2005 Silverstone Feature Race

The 2005 Silverstone Feature Race, formally known as the 2005 Silverstone GP2 Series Race 1, was the tenth race of the 2005 FIA GP2 Series, staged at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, Northamptonshire, UK on 9 July 2005. The race would see Nico Rosberg sweep to his second victory in succession for ART Grand Prix, after a race long mental battle with Championship leader Heikki Kovalainen.

The German youth had won the battle for pole position on Friday afternoon, beating Nelson Piquet Jr. by 0.041s to claim his maiden GP2 pole, mirroring the results of qualifying for the 1985 British Grand Prix, when their respective fathers shared the front row. Behind them, Kovalainen would claim third ahead of Adam Carroll, the Ulsterman having been promoted after Alexandre Prémat served a penalty for his multiple incidents at Magny-Cours.

Unlike the 1985 British Grand Prix, however, there would be no Piquet presence when the race started, for the Brazilian racer would have an issue on the formation lap and drop out. That allowed Rosberg to punch into the lead unopposed when the lights went out, while behind Kovalainen aggressively chopped across Carroll's nose to secure second.

With that the top three were away, with Rosberg escaping from Kovalainen, while Carroll paced the Finn in third. Behind, a train would form behind Neel Jani in fourth, with the Swiss racer having Scott Speed, José María López and Giorgio Pantano glued to his tail throughout the early laps.

The early stages would also see Gianmaria Bruni and Prémat gamble on incredibly early stops, pitting on lap two when the pitwindow opened. That gamble would appear to work, with Prémat setting an impressive early pace by recording the fastest lap of the day on lap four, leaving hims clear of Bruni.

It was lap nine before the lead drivers began making their stops, with Speed and Pantano pitting, before Jani abandoned fourth on lap eleven. Rosberg and Kovalainen then stopped on lap fifteen, Rosberg losing almost all of his hard earned four second lead via a slow stop, while Carroll led for a single tour before pitting a lap later.

Once Carroll's stop was completed the order at the head of the field was stabilised, with Rosberg leading Kovalainen, while Prémat had leapt up to third. Carroll was next up ahead of Speed, Jani had slipped to sixth, while Clivio Piccione and Bruni completed the top eight.

Indeed, there would be very little change to the lead order through the rest of the race, with Rosberg controlling the pace once he got three seconds clear of Kovalainen, while they both eased away from Prémat as the Frenchman nursed his tyres. Carroll, meanwhile, would throw away fourth with a spin at Stowe to slip behind Speed, while Can Artam smacked into Alexandre Negrão at the back of the field.

With that the race was over, with Rosberg allowing Kovalainen to close within half a second as he crossed the line to claim his second win in succession. Prémat duly completed the podium having nursed his tyres beautifully to the chequered flag, with Speed just behind in fourth. Jani was next up ahead of Piccione after a late fight, while a puncture for Carroll in the final laps allowed Bruni and Olivier Pla to complete the scorers and claim the front row for the Sprint Race.

Background
The inaugural FIA GP2 Series reached its halfway point as the field arrived at the Silverstone Circuit in the UK, with the legendary British circuit hosting the British Grand Prix in the first weekend of July. The GP2 Series would take pride of place on the support bill as usual, with the GP2 field unchanged since the battles of Magny-Cours a week before. There would, however, be some changes to the grid as a result of the French weekend, with Alexandre Prémat and Ernesto Viso both serving ten place grid penalties for causing collisions in the Magny-Cours Sprint.

Magny-Cours Management
Heikki Kovalainen would end the French GP2 Series meeting with a comfortable Championship lead, the Finn having moved onto 52 points after his charge to the podium. That left him eighteen clear of Adam Carroll in second, while Gianmaria Bruni was 21 points, off in third. Behind, Nico Rosberg had moved up to fourth after his maiden victory, level on points with Scott Speed, while Fairuz Fauzy, Juan Cruz Álvarez and Borja García had been left as the only pointless drivers in the field.

Arden International rounded out the trip to Magny-Cours with a decisive lead in the Championship as the season approached half-distance, and would arrive at their home race with a twenty point lead. Compatriots Super Nova Racing would occupy second leaving France, although they were only a point ahead of French racers ART Grand Prix after Rosberg's Sprint triumph. Coloni Motorsport and iSport International then completed the top five, while Campos Racing had settled at the bottom of the table, a point behind David Price Racing.

Entry List
The full entry list for the is displayed below:

Qualifying
Qualifying for the inaugural GP2 Series race would be staged via a thirty minute session on Friday afternoon, ahead of the Feature Race on Saturday. All 24 drivers would venture onto the circuit during the session, and were allowed to complete as many laps as they could to set their qualifying time. There was also a free choice of tyres, although drivers could not exceed their allocation of Bridgestone tyres.

Results
The final qualifying result for the are outlined below:
 * * Prémat and Viso served ten place grid penalties for causing collisions at the 2005 Magny-Cours Sprint Race.

Grid

 * * Piquet was unable to start the race due to a clutch failure on the formation lap.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below: * Carroll was still classified despite retiring as he had completed 90% of the race distance.
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.

Milestones

 * Maiden pole position for Nico Rosberg.
 * Rosberg claimed his second GP2 Series victory.
 * Second win for ART Grand Prix as an entrant.

Standings
Heikki Kovalainen had seen his Championship lead remain largely intact after the first race in Silverstone, the Finn's advantage having been slightly reduced to nineteen points. The man to do the damage had been race winner Nico Rosberg, with the German racer's strong mid-season form having carried him up to second, seven points ahead of Adam Carroll. Scott Speed was next up having moved level with Carroll, while Gianmaria Bruni had slipped to fifth.

In the Teams' Championship it was Arden International who continued to head the charge, although their lead had been cut. Indeed, a double podium for ART Grand Prix had seen the French squad move up into second with 63 points, leaving them nine behind the British squad. They had also overhauled Super Nova Racing, who headed into the Silverstone Sprint 28 points off the lead, with no other changes to the order.