Brazilian GP - Fernando Alonso becomes World Champion

[O.D.S]

Fernando Alonso has clinched the 2005 Drivers’ Championship with a solid third position this afternoon at Interlagos. The Renault star’s third position was enough to ensure he becomes the youngest ever World Champion in the history of the sport at 24 years of age, one year younger than Michael Schumacher and the legendary Emerson Fittipaldi.



Almost lost in the Alonso celebrations was Juan Pablo Montoya who drove a brilliant race for McLaren Mercedes, passing Alonso with an aggressive pass early on in the 71-lap race and then controlling the race and keeping Kimi Raikkonen at bay to repeat his victory over the Finn from last year.

The one-two result for McLaren Mercedes does however see them move to the top of the Constructors’ Championship for the first time this year but that will be of small consolation to Kimi Raikkonen who has fought so hard all year to close the deficit to Fernando Alonso to try and claim the ultimate prize.

Michael Schumacher pushed hard all day in his Ferrari but did not have the pace to challenge the front three runners, He did however beat Giancarlo Fisichella to fourth with some solid pit work from the Ferrari crew helping the out-going Champion to the position.

Giancarlo Fisichella had a race that really pretty much summed up his season. Defending hard at the start of the race he was soon passed by Raikkonen and that was the end of his defensive race for the day.

Rubens Barrichello finished in sixth position, taking advantage of some good pitwork again from the Ferrari crew and also making a great pass on his 206 team-mate Jenson Button for position mid-race.

Jenson Button struggled for race pace and would drop back down the order to finish in seventh position in his BAR Honda a lap down on the all-conquering McLaren Mercedes duo. The British driver was able to hold off a strong challenge from Ralf Schumacher in the closing stages in what was a disappointing day for both BAR Honda and Toyota.

Christian Klien was perhaps the star of qualifying but in race conditions the Austrian lost ground in each of his two pit stops and as a result, finished out of the points in ninth position ahead of the impressive Takuma Sato who fought all day from the back of the pack to finish in tenths in the second BAR Honda.

Felipe Massa started in eighth position but the race was not one of his best as he finished 11th less than a second ahead of his Sauber Petronas team-mate Jacques Villeneuve who was forced to start from the pit lane due to a Parc Ferme infringement from the team. Jarno Trulli had a race to forget in the second Toyota and was never a factor after starting back in 18th following his engine change penalty while Christijan Albers and Narain Karthikeyan were the final classified runners for Minardi Cosworth and Jordan Toyota.


Joy for Renault and Alonso as he is Champ!

For BMW Williams, the race was effectively over just a few seconds into the 71-lap race. The start saw Red Bull Cosworth driver David Coulthard trying to squeeze between the two FW27’s. The move was never on and contact was made sending Pizzonia into a spin and soon collecting the unfortunate Mark Webber. Pizzonia and Coulthard were out on the spot while Webber would return to the pits with a small fire. The Australian was back out some time later to run at the back of the pack.

The decision to send Webber out did ensure he finished ahead of Robert Doornbos who suffered an engine failure in his Minardi but he was still behind Tiago Monteiro who suffered his first failure to finish this year in the Jordan Toyota.

The Formula One circus packs up and heads to Japan in two week’s time.

For Alonso it really is party time this evening at Interlagos. Congratulations to Alonso and the whole Renault team.

LINK: http://f1.racing-live.com/f1/en/inde...25205704.shtml

[Mauler]

Seriously boring GP. And seriously boring season. Yet again.

[Crow]

one of the better seasons of recent....had its ups and downs....congrats fernando

[O.D.S]

Nah it wasnt a bad season at all...sure there was only the two teams always pushing for the win but it was a welcomed change from the 5 Dominating years Ferrari had.

Next Year will be a very interesting season for sure...New V8 engines for everybody. Very much looking forward to it.