Estoril: feature race result
Published on 30 October 2005 by Thorsten Hendriks
Team France has won the feature race in Estoril. Alexandre Premat also had the fastest lap and this means France took the maximum points. Switzerland came second, just in front of Ireland. Fourth was USA and fifth Portugal. Jos Verstappen collided with Germany's car and had to leave the race prematurely.
The start was dramatic. The red lights went out almost instantly and both team Brazil and team Netherlands stall their engine. Luckily for both driver the safetycar is deployed and the two car are being pushed into the pitlane to have their engines restarted. Jos manages to get onto the track in front of the safetycar but Nelson Piquet Jr. has to join the pack at the back and has lost a full lap. Many teams go for their pitstop and Jos moves forward to 12th. In lap 8 Jos overtakes team Lebanon for position 11.
In lap 13 the safetycar is deployed again and Jos goes in for his pitstop. When everyone joins the pack Jos is seventh and still has all his powerboosts. After the restart Jos tried to overtake Thomas Enge but nearly loses his car during this effort at the end of the straight. A few laps after that Jos is the cause of a safetycar deployement when he brakes too late and collided with team Germany. Jos manages to get back to the pits but his car is too badly damaged to continue. The same goes for the German car.
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Jos admits to his braking error. "This is racing, I brake a bit too late and then this happens. I am very sorry for the German team." What happened exactly at the start? "I was surprised the lights went off that quickly and I didn't even get the time to release the clutch. I let the clutch come up instantly, in a reflex, and then the engine stalled. Looking in hindsight it wouldn't have been such a problem if it weren't for my collision with Germany. Better luck next time."
Thorsten Hendriks
Country Time Difference Difference
to first to previous
1 FRANCE 1:01:05.454 - -
2 SWITZERLAND 1:01:12.971 + 07.517 + 07.517
3 IRELAND 1:01:21.387 + 15.933 + 08.416
4 USA 1:01:24.477 + 19.023 + 03.090
5 PORTUGAL 1:01:32.774 + 27.320 + 08.297
6 AUSTRALIA 1:01:40.228 + 34.774 + 07.454
7 ITALY 1:01:41.083 + 35.629 + 00.855
8 BRAZIL 1:01:41.719 + 36.265 + 00.636
9 CZECH REPUBLIC 1:01:43.184 + 37.730 + 01.465
10 AUSTRIA 1:01:56.834 + 51.380 + 13.650
11 LEBANON 1:02:04.187 + 58.733 + 07.353
12 GREAT BRITAIN 1:02:07.401 +1'01.947 + 03.214
13 INDIA 1:02:10.998 +1'05.544 + 03.597
14 CHINA 1:02:16.035 +1'10.581 + 05.037
15 PAKISTAN 1:02:21.971 +1'16.517 + 05.936
16 NEW ZEALAND 1:01:41.368 1 Lap 1 Lap
17 RUSSIA 1:01:58.369 1 Lap +17.001
18 CANADA 36:38.206 16 Laps 15 Laps
19 NETHERLANDS 32:48.786 18 Laps 2 Laps
20 GERMANY 30:27.881 19 Laps 1 Lap
21 MALAYSIA 29:00.971 21 Laps 2 Laps
22 SOUTH AFRICA 24:01.306 22 Laps 1 Lap
23 INDONESIA 19:06.035 25 Laps 3 Laps
24 MEXICO 15:59.134 27 Laps 2 Laps
