Mild Seven Renault F1 Team 2005 : The Formula One DataBase

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Season:	2005

Address:	Renault Formula Ltd Whiteways Technical Centre, Enstone, Chipping Norton, Oxon, OX7 4EE Tel: +44 (0)1608 678000 Fax: +44 (0)1608 678800

Country:	France

Sponsors:	Alpinestars, Altran, Applied Computing & Engineering, Catia, CD adapco Group, Charmilles Technologies , CoCreate, De Cecco, Elf, Group Tetco, Hitachi Seiki, Lancel, Lectra, Logicad 3D, Magneti Marelli, Michelin, Mild Seven, Novell, Schroth, Segafredo Zanetti, Stonesoft, Van Bommel, Veritas, X-Hive, 3D Systems, Telefonica, NTTDocomo, BMG, Champion, Fluent, Chronotech, Lycos, Technomatrix,

Teamboss:	Flavio Briatore

Technical director:	Bob Bell

Sporting director:	Steve Nielson

Engine development:	Robert White

Chief aerodynamicist:	Dino Toso

Chief designer:	Tim Densham

Chief mechanic:	Jonathan Wheatley

Chief engineer:	Pat Symonds

Engineer:	Rod Nelson , Alan Permane & Paul Monaghan

Test driver:	Frank Montagny

Constructor:	Renault

Mild Seven Renault Formula 1 Team

Having led the championship since round two, Fernando Alonso finally clinched the Formula 1 world title in Brazil, round seventeen. Between then he had performed consistently, rarely making mistakes and benefiting from the problems of his rivals.

Renault won the first race, but it wasn’t the Spaniard who took victory. His team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella dominated the race from start to finish having benefitted from ideal track conditions in second qualifying. Alonso also performed superbly, finishing third. He had had completely opposite qualifying conditions to his team-mate, and could only qualify thirteenth in the wet.

Malaysia was a tale of two team-mates. As Alonso hit the front, Fisichella hit a Williams. Starting first and third on the grid, Renault looked in an ideal position to repeat their double podium finish in Australia. However it wasn’t to be. While Alonso romped away into the distance, Fisichella struggled with fading rear tyres which saw the Williams catch up with him. As Mark Webber made a lunge round the outside into the final hairpin, Fisichella lost grip and went spinning into the Australian. Both retired.

With a bad qualifying slot, the best Fisichella could manage in qualifying for Bahrain was tenth, while Alonso in an ideal slot took his second successive pole. Where Fisichella could have finished we’ll never know, retiring on lap four with engine failure. Alonso cruised to his second straight victory, after withstanding early pressure from Michael Schumacher.

For the first time Renault didn’t seem to have the fastest car at Imola. Kimi Raikkonen qualified on pole and led until driveshaft failure on lap nine. From then on Alonso had to cope with more immense pressure from Schumacher, whose Ferrari-Bridgestone combination was superior to anything Michelin could manage. However Alonso held on to take victory. Fisichella was an early casualty with a bizarre, unexplained accident. In Spain Fisichella was finally back to business, setting the fastest lap and at one point running second ahead of his team-mate. However on his final stop he had problems and dropped to a disappointing fifth. Alonso finished second behind Raikkonen’s McLaren, which made it to the end of the race this time.

Tyre wear problems hassled the team at Monaco. Having run second and third, Alonso fell away to be passed by both Williams, not without some chicane cutting along the way. Fisichella dropped off completely. Having held up a long queue for some laps, as soon as Trulli darted through the Italian dropped five places in quick succession and struggled to an eventual twelfth. The next race in Europe would be the start of Alonso’s road to the title. Having escaped an off at the hairpin, Alonso suddenly found himself closing on Raikkonen at a rate of about three seconds a lap due to a flat-spotted tyre on the McLaren. With one lap to go Alonso was close, but seemingly not close enough to threaten the Finn. However it wouldn’t matter, as Raikkonen’s suspension broke sending him hurtling into the barriers at high speed. Alonso inherited a lucky victory, while Fisichella took sixth.

The first chink in the Alonso armoury would be seen at Montreal. Renault will be disappointed that they took no points from a race in which they were running one-two. Fisichella was ahead of Alonso until hydraulic problems ended his race. However the Spaniards lead wouldn’t last for long, as he fell victim to the wall at turn nine. The result was a broken suspension, and ten points gifted to Kimi Raikkonen. Revenge for Nurburgring.

Then came the US Grand Prix, or the race which never happened. Alonso and Renault might be glad it didn’t, as McLaren looked set to gain more points on them if qualifying was to show the true reflection. So Renault went into their home race in France with their lead in both championships still intact. In practice McLaren made it hard for themselves, when Raikkonen’s engine blew forcing him to start from twelfth position. Alonso led convincingly, encountering little pressure from the other McLaren of Juan Pablo Montoya. Fisichella had another pit stop problem, which dropped him to sixth at the flag.

Alonso played down his hopes of success at Silverstone, so second place was well above expectations. With Raikkonen’s engine suffering problems again Alonso pulled out a further two points ahead of his championship rival. Fisichella had yet another disastrous stop, dropping him off the podium. Once again in Germany McLaren hit self-destruct, resulting in Alonso benefiting with his fifth win of the year. Montoya spun out in qualifying, while Raikkonen’s engine blew while leading, leaving the Spaniard with a clean run to victory. Fisichella managed fourth.

In Hungary the team had just their third non-points scoring result of the year. However this was their worst so far, as both cars ran drastically off-pace all weekend. Having lined up just sixth and ninth, Renault’s race took a blow at the first corner when Alonso ran into the back of Ralf Schumacher, resulting in an unscheduled pit stop at the end of lap one. From then on he struggled with the balance of the car, finishing eleventh. Fisichella could only finish two places higher, outside the points.

Alonso got lucky once more in Turkey, when Juan Pablo Montoya had two incidents in the final few laps, handing the Renault driver second behind Raikkonen. It was a crucial moment for the championship and left the gap at twenty four points with five races remaining. Fisichella took fourth, keeping Renault’s lead in the constructor’s championship.

Giancarlo Fisichella finally returned to the podium at his home race in Monza, finishing second behind his team-mate. He did his job well, preventing Kimi Raikkonen from scoring more points. With a twenty seven point gap, Alonso could take the title in Spa.

Renault never seemed to match McLaren’s pace all weekend, but were a lot closer to previous races. Raikkonen’s victory in Belgium left the title open until Interlagos, but at least second place put Alonso in the driving seat. He was largely helped once again by Juan Pablo Montoya's dreadful luck, with the Colombian taken out of the race by Antonio Pizzonia in the closing laps.

At the age of twenty-four, Fernando Alonso finally took the title in Brazil, becoming Formula 1’s youngest ever champion. Despite a McLaren one-two, Alonso took the third place he needed to take the crown. However with McLaren’s results and fifth for Fisichella, Renault were surpassed in the constructor’s title race by their Anglo-German rivals.

However the tables were to turn in the next race in Japan. As in Australia, wet qualifying saw mixed fortunes for the two Renault stars. Fisichella would line up third, with the new champion down in fourteenth place. But Alonso was to battle up through the field, clinching a podium place despite a mysterious phantom penalty which forced him to pass Cristian Klien? twice. On the way to third he made an incredible overtaking manoeuvre on Michael Schumacher round the outside of 130R, one of the greatest moves of the season. Unfortunately for Fisichella, he couldn’t profit on this golden opportunity to win. The superior speed of the McLaren’s saw him get overtaken on the final lap of the Grand Prix by Kimi Raikkonen, and the Italian had to settle for second. However Montoya’s retirement left Renault with a two point cushion going into the final round.

The Chinese Grand Prix proved to be a surprise to many F1 followers, as Renault finally got on top of their rivals for the first time since round three in Bahrain. Lining up first and second on the grid, the Renault drivers held these positions until the first safety car period, in which Montoya’s retirement almost guaranteed the Constructors title to the French team. However this slow period damaged Alonso’s advantage, and once again Fisichella had to protect his team-mates lead from Raikkonen. However when a second safety car period began a few laps later, Fisichella was forced to hold up the pack to allow Alonso to continue in the lead. Although this dropped Fisichella to finish in fourth place, his selfless act helped Alonso to victory and Renault to the Constructors crown.

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Statistics

Statistic	#	Percentage	First	Last
Number of Grand Prix	38	100%	2005	2005
Number of starts	38	100.00%	2005	2005
Number of finishes	31	81.58%	2005	2005
Number of finishes on podium	18	47.37%	2005	2005
Number of finishes in points	27	71.05%	2005	2005
Number of retirements	7	18.42%	2005	2005
Number of wins	8	21.05%	2005	2005
Number of pole positions	7	18.42%	2005	2005
Number of fastest laps	3	7.89%	2005	2005
Number of doubles (pole position & win)	5	13.16%	2005	2005