After the opening round of the 2005 FIA Formula One  in AustraliaWorld Championship, Rubens Barrichello and Scuderia Ferrari are lying second in the Drivers’ and Constructors’ classification.

After losing out in the rain-lashed lottery of first qualifying on Saturday, the Brazilian drove a brilliant race to storm through to second place at the flag, from eleventh on the grid. Michael Schumacher started from the back of the grid, after the team decided to change his engine prior to second qualifying. Unfortunately, after working his way into the points zone, a collision on lap 42 at Turn 3 with the BMW-Williams of Nick Heidfeld saw both men retire.

The first start was aborted after Raikkonen stalled. The race distance was reduced to 57 laps. Fisichella led from pole, followed by Trulli, Coulthard, Webber, Heidfeld, Klien, Montoya and Barrichello already up to ninth. At the end of the first lap Michael was 15th. On lap two, Alonso was being held up by Villeneuve and Raikkonen, who started from pit lane is right behind M Schumacher. On lap 16, Freisacher in the Minardi makes the first pit stop of the season, which is an unusual sight with no tyres being changed.

Fisichella was still leading when he refuelled on lap 23, as did Montoya from sixth place and this allows Barrichello temporarily into the lead until the Brazilian refuels on laps 25, along with Alonso and Raikkonen. Barrichello’s stop saw him rejoin in fourth place. One lap later, Michael Schumacher, still only eleventh pits and now finds himself behind Raikkonen. By lap 28, the entire field had refuelled at least once and Fisichella now had a 12 second lead over Coulthard, Webber, Barrichello, Montoya, Trulli, Alonso, Klien, Heidfeld, Raikkonen, M, Schumacher, Villeneuve, Button, Sato, Massa, R Schumacher, Karthikeyan and Friesacher.

On lap 41, Webber almost lost a place to Michael and on the next lap, the world champion refuelled at the same time as Fisichella, Coulthard and Montoya. This puts Barrichello back in the lead, but still with a stop to make.

On lap 43, Michael’s race ended as a result of his collision with Heidfeld. The Williams was stuck in the gravel, but Schumacher was push started and managed to retire the F2004 M in the pits. On lap 45, Alonso pitted allowing Fisichella back into the lead and the Spaniard rejoined third just behind Barrichello. The Brazilian could not relax too much as the Renault driver behind him kept up the pressure, which meant he closed the gap to Fisichella which was 5.553 seconds at the flag.

Jean Todt: “The first weekend of the season ends with mixed emotions. On the one hand, satisfaction with Rubens’s second place after he drove a great race. Given how things went into qualifying, it was quite a long call to expect a podium finish. On the other hand, there is disappointment for Michael, forced to retire when he was in the points, following a collision with Heidfeld’s Williams. It is a shame, because Michael had staged a good climb up the order and could have brought home some valuable points. We proved we were competitive in the race and to achieve that with the F2004 M is encouraging for the future.
 

 
"However, we know that, along with Bridgestone, we have a lot of work to do to reach the level of performance we are aiming for. I want to congratulate Giancarlo Fisichella who drove a splendid race to take his second Grand Prix win. Today’s result confirms our prediction that it will be a very very closely contested championship.”

Rubens Barrichello: “I enjoyed every second of the race. The other teams have obviously made a step forward, but I must congratulate our team on producing a good car and the tyres held on very well – they could have done another race. I had a great start and passed Button immediately. Then I had a fantastic first and second corner and I was able to pass Villeneuve which I knew was essential. After fifteen laps, my rear brakes were locking really badly, the balance all went to the rear and it was like driving a kart. In the final stages, I was still pushing Fisichella because I had Alonso behind me, but I had to be careful as I was trying to conserve the engine, as we have to think about Malaysia and its high temperatures. I had a few problems with traffic. There are some new guys out there who were occasionally in the way, so I guess we need to give them time to get the F1 habit. We proved today that this car is still competitive, even though the new one will be faster.”

Michael Schumacher: “All in all there are some positives to take away from this race. We were competitive – Rubens drove a super race – despite the fact we had last year’s car. We had a great pace and I am pretty sure I could have passed Klien. We can be satisfied and regard this weekend as a good sign for the rest of the championship. The incident with Heidfeld? With this type of thing there are always different opinions and mine is that it is impossible to blame either one of us. I saw him behind me just as I came out of the pits and I made it clear I was defending my position. At one point I lost sight of him in the mirrors and went into the corner when I felt I’d been hit. I have seen the incident on film: Heidfeld was on the grass and so was not in full control of his car. I can’t blame him for trying to overtake me. My car was slightly damaged in the collision and there was no point in going on.”

Ross Brawn: “We are reasonably happy, considering we came here with the old car. To finish second after such a dreadful qualifying is not bad. Both guys drove a great race. Rubens was exceptional, as he had a problem with the car from the early stages, but he was able to manage it very well. Michael had a race from the back of the grid and it was always going to be difficult with such a high number of finishers. It’s a great shame he got taken out, because a couple of points from Michael would have been a nice bonus. We know we have the new car coming and further development on tyres, which were very good today. Second place with the old car cannot be bad and is a good incentive for all of us.”