2005 French Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 10 of 19 in the 2005 Formula One season | |||
 |
|||
| Date | 3 July 2005 | ||
| Official name | Mobil 1 Grand Prix de France | ||
| Location | Magny-Cours, France | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 4.411 km (2.74 mi) | ||
| Distance | 70 laps, 308.77 km (191.8 mi) | ||
| Weather | Sunny, Air: 32 °C (90 °F), Track 53 °C (127 °F) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Renault | ||
| Time | 1:14.412 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Kimi Räikkönen
|
McLaren-Mercedes | |
| Time | 1:16.423 on lap 25 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Renault | ||
| Second | McLaren-Mercedes | ||
| Third | Ferrari | ||
|
|
|||
The 2005 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race, held on 3 July 2005 at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, near Magny-Cours, in France. The 70-lap race was the tenth round of the 2005 Formula One season, and was won by Renault driver Fernando Alonso. McLaren driver Kimi Räikkönen, Alonso's main title rival, finished the race in second position whlist Michael Schumacher completed the podium for the Ferrari team.
The 2005 French Grand Prix was the tenth race of the 2005 season and after the controversial 2005 United States Grand Prix, Formula One returned to Europe for the busiest month in its 56-year history, with Magny-Cours being the first of four races to be held in the five weekends of July.
At the start of the weekend, McLaren and Renault appeared to be the fastest, topping the time sheets for both practice sessions on Friday. However, Kimi Räikkönen suffered an engine failure, using a new-spec Mercedes V10, and was forced to drop 10 grid positions as a result. Renault set the two fastest times in Saturday practice 1 by over 1 second, but only 9 cars ran in the session. Giancarlo Fisichella was quickest in the final practice session before qualifying, with Räikkönen was close behind.
The qualifying session ran in markedly cool conditions than expected but still the Michelin tyres had the advantage over the Bridgestones.Fernando Alonso scored his second consecutive pole position, ahead of Toyota's Jarno Trulli, while Räikkönen scored 3rd, which would become 13th after his penalty thus promoting Michael Schumacher up to P3. Sauber qualified for their best positions of the year in 10th and 11th. Williams, who had struggled all weekend despite several new aerodynamic updates to the car, were 13th and 14th while the Minardis and Jordans remained unable to improve on the last 4 positions. The session was incredibly close as the top 9 drivers were covered by less than a second.
...
Wikipedia