ENDING SCHUMACHER'S STREAK! The Story of the Renault R25 (2005)

[@socalraven17]

Fernando vs. Michael feels like a MANDATORY video. It’ll be incredible as always, no doubt. Please? 🥺

[@s0lsticefr4]

yes please 2006 season

[@NHR_Music]

Same. The season that introduced me to F1.

[@DuvJones]

I will third this. Please go through the season Aidan Millward.

[@Ryzard]

THANK YOU FOR POINTING OUT THE ROSE TINTED GOGGLES. I've watched through a lot of 70s/80s/90s/2000s races, and the amount of revisionist history present is honestly insane. People act like max winning by 3-5 seconds is bad, when some races would end with only one to three cars on the lead lap on some occasions back in the day. The gaps were insane at times, and day to day, you'd get races where only one or two genuine passes happened, with some races in the nineties spending 80% of race distance with massively faster cars stuck behind a single slow car going long.

[@Midtable1881]

Seeing the Renault F1 go around the Top Gear test track in 59 seconds is one of the best laps I've ever seen.

[@IanRB26]

When the fans of the likes of Leclerc cry about his sometimes bad luck, simply imagine if they were Kimi fans during the McLaren years, especially 2005. I was and it was absolutely heartbreaking.

[@richboy900]

Same. 2003 and 2005 were years where the reliability let him down

[@ACBehning]

Perfect timing! I’ve been rewatching the 2005 & ‘06 seasons.

[@KenzieRetro]

Japan 2005 is always one i go back to watch

[@ACBehning]

@@KenzieRetro favorite race of all time!

[@neo1711]

Were the races really as exciting as people said? Or is it just rose tinted glasses

[@ACBehning]

@@neo1711 depends what you like. I like the overtakes more back then because they were hard earned and more on the edge. I’m not a huge fan of DRS. The fight in the back wasn’t nearly as close to the front as today, so that’s kind of a hard sell for most.

[@fahimsultan93]

big zeddie !!!

[@HonourGuardian]

I think its also very interesting that the vast majority of recent 'dominant' world champions have all won championships with cars/teams that have designed their cars to very specific driving or management styles. We've all heard comments from previous Schumacher teammates that Schumacher 'had the ferrari designed' for his driving style, Alonso adapting his driving style to a very specific set of rules as Aidan has fantastically detailed. Vettel had completely bought into the Adrian Newey design philosophy (and vice versa) whereas it didn't suit Webber or Ricciardo. Lewis had superbly helped design the Mercedes winning mentality (which helped secure him a solid and unspectacular 2nd driver after 2016) and Verstappen has obviously got the designers at Red Bull designing a very 'on the nose' car for his driving style which we have seen practically all his team mates struggle. I think we all agree that we hate the eras of domination but i think most of the time the best drivers really do create the situation for dominance, where it be team hopping, demanding a design philosophy, or creating the perfect team of winning mentality. On a side note - it would be interesting to see if all of these 'dominant' champions have a similar driving style/management style/ team creation/demands etc - video idea? 😀

[@darbysaurd9432]

I'm watching this now. A good follow-up video would be the first retirement of Michael Schumacher. The internal idea that Ferrari didn't have a fast car dictated how they attacked grand prix weekends and missed out a lot of points in the early stages. Then his retirement news broke in the media, and Ferrari had an upturn of results and went into the final two rounds tied on points with a retiring driver in the title fight. Facinating stuff. Keep up the great vids!

[@Tom_murray89]

The 05 Renault was great and I did my work experience at my local Renault dealership in 05 too

[@reptongeek]

A deep dive into the 2005 San Marino GP would be nice. Not only because of the Alonso - Schumacher fight but also the ITV ads controversy that rivalled The Heidi Game

[@Ryzard]

Itv ads? Any way to get a clue on this? What should I search

[@reptongeek]

@@Ryzard Just Google the race itself. It has a Wikipedia article that describes what happened

[@ianriggers]

2005 The First Year i started watching F1 what a season!

[@charlesdarwin7253]

You started watching F1 the same year that Logan Sargent started his most recent qualifying lap.

[@AmanAli-dc1sy]

What a car and what an engine. Not the fastest car but the "best" car of 2005.

[@MPal24]

For sure. The McLaren was amazingly fast but blew-up way too often. Kimi lost at least 3 wins - all of which went to Alonso. To finish first, you have to finish!

[@teabagtowers3823]

​@@MPal24 MP4-20 when it was working was a missile and simply devastating. Problem was that Mercedes engine whilst insanely powerful was bit fragile. So as you say the more reliable car won.

[@isthatrubble]

the channel "the mobile chicane" has done a good video on the what-ifs and struggles of kimi's time at mclaren, do recommend for that side of things!

[@katout75]

Great video, I've read how Bob Bell (Renault TD R25) described the R25 honestly as not the fastest car on the grid but the best car compromise which made it work the best overall.

[@sandmaenchen]

Pretty sure Raikkonen retired from the lead also in Hockenheim, due to hydraulics issue. Montoya had beached it in quali, so it was another relatively easy win for Alonso.

[@filipposstavro1233]

Aidan , in Imola the R25 started and finished the race with one less cylinder. Fernando said so in an interview. It is available on the official F1 channel

[@darrenwalters6339]

Top content as always 👌🏻 The Alonso vs Michael would be a top video. Or even Alonso vs Hamilton vs kimi in 2007

[@TheGalantHamburger]

Last time I was this fast, my girlfriend left me

[@averagegingernut434]

bruh XD

[@wesselgreven6570]

Who hurt you bro?

[@TheGalantHamburger]

@@wesselgreven6570😂

[@josvercaemer264]

[@TheGalantHamburger]

@@wesselgreven6570😂

[@charlesdarwin7253]

The last championship winning V10 in F1 was also the highest revving Renault engine ever produced. Some guy said it.

[@virgokarma3853]

Nah the next year 2006 had the highest revving engine ever produced. 2005 r25 v10 had 19000 rpm and next year in 2006 the r26 v8 had 20,500 rpm which is the highest revving engine in f1 history.

[@stephenlauret132]

Cheers sir! Love nerding out on this stuff, a lot I did not know about the R25, lovely video and YES please 2006 "review", "battle Fer vs Schm", analasys, or whatever you want to call it!

[@alexhndr]

Bruh, imagine this thing with proper Slicks *What a monster it could be*

[@weofnjieofing]

2005 was a great year for Alonso fans! Aidan, a vid on 2006 Schumacher v Alonso would be awesome!

[@iamlato]

renault's innovations are proof that the 1998-2008 regs were the best ever. they allowed so much freedom

[@privateinformation2960]

everyone who watches this needs to look up 'Renault - God Save The Queen' or 'We Are The Champions' - Red Bull also had a crack with one of the early RBRs and there is a 'Advance Australia Fair' somewhere.Thats an interesting rabbit hole in itself which will probably lead you to 'Machinehead - Ace of Spades' and 'Imperial Hard Drive Death March' Youre welcome in advance.

[@ibex485]

@Aidan - An easy way to avoid/delay the pain of reinstalling Windows just to try and make a game work is to just install a second copy of Windows and switch between them at startup. The easiest way is to install it on another drive, but you can have both installations on the same drive (but separate partitions). When you install the new copy of Windows it will detect the existing copy and sort out the boot menu automatically. And the way Windows 10/11 licensing works the second installation should automatically activate based on your computer's 'fingerprint' stored on the activation servers. (As you're only running one copy of Windows at a time, it's perfectly legal.) I did this a while back to avoid having to reinstall Windows just to fix one bloody driving game (everything else was fine, Microsoft's fault) and since then having the second copy of Windows has been a very useful backup, for those times when other issues came up later (and meant I had more time to diagnose and fix them). It also means if/when the time does come for a full OS reinstall I can gradually copy everything over rather than nuke it all and hope I didn't forget to backup something important.

[@csababiro7851]

Wow there's a lot I didn't know about the R25. Hats off to Renault for experimenting first with the wide angle, then doing a 180, and with the rear bias too. It takes guts to go off in a different direction. High risk-high reward. It must have felt extra special when Alonso managed to pull it off especially against a Mclaren-Newey-Raikkonen combo.

[@King_Ears]

Loving the upload frequency at the moment. Keep it up Mr M

[@jcwebb540]

It's not just that Bridgestone designed tires around the Ferrari, they wouldn't even give the other teams the same tires that Ferrari got.

[@benrogers1559]

People always seem to forget that they was a spell in the middle of the season (Imola-France) where Ferrari were properly competitive and should have won a couple of races had it not been for bad luck or driver errors.

[@Grand_Prix_TV]

Great as always, thanks!🏎🏁

[@fineraftmovies]

Wow 2 V10 Formula 1 era videos in 2 days... Aidan is cooking

[@jasonrushton5991]

Oi! Oi! Another Class Video Matey!!

[@SaschaGorg]

Fun Fact: Alonso signed in January '06 the contract with McLaren for 2007 and beyond. lol. And still won driver and constructor championship with a team everyone knows he'll depart with

[@artmchugh5644]

Great video!!!!! Happy independence day!!!!!🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@shoominati23]

The R25 is my favourite looking car of the modern era.. well modern-ish era I guess

[@andygreener3130]

Tyres for only Ferrari is not a theory, it’s a fact Aiden. Remember the 2004 cake party comment?

[@simontravers2715]

One video I’d like to see, Alonso during Vettel’s dominance, how many titles would he have now if cars were all equal? Factoring in Seb & Hamilton of course

[@TeeRollss]

The thing about this is that the car will always favor one driving style over another. For this to apply you need a two drivers who favor a pointy car driving very good pointy cars.

[@minibus9]

awesome video

[@nikbear]

Always loved the Megane R25 Road/track inspired car they built to celebrate their F1 success, what a weapon 👌

[@palm92]

WRT bespoke tires - Michelin, Goodyear and Pirelli did that in the 1980s too. Goodyear for example in 1989 made their tires around the McLaren and Ferraris at the expense of everyone else.

[@KR1736]

Alonso said that McLaren was actually lucky to blow them in practice or qualifying. Where they would only take grid penalties instead of DNFs

[@jonihamalainen2228]

The last race of in 2005 was China and Renault had an engine upgrade and had to be the most powerful V10 engine ever... Huge straight line speed than 340+ kph! Without DRS. Imagine with that.. 370!? xD V10 engine POWAAAH!

[@chippandan6577]

Number 1 KZbinr ❤

[@tedtheo7131]

Have you done a video if a modern f1 car is faster over a race than a grooved tire car? We can all see laptimes are faster, but nonhybrids could push harder and longer due to refueling, the tires and no ers to worry about.

[@andyparker2119]

I did hear that this car was the fastest accelerating F1 car in terms of getting off the line....I could be wrong....

[@nickporter574]

The new tire rule had a lot to do with Renault's success. Michelin had it locked down whereas Bridgestone kinda sucked. I was at the 2005 Indy GP, turn 1. People throwing beer cans on track. Haha, crazy times.

[@brnhd1991]

Would love to see a deep dive into the 2006 season a title battle that I thought about a lot during 2021 the old 7 time world champ v the next gen superstar (okay Alonso had a title max didn't then) 2006 had a lot of political moves and plays that effected teams for years to come McLaren/Ferrari - choices taken in 2006 by Luca the team haven't still really recovered from I reckon even a mention of the GP2 champ of 2006 and his role might be a footnote if end up doing a real feature length breakdown of 2006

[@PaperBanjo64]

Could Michael Schumacher have won an 8th championship in 2007 had Ferrari not pushed him out? Or 2008 for a 9th!? Or would Lewis Hamilton have beaten him by a single point instead of Felipe Massa?

[@terminateshere]

Early-career Alonso was determined to win the title before Schumacher retired because to do so after would cheapen the achievement. He did it in 2005, and then with a closer fight in 2006. Truth be told, I remember this era of F1 as "good but not great" racing-wise and there were plenty of processions amid the drama - it just felt good compared with 2004.

[@Get-Native]

Awesome love the details 👌 this car drives mint in AC

[@charlesdarwin7253]

The R25 doesn't have AC. You must be thinking of a different car.

[@ShelbyEra34]

@@charlesdarwin7253Assetto Corsa mate

[@zinddy]

When i was new to f1 i thought the r25s livery was a tribute to the early 90s williams livery, because my brain went renault, renault, cigi sponsors, cigi spinsors, ok that has to be a tribute to williams

[@wabba67]

I wonder what the legacy of Alonso and Räikkönen would be if McLaren was more reliable and Kimi had taken the championship in 05. Would Alonso be just a one-time champ? Or would Kimi's 2007 season go differently, handing that title to Fernando (or Hamilton)?

[@samuelgarrod8327]

What ifs are the realm of the dull.

[@icntoantu7115]

Tbf im pretty sure the 07 mclaren had no mechanical faults in any race for either alonso or lewis

[@CyanRooper]

​@@samuelgarrod8327"If my mum had balls she would be my dad." - Max Verstappen

[@mihailsnesterovics4626]

Well if Schumis engine hadnt gone tits in Suzuka, Alonso might have as well ended with 0 titles

[@reptongeek]

Also if Schumi hadn't parked at Rascasse he could have won also

[@PaperBanjo64]

Last season was boring but this one has been pretty good.

[@danesorensen1775]

Also, I understand Alonso won all his races with the same R25 chassis, so that chassis actually equalled Jackie Stewart's 1971 record for most wins by an individual chassis.

[@ForzaPolska06]

And my favourite Formula 1 car

[@oliverlotus]

My favouritw year, 2005. X

[@zdenekdolezal9646]

2006 season? Yes please. And 2007 too. :)

[@callum585]

I wish I had a £1 every time you said tyre in this video :D

[@TheOfficialMyk]

Pleass a 2006/7/8 season vid

[@joribremer5260]

Hmmm. What if the tyre changing ban was in 2010 (like the start of the refueling ban in the same year… )

[@MScotty90]

What if they allowed changes, but the driver had to get out and do them himself

[@timobolka1]

Neither Renault or Alonso ended Schumacher's streak, the FIA did.

[@AntoniusTyas]

Huh, so basically Nando has to treat the R25 more like an overpowered oversized Porsche 911. Interesting...

[@eamonahern7495]

I actually got an ad worth clicking on before the video so enjoy the few pence you might get from youtube for that. Wasn't there some sort of mass damper thingamyjig in the Renault suspension that was supposed to ne controversial as well in '05 or '06?

[@joerieke300]

I've watched that season several times. You got it right. Renault won with a car that was just fast enough and just reliable enough. If McClaren had been a smidgen more reliable....

[@1greenMitsi]

In hindsight, thats a big if

[@joerieke300]

@1greenMitsi True, but what gets me is how some think Alonso is the best driver ever. But when you look at it, the only two titles he won were because his car was a bit more reliable than his rivals. He never had a dominant season like Shumacher, Hamilton, and Verstappen.

[@1greenMitsi]

@@joerieke300 alonso was also less than 5 points away from 3 other titles. "If Alonso had been a smidgen more reliable" we'd be looking at a 5 time world champion. Swings and roundabouts joe

[@joerieke300]

@1greenMitsi And still he barely has 2. The fact that anyone thinks he is in the same conversation as the previously mentioned and you can add Prost, Senna, Fangio, and Vettel before you even get to the guys that you would even have a legitimate argument against. Lest we forget, he was caught cheating and somehow got away with it. Yeah, swings and roundabouts dude 🤔

[@1greenMitsi]

@@joerieke300 sir, what are you raving on about. Clearly you have a hatred against a Formula 1 driver. Dont take your opinions too seriously

[@cosmostrek2001]

renault did nothing it was Ferrari's fault. in one race they had a blow engine while leading lost the points. they had no had a blow engine in years. in another race they ran his rain tyres to the cord instead of boxing and changing tyres. also f1 change the tyres to stop ferrari.

[@martyndaly1539]

Yes please to Schumi vs Alonso

[@davidblet7601]

Surprised you didn't touch on the mass damper in the nose that gave this car another advantage. You did a video on it back in 2022. That made this car very dominant in the corners.

[@soundslave]

Just like in RBR today. The car was made to handle like a pig but be fast if you could control it. Alonso and Max driving the cars to win while Fisi and Checo can't ride that knife edge

[@slap_k_man1862]

To put it simple this car was made so well even richard Hammond could drive it and not do a grojean😂

[@charlesdarwin7253]

You can't compare Richard Hammond to Romain Grosjean. One of them is a professional driver for Christ's sake, and the other one drives in IndyCar right now!

[@1greenMitsi]

dont let Aidan talk it down, 20 years ago F1 was still an actual sport and not some sterilized iberty media drive to survive soggy soap opera show

[@neo1711]

And yet even back then with the "pinnacle of motorsport" there was probably something better

[@King_Ears]

I liked the 1 tyre set for quali and the race, but i know I'm in the minority

[@dl5270]

are you a Boston Bruins fan, or is it just a random hat? I've been a fan for 25+ yrs now...

[@colm-u8m]

2006 please

[@lordv1le859]

Basically the FIA ruined Ferrari with a tyre reg change specifically to nerf them and allowed Renault to run moving aero which was eventually deemed illegal when the championship was already decided the year after it was introduced

[@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1]

The reason why the Mass damper was made illegal was pretty contentious tbf

[@AidanMillward]

Mass damper was banned after the German Grand Prix of 2006. Championship hadn’t been won by then.

[@lordv1le859]

@@AidanMillward effectively it had. Mathematically it hadn’t but in reality it had

[@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1]

@@lordv1le859 tbf the banning of the damper swung back the momentum significantly back to Ferrari and the Michael to the point he was leading the championship after China and leading the race in Japan before he had his first engine failure since France 2000 at the worst possible time

[@MPal24]

@@lordv1le859 Not at all. Michael was 11 points behind with 60 still available.

[@ekamroopsinghchaggar6112]

I’m surprised you didn’t mention the mass damper the Renault had at the front of the car

[@AidanMillward]

@@ekamroopsinghchaggar6112 because I did it in a video a couple of years ago.

[@ekamroopsinghchaggar6112]

@@AidanMillward Ah I’ll have to give that a watch then. Thanks

[@taquilo9608]

Schumacher V Alonso was something else. These are things you just don't see today because of all the PR and PC media whatnot...

[@neo1711]

Was Schumacher even in the conversation in 2005? I thought it was McLaren and Renault. Or is it nostalgia talking again

[@taquilo9608]

@@neo1711 or it might be the "I want that 2006 video" talking who knows

[@SkProductions56]

Wasnt the mass damper a big contributor to the R25's performance? Or was that the R26? I remember seeing side by sides of the Renault and the Ferrari inboard wheel cameras over bumps and the Renault basically didnt vibrate.

[@AidanMillward]

@@SkProductions56 mass damper was more a 2006 thing but I did a video on that already.

[@falc_4260]

Renault bought benneton in 2000, not 2001

[@charlesdarwin7253]

That's a common mistake. 2000 and 2001 were mere months apart.

[@christopherdavis8967]

I want the turbo era back not the v10 era

[@F-Man]

You’ve got a turbo era right now.

[@Tom_murray89]

I loved the v10 era

[@charlesdarwin7253]

You want the current engine era back? Just watch the Austrian grand Prix from this past weekend.

[@markwaddington5651]

Do it

[@icewhitegames6875]

No mention of the active damper in the Renault….😮

[@AidanMillward]

@@icewhitegames6875 because it was more of a 2006 thing and I’ve already done a whole video on it. Nothing was forgotten.

[@donnypopovski7251]

The rulebook screwed Schumcher in 05? It helped him in 94. Lame "fans" with their prejudices.

[@T.E.S.S.]

looks like it had gills

[@charlesdarwin7253]

It did have grills, it was used for cooling the engine and providing air for the combustion.

[@T.E.S.S.]

@@charlesdarwin7253 GILLS. G I L L S.

[@timzy4395]

14:10 in 2005, Kimi should've won San Marino (+12 points), Nurburgring (+12 points) , Hockenheim (+12 points), (would've been given Brazil win if it was down to the final race +2 points). This is assuming in those races Alonso finished 2nd when Kimi retired and 3rd in Brazil. Kimi would've won the championship by at least 50 points to Alonso. Shame that McLaren was unreliable but again well done to Renault producing a fast AND reliable car

[@dmurphy1578]

Tuned mass dampener?

[@AidanMillward]

@@dmurphy1578 was more 2006 than 2005. Plus I’ve already done a video on it specifically

[@kitko33]

Great that you said 'the CAR that ended Schumacher dominance years'. Because it was the car. Not the driver ;)

[@nicholasmassey3046]

Change the music!

[@mannacler]

Aidan's music choice is awesome.

[@PaperBanjo64]

The jazz works, much like Everybody Loves Raymond having the jazz theme giving the show a classy vibe it makes the channel feel classy Aiden Millward without the jazz just wouldn't be the same.

[@nicholasmassey3046]

Probably Flavio cheating again tbh....

[@Neon-Neste]

Alonso is Brock Lesnar of F1?

[@wirralnomad]

Get go? Oh dear, you've been Yankified instead of speaking English seeing as we already have our own way to say it ie "word go".... 🙄🙄