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The Race F1 Podcast

Bring Back V10s: Fisichella's dream Renault start at Australia 2005

The 2005 F1 season marked the beginning of a new era, as Ferrari's run of consecutive championships with Michael Schumacher was about to come to an end.


And that was evident from the beginning of the year, when Renault got off to a dream start with Giancarlo Fisichella easily winning from pole position, and Fernando Alonso charging through from a lowly grid position to almost complete a one-two.


Meanwhile Schumacher was a high-profile victim of changeable weather on F1's first aggregate qualifying weekend, and his race ended with a clumsy collision with new Williams driver Nick Heidfeld.Glenn Freeman is joined by Matt Beer and Mark Hughes to look back at the start of the 2005 season, with a race that won a members poll on Patreon by just two votes!


Off-track, the big topics were how Ferrari would get on starting the year with an updated 2004 car, how Bridgestone and Michelin felt about in-race tyre changes being outlawed, and Minardi's war with the FIA that featured an in-weekend court case, and the entirety of international events in Australia coming under threat!


There's also Red Bull's impressive F1 debut, BAR's cheeky intentional double retirement, Williams starting rumours about BMW and Sauber, and how Eddie Jordan found his first race weekend after selling his team and no longer being part of the paddock.


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