Practice
The first practice session of the 2005 Australian Grand Prix was dominated by Vitantonio Liuzzi who was appearing at his first grand prix for Red Bull at their first race. Twenty-two cars participated with reserve drivers Pedro de la Rosa for McLaren, Ricardo Zonta for Toyota, Robert Doornbos for Jordan and Luizzi for Red Bull. Neither of the Minardis ran. Juan Pablo Montoya was fourth fastest while Rubens Barrichello was only 12th. Michael Schumacher didn't participate in this session. The only casualty was Narain Karthikeyan for Jordan whose engine blew up after 6 laps.
Pedro de la Rosa and Kimi Räikkönen put their McLarens fastest in the second session just ahead of Nick Heidfeld and Michael Schumacher. Juan Pablo Montoya was left fifth with a happy Felipe Massa sixth. The main drama was Vitantonio Liuzzi's spin at turn three which left him in the gravel and he had to abandon the car. Narain Karthikeyan was hit with a fine with him speeding in the pit lane during his first ever outing in the last practice session with a speed of 86.2kph his fine was US$6750. Once again both Minardis didn't take part.
After the overnight rain in Australia the track was wet for the start of the third practice session with the Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello leading the way ahaead of Kimi Räikkönen in the McLaren. Both Minardis got to run but Christijan Albers spun on his final lap at Turn 3. Neither of the Sauber, Williams or Renault drivers set lap times but Christian Klien and Juan Pablo Montoya did go out as did Mark Webber but spun twice on his only lap.
The final session got underway and the dampness of the track led to times all over the place but Kimi Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso did well to fight for fastest with the Finn coming out best. Juan Pablo Montoya put in a last gasp lap for 3rd ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella and Jenson Button. Another drama for Narain Karthikeyan as he spun at turn nine and had to abandon his car before it briefly caught fire.
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