On this day in 2005 Michael Schumacher celebrated his first and only victory in the season after all 14 Michelin runners withdrew from the race after taking part only in formation lap due to safety concerns.
The 2005 USA GP is one of the most controversial races in Formula 1’s recent history. Michelin brought the tyres that could not withstand heavy loads in the last, extremly fast banked corner after multiple blowouts in free practice.
Michelin’s suggestions to solve the problem by installing the chicane was rejected by Bridgestone and after completing the formation lap all the cars with Michelin tyres (14/20) withdrawn into the pits. So in the race we only saw six cars – two Ferraris, two Jordans and two Minardis.
Toyota started the qualifying with a very light car, probably bearing in mind the potentially withdrawal from tomorrow’s race and Jarno Trulli won the first pole position for a Japanese manufacturer.
Michael Schumacher secured first and only victory in 2005 after beating his team mate Rubens Barrichello in the battle of two Ferraris. Thiago Monteiro in Jordan was third securing his first and only podium in Formula 1.
“It was a weird race, and it was unusual to see other cars coming into the pits at the start. But then, Rubens and I had a close race, it was only two of us.”
“It’s a shame we could not race in the normal way, with everyone else, because I think we could win, we had a strong car.”
“The situation we had today was out of our hands and I do not know the details of the problems that others have. But what I know is that we’ve left the tyres with more performance and less durability because Bridgestone knew how stressed tyres are here.”
STARTING GRID
| 1 | 16 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 1:10.625 | – |
| 2 | 9 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren/Mercedes | 1:10.694 | 0.069 |
| 3 | 3 | Jenson Button | BAR/Honda | 1:11.277 | 0.652 |
| 4 | 6 | G.Fisichella | Renault | 1:11.290 | 0.665 |
| 5 | 1 | M.Schumacher | Ferrari | 1:11.369 | 0.744 |
| 6 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:11.380 | 0.755 |
| 7 | 2 | R.Barrichello | Ferrari | 1:11.431 | 0.806 |
| 8 | 4 | Takuma Sato | BAR/Honda | 1:11.497 | 0.872 |
| 9 | 7 | Mark Webber | Williams/BMW | 1:11.527 | 0.902 |
| 10 | 12 | Felipe Massa | Sauber/Petronas | 1:11.555 | 0.930 |
| 11 | 10 | J.P.Montoya | McLaren/Mercedes | 1:11.681 | 1.056 |
| 12 | 11 | J.Villeneuve | Sauber/Petronas | 1:11.691 | 1.066 |
| 13 | 17 | Ricardo Zonta | Toyota | 1:11.754 | 1.129 |
| 14 | 15 | Christian Klien | Red Bull/Cosworth | 1:12.132 | 1.507 |
| 15 | 8 | Nick Heidfeld | Williams/BMW | 1:12.430 | 1.805 |
| 16 | 14 | David Coulthard | Red Bull/Cosworth | 1:12.682 | 2.057 |
| 17 | 18 | Tiago Monteiro | Jordan/Toyota | 1:13.462 | 2.837 |
| 18 | 21 | Christijan Albers | Minardi/Cosworth | 1:13.632 | 3.007 |
| 19 | 19 | N.Karthikeyan | Jordan/Toyota | 1:13.776 | 3.151 |
| 20 | 20 | P.Friesacher | Minardi/Cosworth | 1:14.494 | 3.869 |
RACE RESULTS
| 1 | 1 | M.Schumacher | Ferrari | 73 | 1:29:43.181 | |
| 2 | 2 | R.Barrichello | Ferrari | 73 | 1:29:44.703 | 1.522 |
| 3 | 18 | Tiago Monteiro | Jordan/Toyota | 72 | 1:29:50.824 | 1 Lap |
| 4 | 19 | N.Karthikeyan | Jordan/Toyota | 72 | 1:30:21.953 | 1 Lap |
| 5 | 21 | Christijan Albers | Minardi/Cosworth | 71 | 1:30:28.309 | 2 Laps |
| 6 | 20 | P.Friesacher | Minardi/Cosworth | 71 | 1:30:43.889 | 2 Laps |
| 16 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 0 | Not started | ||
| 9 | Kimi Räikkönen | McLaren/Mercedes | 0 | Not started | ||
| 3 | Jenson Button | BAR/Honda | 0 | Not started | ||
| 6 | G.Fisichella | Renault | 0 | Not started | ||
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 0 | Not started | ||
| 4 | Takuma Sato | BAR/Honda | 0 | Not started | ||
| 7 | Mark Webber | Williams/BMW | 0 | Not started | ||
| 12 | Felipe Massa | Sauber/Petronas | 0 | Not started | ||
| 10 | J.P.Montoya | McLaren/Mercedes | 0 | Not started | ||
| 11 | J.Villeneuve | Sauber/Petronas | 0 | Not started | ||
| 17 | Ricardo Zonta | Toyota | 0 | Not started | ||
| 15 | Christian Klien | Red Bull/Cosworth | 0 | Not started | ||
| 8 | Nick Heidfeld | Williams/BMW | 0 | Not started | ||
| 14 | David Coulthard | Red Bull/Cosworth | 0 | Not started | ||
Fastest lap: Michael Schumacher – 1:11.497 (lap 48)
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER 9/19 RACES
| 1 | Fernando Alonso | 59 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 10 | – | – |
| 2 | Kimi Räikkönen | 37 | 1 | – | 6 | – | 10 | 10 | – | 10 | – |
| 3 | Michael Schumacher | 34 | – | 2 | – | 8 | – | 2 | 4 | 8 | 10 |
| 4 | Rubens Barrichello | 29 | 8 | – | – | – | – | 1 | 6 | 6 | 8 |
| 5 | Jarno Trulli | 27 | – | 8 | 8 | 4 | 6 | – | 1 | – | – |
| 6 | Nick Heidfeld | 25 | – | 6 | – | 3 | – | 8 | 8 | – | – |
| 7 | Mark Webber | 22 | 4 | – | 3 | 2 | 3 | 6 | – | 4 | – |
| 8 | Ralf Schumacher | 20 | – | 4 | 5 | – | 5 | 3 | – | 3 | |
| 9 | Giancarlo Fisichella | 17 | 10 | – | – | – | 4 | – | 3 | – | – |
| 10 | David Coulthard | 17 | 5 | 3 | 1 | – | 1 | – | 5 | 2 | – |
| 11 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 16 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | – | – | ||
| 12 | Felipe Massa | 7 | – | – | 2 | – | – | – | – | 5 | – |
| 13 | Tiago Monteiro | 6 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 6 |
| 14 | Alexander Wurz | 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| 15 | Jacques Villeneuve | 5 | – | – | – | 5 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 16 | Narain Karthikeyan | 5 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5 |
| 17 | Christijan Albers | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 4 |
| 18 | Pedro de la Rosa | 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 19 | Christian Klien | 4 | 2 | 1 | – | 1 | – | ||||
| 20 | Patrick Friesacher | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3 |
| 21 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | |||||
| 22 | Jenson Button | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| 23 | Takuma Sato | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| – | Anthony Davidson | 0 | – | ||||||||
| – | Ricardo Zonta | 0 | – |
CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
| 1 | Renault | 76 | 16 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 5 | 13 | – | – |
| 2 | McLaren/Mercedes | 63 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 12 | 14 | 2 | 10 | – |
| 3 | Ferrari | 63 | 8 | 2 | – | 8 | – | 3 | 10 | 14 | 18 |
| 4 | Williams/BMW | 47 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 14 | 8 | 4 | – |
| 5 | Toyota | 47 | – | 12 | 13 | 4 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 3 | – |
| 6 | Red Bull/Cosworth | 22 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | 5 | 3 | – |
| 7 | Sauber/Petronas | 12 | – | – | 2 | 5 | – | – | – | 5 | – |
| 8 | Jordan/Toyota | 11 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 11 |
| 9 | Minardi/Cosworth | 7 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 7 |
| 10 | BAR/Honda | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
