Sunday 21st August 2005
Istanbul Park, also known as the Istanbul Racing Circuit or initially Istanbul Otodrom, a motor sports race track near İstanbul, Turkey staged the first Turkish Grand Prix. Because of the nature of the circuit the 2005 Turkish Grand Prix weekend saw exciting on-track action, with many drivers spinning off throughout the weekend due to pushing too hard, particularly at Turn 8 where Juan Pablo Montoya (McLaren-Mercedes) ran wide with two laps to go following a tangle with the Jordan of Tiago Monteiro. This allowed Fernando Alonso (Renault) to take second place behind Kimi Räikkönen (McLaren-Mercedes) an event which had a significant bearing on their battle for the World Championship headed towards its culmination.