2005 Formula One World Championship

Alonso and Renault had to contend with the pace of the resurgent McLaren team with lead driver Kimi Räikkönen outshining teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, who came highly regarded from his time at Williams.

Nevertheless, Räikkönen grabbed the headlines winning from near the back of the grid in Japan, passing Alonso's Renault teammate Giancarlo Fisichella on the final lap.

By the first round of the season, there were ten teams, as Red Bull completed their takeover of Jaguar and were ready to race in Australia.

The most-noted aspect of the season was Ferrari's lack of pace caused mainly by a new rule prohibiting tyre changes during the course of a race.

The Bridgestone tyres used by Ferrari could not find the right balance between performance and reliability, leaving the Michelin runners to battle for race victories.

Giancarlo Fisichella won the season opener in Australia before teammate Alonso demonstrated his title credentials with a series of victories in Malaysia, Bahrain and San Marino.

Despite both him and Räikkönen having six victories to their name at this point in the season, Alonso's greater consistency meant he was able to claim the championship with two rounds to spare.

Ferrari finished third in the Constructors' Championship with only one win, at the United States Grand Prix, a race that was only contested by the six Bridgestone cars after Michelin declared their tyres unsafe to run in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's unique banked corner.

[14] After a high-flying 2004 season the most conspicuous drop in performance after Ferrari was BAR-Honda, who were banned from two races after scrutineers in San Marino discovered a hidden fuel compartment that allowed their cars to run underweight.

The 2005 season witnessed two of the hottest Grands Prix ever: the track temperature at the beginning of the Malaysian event was 51 °C (124 °F), while in Bahrain the mercury soared past 56 °C (133 °F).