The 2005 Japanese Grand Prix was one which can only be described in one word: awesome. In the race immediately after Fernando Alonso clinched his first World Championship, his main title rival Kimi Räikkönen went about making a name for himself as a driver worthy of a title himself. He did it in the most brilliant of ways in this Japanese Grand Prix, which was not decided until the final lap of the Grand Prix. Although the drivers’ championship was decided, McLaren and Renault were still fighting for the constructors’ championship, and not much was between the two.
Qualifying was wet. Very wet. With the track getting wetter as the session went on, those who did not do well in the last race at Brazil found their way to the front of the grid for this race. Ralf Schumacher took pole position for Toyota, their second in Formula One and his last pole position in the sport. Alongside was the much-improved BAR of Jenson Button, followed by Giancarlo Fisichella’s Renault, Christian Klien’s Red Bull, Takuma Sato’s BAR, David Coulthard’s Red Bull, Mark Webber’s Williams, Jacques Villeneuve’s Sauber, Rubens Barrichello’s Ferrari and Felipe Massa’s Sauber. Michael Schumacher could only manage 14th with new champion Alonso 16th ahead of the two McLarens of Räikkönen and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Race day came and the weather was beautiful. Schumacher made an excellent start from pole position, as well as Fisichella and Klien. Sato and Barrichello had awful starts and both ran off at turn 1, but rejoining. Coulthard found his way past his team mate and by the end of lap 1 Räikkönen was already in the top eight. However, Montoya smashed his McLaren on the exit of the very fast final corner, bringing out the safety car. After the safety car; Schumacher, Räikkönen and Alonso were all fighting their way to the front of the pack. Alonso made a pass on Klien where he cut the Casio Triangle, but gave the place back, only to challenge again into the next corner, mirroring what Lewis Hamilton did in the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix. Later, Alonso let Klien by again, only to finally make the move stick eventually on lap 13. Alonso’s next target was Michael Schumacher.
Lap 20 came about and Alonso went about his business and forced Schumacher onto the inside of 130R, arguably Suzuka’s most terrifying corner. Alonso passed the seven-time world champion around the outside, a move which cemented Alonso’s status as a worthy world champion. Räikkönen got a perfect view of this and he was lining Schumacher up as well. Both Räikkönen and Schumacher stopped at the same time for their first stop, but they maintained positions for a little while, albeit in front of Alonso now, but then the Iceman passed the German around the outside into the first corner, practicing for a move he would pull later in the race. Alonso made his way past the great German for a second time utilising the Renault’s significant straight-line speed this time as oppose to brute force. Alonso was closing in on Räikkönen but his team decided to pit him before he reached his rival as well as Webber and Button. Alonso’s team mate Fisichella made his final stop a couple of laps later and came out behind this train of cars.
Once Button and Webber pitted, Räikkönen was the leader. With just nine laps to go, the McLaren was in again and he came out a number of seconds behind Fisichella. Meanwhile, Alonso pulled another ballsy move, this time on Webber, taking to the grass too. With so few laps left, Räikkönen was absolutely flying, and with just two laps left, he was on the back of the Renault. Onto the last lap, Räikkönen pulled a daring move around the outside of Fisichella into the first corner, arguably better than Alonso’s pass on Schumacher, to win the race, the greatest of his career to date, and one of the greatest dry-weather races in Formula One’s history. The Renaults of Fisichella and Alonso both featured on the podium, with Webber, Button, Coulthard, Michael Schumacher and Ralf Schumacher all finishing in the points. This result left Renault just two points ahead of McLaren in the championship heading into the final race in China.
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