On this day in 2005 Fernando Alonso won his third consecutive race of the 2005 F1 season in Imola where he held off Michael Schumacher who pushed him hard until the very last corner of the race.
Renault celebrated in the first three races of the 2005 season while McLaren won the first pole position of the season in Imola with Kimi Raikkonen after solving the problem of heating the tyres for one lap qualifying that hampered them in the first three races.
Raikkonen led until driveshaft failure when Fernando Alonso took the lead. Schumacher made a mistake on Sunday’s qualifying (he was third behind Raikkonen and Alonso on Saturday) and started only 13th.
But Schumacher muscled his way past trough the field and challenged leading Alonso until the last lap of the race
Watch the exciting fight of two world champions on the fantastic Imola circuit, which was penultimate F1 race on that track in the last year for the V10 engines.
STARTING GRID
| 1 | 9 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren/Mercedes | 2:42.880 | – |
| 2 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 2:43.441 | 0.561 |
| 3 | 3 | Jenson Button | BAR/Honda | 2:44.105 | 1.225 |
| 4 | 7 | Mark Webber | Williams/BMW | 2:44.511 | 1.631 |
| 5 | 16 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 2:44.518 | 1.638 |
| 6 | 4 | Takuma Sato | BAR/Honda | 2:44.658 | 1.778 |
| 7 | 10 | Alexander Wurz | McLaren/Mercedes | 2:44.689 | 1.809 |
| 8 | 8 | Nick Heidfeld | Williams/BMW | 2:45.196 | 2.316 |
| 9 | 2 | R.Barrichello | Ferrari | 2:45.243 | 2.363 |
| 10 | 17 | Ralf Schumacher | Toyota | 2:45.416 | 2.536 |
| 11 | 11 | J.Villeneuve | Sauber/Petronas | 2:46.259 | 3.379 |
| 12 | 6 | G.Fisichella | Renault | 2:46.710 | 3.830 |
| 13 | 1 | M.Schumacher | Ferrari | 2:47.244 | 4.364 |
| 14 | 14 | David Coulthard | Red Bull/Cosworth | 2:48.070 | 5.190 |
| 15 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Red Bull/Cosworth | 2:48.155 | 5.275 |
| 16 | 19 | N.Karthikeyan | Jordan/Toyota | 2:52.099 | 9.219 |
| 17 | 18 | Tiago Monteiro | Jordan/Toyota | 2:54.252 | 11.372 |
| 18 | 12 | Felipe Massa | Sauber/Petronas | 2:44.930 | 2.050 |
| 19 | 20 | P.Friesacher | Minardi/Cosworth | 2:57.048 | 14.168 |
| 20 | 21 | Christijan Albers | Minardi/Cosworth | – | – |
RACE RESULTS
| 1 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 62 | 1:27:41.921 | |
| 2 | 1 | M.Schumacher | Ferrari | 62 | 1:27:42.136 | 0.215 |
| 3 | 10 | Alexander Wurz | McLaren/Mercedes | 62 | 1:28:09.475 | 27.554 |
| 4 | 11 | J.Villeneuve | Sauber/Petronas | 62 | 1:28:46.363 | 1:04.442 |
| 5 | 16 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 62 | 1:28:52.179 | 1:10.258 |
| 6 | 8 | Nick Heidfeld | Williams/BMW | 62 | 1:28:53.203 | 1:11.282 |
| 7 | 7 | Mark Webber | Williams/BMW | 62 | 1:29:05.218 | 1:23.297 |
| 8 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Red Bull/Cosworth | 62 | 1:29:05.685 | 1:23.764 |
| 9 | 17 | Ralf Schumacher | Toyota | 62 | 1:29:17.762 | 1:35.841 |
| 10 | 12 | Felipe Massa | Sauber/Petronas | 61 | 1:27:43.565 | 1 lap |
| 11 | 14 | David Coulthard | Red Bull/Cosworth | 61 | 1:28:07.742 | 1 lap |
| 12 | 19 | N.Karthikeyan | Jordan/Toyota | 61 | 1:28:24.807 | 1 lap |
| 13 | 18 | Tiago Monteiro | Jordan/Toyota | 60 | 1:29:02.239 | 2 laps |
| (3) | 3 | Jenson Button | BAR/Honda | 62 | 1:27:52.402 | DSQ |
| (5) | 4 | Takuma Sato | BAR/Honda | 62 | 1:28:16.704 | DSQ |
| (16) | 21 | Christijan Albers | Minardi/Cosworth | 20 | 29:48.688 | Gearbox |
| (15) | 2 | R.Barrichello | Ferrari | 18 | 26:11.325 | Electrical |
| (18) | 9 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren/Mercedes | 9 | 13:39.307 | Halfshaft |
| (18) | 20 | P.Friesacher | Minardi/Cosworth | 8 | 12:03.336 | Clutch |
| (11) | 6 | G.Fisichella | Renault | 5 | 7:19.330 | Spun-off |
Fastest lap: Michael Schumacher – 1:21.858 (lap 48)
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER 4/19 RACES
| 1 | Fernando Alonso | 36 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| 2 | Jarno Trulli | 20 | – | 8 | 8 | 4 |
| 3 | Giancarlo Fisichella | 10 | 10 | – | – | – |
| 4 | Michael Schumacher | 10 | – | 2 | – | 8 |
| 5 | Nick Heidfeld | 9 | – | 6 | – | 3 |
| 6 | Ralf Schumacher | 9 | – | 4 | 5 | – |
| 7 | David Coulthard | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | – |
| 8 | Mark Webber | 9 | 4 | – | 3 | 2 |
| 9 | Rubens Barrichello | 8 | 8 | – | – | – |
| 10 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 8 | 3 | 5 | ||
| 11 | Kimi Räikkönen | 7 | 1 | – | 6 | – |
| 12 | Alexander Wurz | 6 | 6 | |||
| 13 | Jacques Villeneuve | 5 | – | – | – | 5 |
| 14 | Pedro de la Rosa | 4 | 4 | |||
| 15 | Christian Klien | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | |
| 16 | Felipe Massa | 2 | – | – | 2 | – |
| 17 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | 1 | 1 | |||
| 18 | Tiago Monteiro | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| 19 | Narain Karthikeyan | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| 20 | Jenson Button | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| 21 | Patrick Friesacher | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| 22 | Christijan Albers | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| 23 | Takuma Sato | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| – | Anthony Davidson | 0 | – |
CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
| 1 | Renault | 46 | 16 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| 2 | Toyota | 29 | – | 12 | 13 | 4 |
| 3 | McLaren/Mercedes | 25 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 6 |
| 4 | Ferrari | 18 | 8 | 2 | – | 8 |
| 5 | Williams/BMW | 18 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 5 |
| 6 | Red Bull/Cosworth | 13 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | Sauber/Petronas | 7 | – | – | 2 | 5 |
| 8 | Jordan/Toyota | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| 9 | BAR/Honda | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| 10 | Minardi/Cosworth | 0 | – | – | – | – |
