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 )On lap 44, we saw the first ever wheel change under this season’s new rules as Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari hobbled into pit lane with a punctured left rear tyre, dropping him to eighth behind Montoya. By then, the bookmakers were only quoting three drivers for a potential win – Raikkonen at 1/16, Alonso at 8/1 and Schumacher at 14/1 despite the fact that no other mortal in that position would have been given odds of less than 1000/1, such is the esteem (fear) that the bookmakers hold Schumacher and the Ferrari brains trust.
When Schumacher had exactly the same thing happen a lap later to the front left tyre, he drove straight into the garage and out of the race and the bookies shut up shop for the day.
Betting in the run is one of those interesting phenomena that could be giving us some interesting insight into the future of live sport. Betting in-the-run combined with the internet offers an entirely new perspective on Motorsport and one which will no doubt intrigue all students of probability and mathematics. It certainly got the staff at Gizmag together for a few hours of banter and entertainment.
Raikkonen’s lead was now nearly 30s over Alonso who in turn was 22s ahead of the Toyotas, Trulli ahead of Ralf Schumacher. Coulthard was next. On lap 49, the leaders both made pit stops, Raikkonen losing a couple of seconds, and the Toyotas and Coulthard and Massa stopped two and three laps later.
Raikkonen maintained a healthy lead to the chequered flag and a dominant victory. Alonso salvaged a distant and lonely second place, while Trulli just held off teammate Ralf Schumacher for third and fourth. Webber was in fifth place but lost it to a recovered Fisichella two laps from home.
Montoya finished seventh after three pit stops, one unscheduled but he was still lapped by his teammate and failed to do as well as either of the stand-in drivers who took his place in the previous two Grands Prix. He is performing well below his reputation and will need to show some speed in the latter half of the year if he is to earn his salary and perhaps bring McLaren into contention for the constructor’s crown.
Ironically, just a few seconds behind Montoya was the man he replaced in a car considered by many to be far from competitive. Coulthard held off Barrichello for the final World Championship point, his fourth point-scoring finish in five starts in the Red Bull car, giving the team sixth place in the constructors’ title.
The race was robbed of a great deal of interest prior in the week prior when BAR was disqualified from the previous San Marino Grand Prix, Takuma Sato and Jenson Button stripped of their points and the team banned from competing in Spain or in the Monte Carlo Grand Prix on May 22. The reason for the disqualification was that BAR was deemed to have run a car underweight after Jenson Button's car was found to be 5.4kg below the 600kg minimum weight after he finished third at Imola on April 24. The paddock feels BAR was cheating and got off incredibly lightly with just a two race ban.
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