The 71-lap race was won by McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya, who took the seventh and final victory of his career, ahead of his teammate, Kimi Räikkönen, who finished second. Renault driver Fernando Alonso became the Drivers' Champion for the first time after he finished the race in third place.
As of 2024, this is the last Grand Prix to be won by a Colombian driver in Formula One.
Friday drivers
The bottom 6 teams in the 2004 Constructors' Championship were entitled to run a third car in free practice on Friday. These drivers drove on Friday but did not compete in qualifying or the race. Enrico Toccacelo, Minardi's third driver was not present in Brazil as he competed for the Italian team in the opening round of the A1 Grand Prix series at Brands Hatch.[2]
Fernando Alonso led the drivers' championship with 25 points ahead of Kimi Räikkönen and 56 points ahead of Michael Schumacher. With three races remaining, the drivers' championship was decided between Alonso and Räikkönen. A third place would be enough for Alonso to win his first world championship title, while Räikkönen would no longer have a mathematical chance even if he won and came third. In the constructors' championship, Renault led McLaren-Mercedes by six points and Ferrari by 62 points.
Williams' Nick Heidfeld, having injured his shoulder in a cycling accident in Switzerland, was replaced again by Antônio Pizzonia. The German had also missed the two previous Grands Prix due to the consequences of an accident in a test session in Monza.[3]
Qualifying
Alonso took his eighth career pole with a time of 1:11.998 minutes ahead of Montoya and Fisichella. Button completed the second line. Räikkönen reached 5th place.
Commentators have judged Renault's qualifying performance as evidence that their "conservative phase" was over. Renault's Pat Symonds had said that the team was not aiming to settle for a simple podium finish, rather they were aiming to win. BBC's Maurice Hamilton said that "the thought that Fernando Alonso might cruise to the Championship.....was dispelled in the most convincing fashion". McLaren CEO Ron Dennis remained confident of his team's race strategy given Juan Pablo Montoya's strong second position, despite a major error in the qualifying lap of Kimi Räikkönen.
Race
Jacques Villeneuve was forced to start from pit lane as a penalty for infringement of parc ferme regulations. After getting involved in an accident at the start of the race, Mark Webber was able to rejoin, over 20 laps behind the leaders and do some laps, sufficient to position himself fourth in the official qualifying order for the subsequent Grand Prix at Japanese. Due to a driveshaft failure, this was Tiago Monteiro's only retirement of the 2005 season.
Juan Pablo Montoya won the race ahead of teammate Kimi Räikkönen; McLaren's first 1–2 finish since the 2000 Austrian Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso finished 3rd and thus became World Champion for the first time, at the time the youngest ever champion at 24 years and 58 days surpassing Emerson Fittipaldi's record of 25 years and 273 days set in 1972, and the first Spaniard to do so. The result of the Grand Prix marked the only point during the season when McLaren had more championship points than Renault.
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