What a phenomenal season it's been! At the start of the season, many speculated that Schumi would simply stroll to the World Championship in his superior scarlet Prancing Horse. Instead, a titanic battle for the title was fought between the lightning quick Alonso and the cool Iceman Raikkonen.
Alonso was simply too fast in the opening races, leaving everyone else clambering to keep up with his speedy Renault. His most dominant victory was the Chinese Grand Prix where he led from start to finish from pole position to seal the Constructor's title for Renault. His Renault was flawless and reliable throughout the year.
The same could not be said for his teammate Fisichella who was dogged with bad luck and unimpressive driving. His only win came in the opening race in Melbourne. The Japanese GP looked to be in the bag until he was overtaken by Raikkonen in the last lap. To me, there was a sense of poetic justice as it brought back memories of the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix where he snatched victory from Raikkonen.
Without doubt, McLaren was the fastest car on the grid this year. The only problem was the reliability of the car. Raikkonen won as many races as Alonso did but his car showed signs of fatigue and failed on many occasions. The highlight of the year was when he qualified on pole position with the heaviest fuel load in Monza. The one-stop strategy almost paid handsomely for Ron Dennis but it was not meant to be when Raikkonen's left rear tyre blistered.
It was a bittersweet year for Montoya. He showed that he could win in the McLaren but at the same time also showed the temperament that many critics cautioned against. He provided us F1 fans with moments of great drama such as the tangles with Pizzonia, Monteiro and Villeneuve that took him out of key races. During the course of the season he also suffered a mysterious tennis injury and was black flagged for ignoring pit exit signals.
In the Ferrari garage, it must've been a gloomy year with just one win between their two drivers Schumacher and Barrichello. Of all places, the win came at the US Grand Prix that only saw 6 cars starting the race. Nothing to be proud about, I'm sure of that. After years as the number two driver with the Italian outfit, Barrichello is finally bidding farewell and heading to BAR.
Williams-BMW had a strong driver line-up this year but failed to live up to expectations. Webber and Heidfeld did the best they could but the machinery was just not up to standard. In most races, they were racing in the midfields fighting off the Saubers when a team of their calibre should've been fighting for wins and championships.
Button ( my 2nd favourite driver!) and Sato (Crispy's favourite driver) brought BAR-Honda to new heights in 2004 only to have it shattered to pieces in the first half of the season. The team was stripped of a third place and banned for 2 races after they were found to have cleverly cheated using loopholes in the race regulation. They did bounce back with some solid performances but it was too little too late. Sato tarnished his reputation further with some unnessecary ramming notably the Belgian Grand Prix where he braked too late and ran into Schumacher. The latter was not pleased with the maneuvre and slapped Sato's helmet in a fit of anger.
In the midfield, there were 2 very impressive teams. The better one being Toyota, driven by Trulli and Ralf. Time and time again, Trulli out-qualified and out-finished (any such word?) his teammate. He shocked many by grabbing pole in Indianapolis. For a team so new, the results showed that in a few years time, they could well be challenging the top teams. Ralf wrestled the pole position from Button in the Japanese Grand Prix, but only because he was on a very light fuel load. In the race, he faded away and finished 7th.
The other new successful team was the Red Bull Racing. Their challenge was spearheaded by the experienced Coulthard. He did fairly well in the relatively new car . Angel (my F1 companion) and I had always felt that he was a 'cruiser', you know, the type that cruises slowly and hopes cars in front will break down. He proved us wrong by producing some inspiring drives, perhaps trying to show his inexperienced teammate Klien that he is the undisputed number one in the team.
The 2005 season turned out to be the last season for Sauber, Jordan and Minardi under those respective names. Sauber fared a little better than the other two with some point scoring drives from Massa. During the 'silly season' ( in F1, the term means the season where team bosses strike new deals for the following year) , it was revealed that he will be leaving the team for Ferrari. It was a disastrous season for '97 World Champ Villeneuve. No doubt in the twilight years of his career now, he fared miserably by finishing out of the points in most races.
At the back of the grid, the Jordans and the Minardis fought just as hard as the cars at the front. Monteiro did extremely well by conserving his car and finishing all but 1 race. Albers too deserved some praise for churning out respectable results in an inferior car. He ended the season with a bang by using Schumacher as a launch pad in Shanghai. Heh heh.... On the other hand, Karthikeyan and Doornbos could only play second fiddle to their obviously faster teammates. Better luck next year!
After what is the longest F1 season ever (19 races!), the blues set in and i have four F1-less months to endure while the teams pack off to Europe for winter testing. Come March, i will be glued to the TV set again alongside Angel shouting our lungs out in support of Raikkonen and Button.
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