2005 Japanese Grand Prix

2005 Japanese Grand Prix
Race 18 of 19 in the 2005 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Race details
Date	9 October 2005
Official name	2005 Formula 1 Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix
Location	Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka, Mie, Japan
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.807 km (3.608 miles)
Distance	53 laps, 307.573 km (191.117 miles)
Weather	Partially cloudy and dry with temperatures reaching up to 25 °C (77 °F)[1]
Attendance	320,000[2]
Pole position
Driver	Ralf Schumacher	Toyota
Time	1:46.106
Fastest lap
Driver	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:31.540 on lap 44
Podium
First	Kimi Räikkönen	McLaren-Mercedes
Second	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault
Third	Fernando Alonso	Renault
Lap leaders

The 2005 Japanese Grand Prix (officially known as the 2005 Formula One Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One race which was held at Suzuka International Racing Course on 9 October 2005. It was the eighteenth and penultimate round of the 2005 Formula One World Championship, the thirty-first running of the Japanese Grand Prix and nineteenth to be held at Suzuka.

Kimi Räikkönen won the race after starting from seventeenth, overtaking long-time race leader Giancarlo Fisichella on the final lap to win a race that saw many overtaking manoeuvres. Fisichella’s teammate Fernando Alonso completed the podium, having come through from sixteenth, including an overtake on Michael Schumacher around the outside of 130R corner.^[3]

The race marked Ralf Schumacher’s sixth and final pole position in Formula One.^[4]

This was also Räikkönen's last win until the 2007 Australian Grand Prix, his last win for McLaren and McLaren's last win until the 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix. This was the last time in 19 years until the 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix that a driver had won from 17th on the grid or lower.