - Unofficial results:
Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 6 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault Winner
2 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari +5.5 secs
3 5 Fernando Alonso Renault +6.7 secs
4 14 David Coulthard Red Bull Racing +16.1 secs
5 7 Mark Webber Williams-BMW +16.9 secs
6 10 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes +35.0 secs
7 15 Christian Klien Red Bull Racing +38.9 secs
8 9 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes +39.6 secs
9 16 Jarno Trulli Toyota +63.1 secs
10 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas +64.3 secs
11 3 Jenson Button BAR-Honda +1 Lap
12 17 Ralf Schumacher Toyota +1 Lap
13 11 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas +1 Lap
14 4 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda +2 Lap
15 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota +2 Lap
16 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota +2 Lap
17 20 Patrick Friesacher Minardi-Cosworth +4 Lap
Ret 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari +15 Lap
Ret 8 Nick Heidfeld Williams-BMW +15 Lap
Ret 21 Christijan Albers Minardi-Cosworth +41 Laps