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Fisichella Wins: Red lights out, David Coulthard made another of his typical flying starts to take his Red Bull past Mark Webber’s Williams and Jacques Villeneuve’s Sauber, jumping from fifth to third. Fisichella and outside polesitter Jarno Trulli in the Toyota hold on to their positions.
Meanwhile, the Canadian ex-world champ falls like a rock down the field, completing the first lap already on the ninth spot. Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen don’t initially fulfill their promise, and after ten laps, the German and the Finn run just on the 15th and 16th positions respectively.
While Fisichella and Trulli begin to pull away, third-place Coulthard holds up a tight pack comprised of himself, Webber, Nick Heidfeld, Christian Klien and Juan Montoya. Barrichello, in eight, keeps a conservative pace a couple of seconds from the Colombian.
On the 18th lap, Trulli kicks off the frontrunners’ first round of pitstops. Toyota’s rivals, especially Barrichello’s Ferrari, seem to have opted for heavier fuel loads at the start and remain longer on the track. As a result, the Italian is the big loser in the aftermath of the initial refueling: he falls from second to sixth. Coulthard is now second, followed by Webber in third and Barrichello in fourth, already ahead of Montoya in fifth.
If Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher continue to struggle in the back, the same can’t be said of Renault’s Fernando Alonso, who, after needing two overtaking attempts to get rid of Villeneuve’s Sauber, already looms close to the top-eight positions.
Trulli’s fuel load is good for exactly another 18 laps, with the Italian again the first to make his second stop among the pack’s leaders. Time for Ferrari to once more show that, although its interim F2004M may seem outclassed in sheer pace by some of its rivals, Maranello has kept the upper hand strategy-wise.
Again, Barrichello is the last of the top runners to pit for the second time - meaning that, while his competitors come back heavy from their stops, the Brazilian is left on a light load for a handful of faster laps. Not only that: his stops are also quicker, as he needs less fuel to complete the remaining distance.
As a result, without making a single on-track overtake, Rubens finds himself in the second spot after the second round of refueling, trailing only Fisichella. Alonso mimics the Brazilian’s strategy, coming out of his stop less than two seconds away from the Ferrari driver - Renaults are now first and third. Coulthard holds on to fourth, with Webber in fifth and Montoya in the sixth spot.
Further down the pack, Michael Schumacher continues to show lackluster pace. With 15 laps to go, the German tries to defend his position from compatriot Nick Heidfeld. Schuey squeezes Heidfeld so much, the Williams driver is forced into the grass, losing all grip under braking and shooting straight in a right-hander turn - not without first collecting Michael. Both cars spin and Heidfeld is out at the spot. Schuey gets a push from the marshals and tries to return, only to park his damaged Ferrari a lap later.
"I think that I made a good move," said Heidfeld. "Michael just came out of the pits and obviously he had a bad exit from the first chicane because he wasn't on the ideal line. He didn't leave me any space and pushed me on to the grass, where braking is obviously impossible."
But Schuey refused to take blame: "With this kind of thing there are always lots of different opinions and mine is that it is impossible to blame either one of us," he said. “I saw him behind me just as I came out of the pits and I made it clear that I was defending my position. At one point I lost sight of him in my mirrors and I went into the corner when I felt I had been hit."
From then on, Fisichella keeps Barrichello at bay, and the Brazilian resists Alonso’s pressure until the checkered flag. In the end, a podium with plenty of novelty emerges in Australia: it was Fisico’s first “proper” victory, as he did not get to spray the champagne at Interlagos in 2003 since the FIA gave the win to Kimi Raikkonen at the spot, only to correct its mistake a week later.
"It is nice to have the possibility to celebrate my victory from the right position on the podium," Fisichella celebrated.
2005 Australian Grand Prix - Final results:
Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 6 GiancarloccRenault Winner
2 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari +5.5 secs
3 5 Fernando Alonso Renault +6.7 secs
4 14 David Coulthard Red Bull Racing +16.1 secs
5 7 Mark Webber Williams-BMW +16.9 secs
6 10 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes +35.0 secs
7 15 Christian Klien Red Bull Racing +38.9 secs
8 9 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes +39.6 secs
9 16 Jarno Trulli Toyota +63.1 secs
10 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas +64.3 secs
11 3 Jenson Button BAR-Honda +1 Lap
12 17 Ralf Schumacher Toyota +1 Lap
13 11 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas +1 Lap
14 4 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda +2 Lap
15 19 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota +2 Lap
16 18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota +2 Lap
17 20 Patrick Friesacher Minardi-Cosworth +4 Lap
Ret 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari +15 Lap
Ret 8 Nick Heidfeld Williams-BMW +15 Lap
Ret 21 Christijan Albers Minardi-Cosworth +41 Laps
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