Spanish GP Formula 1 Round 5: Raikkonen/McLaren dominant, Schumacher/Ferrari retire, Alonso /Renault closer to title
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Image Gallery ( 25 images )After a brief safety car period to recover the two Minardis which stopped after a few yards after the start, Raikkonen soon began to pull away from Alonso. Ralf Schumacher hung onto third place, just under four seconds behind, pushed by Webber, while Trulli was next once he’d pulled away from Fisichella.
Raikkonen had eased away to a 10s lead by lap 14, but then this rose dramatically over the next ten laps to over 25s as Alonso suffered handling problems.
One of the highlights of the event was the live betting in-the-run offered by several bookmakers for the first time with the event. Bookmakers Stan James and Victor Chandler were offering betting live on the event during the race, and as always, Gizmag was keen to follow the odds as an indication of probability. We chose to watch the event via the Victor Chandler site.
For example (odds quoted are imperial odds from Victor Chandler), on lap 10, Raikkonen (1/4) led by seven seconds from Alonso (5/2) and Ralf Schumacher (50/1) was third, four seconds behind Alonso and 11 seconds behind Raikkonen. Michael Schumacher (14/1) was in eighth place and 28 seconds behind Raikkonen. Mark Webber (50/1) was fourth, Trulli (50/1) fifth, Fisichella (50/1) sixth and Montoya (50/1) seventh, all obviously not considered to be in a winning position.
Ralf Schumacher caught Alonso, firming to 20/1, but wasn’t able to overtake, while Webber gave up fourth place with the first pit stop on lap 18, so it was Trulli (33/1)who managed to catch his teammate, the pair right behind Alonso. Fisichella (33/1) was next from Montoya who had left behind Michael Schumacher, Coulthard and Felipe Massa.
The pit stops began in earnest on lap 24, with Ralf Schumacher coming in first, followed a lap later by teammate Trulli, who emerged ahead of the German driver. Raikkonen (now 1/7) pitted on the same lap while Alonso (7/1) came in two laps later as did Coulthard and Massa. Fisichella (33/1) came in on lap 29 as did Montoya , who had to pit again as there was a problem with the refuelling rig, dropping to 66/1.
As they neared half distance, Raikkonen now led Michael Schumacher (now 8/1), who had started with a full tank and had yet to stop, by 12 seconds with a similar gap back to Fisichella who had come out again head of Alonso. Schumacher pitted a lap before half distance and emerged in fourth place behind the Renaults and Raikkonen. Trulli was fifth ahead of Ralf who had Webber and Barrichello close behind.
Fisichella, however, suffered a loss of downforce and pitted for a new nosecone on lap 40, which handed second place back to Alonso, with Michael Schumacher now in third place.
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