Rubens Takes Second In Australia

By Ferrari Press Office
March 6 2005

After the opening round of the 2005 Formula 1 World Championship, Rubens Barrichello and Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro are lying second in the Drivers’ and Constructors’ classification, a reasonably good start for the team.

After losing out in the rain-lashed lottery of first qualifying on Saturday, the Brazilian drove a brilliant race to storm through to second place at the flag, from eleventh on the grid. Michael Schumacher started from the back of the grid, after the team decided to change his engine prior to second qualifying. Unfortunately, after working his way into the points zone, a collision on lap 42 at Turn 3 with the BMW-Williams of Nick Heidfeld saw both men retire.

The first start was aborted after Raikkonen stalled. The race distance was reduced to 57 laps. Fisichella led from pole, followed by Trulli, Coulthard, Webber, Heidfeld, Klien, Montoya and Barrichello already up to ninth. At the end of the first lap Michael was 15th. On lap two, Alonso was being held up by Villeneuve and Raikkonen, who started from pit lane is right behind M Schumacher. On lap 16, Freisacher in the Minardi makes the first pit stop of the season, which is an unusual sight with no tyres being changed.

Fisichella was still leading when he refuelled on lap 23, as did Montoya from sixth place and this allows Barrichello temporarily into the lead until the Brazilian refuels on laps 25, along with Alonso and Raikkonen. Barrichello’s stop saw him rejoin in fourth place. One lap later, Michael Schumacher, still only eleventh pits and now finds himself behind Raikkonen. By lap 28, the entire field had refuelled at least once and Fisichella now had a 12 second lead over Coulthard, Webber, Barrichello, Montoya, Trulli, Alonso, Klien, Heidfeld, Raikkonen, M, Schumacher, Villeneuve, Button, Sato, Massa, R Schumacher, Karthikeyan and Friesacher.

On lap 41, Webber almost lost a place to Michael and on the next lap, the world champion refuelled at the same time as Fisichella, Coulthard and Montoya. This puts Barrichello back in the lead, but still with a stop to make.

On lap 43, Michael’s race ended as a result of his collision with Heidfeld. The Williams was stuck in the gravel, but Schumacher was push started and managed to retire the F2004 M in the pits. On lap 45, Alonso pitted allowing Fisichella back into the lead and the Spaniard rejoined third just behind Barrichello. The Brazilian could not relax too much as the Renault driver behind him kept up the pressure, which meant he closed the gap to Fisichella which was 5.553 seconds at the flag.





Ferrari Press Office
06 Mar 2005