Monte Carlo Formula 1: McLaren and Raikkonen win and bring title back to life
from Automotive (1558 articles)
Raikkonen conquered Monte Carlo with a wickedly quick drive
Image Gallery ( 42 images )May 22, 2005 McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen drove an impeccable race to completely dominate the World’s most famous motor race, the Monaco Grand prix today, and in so doing, breathed life into the championship race and gave hope to McLaren that it could catch the early season form team of Renault and Fernando Alonso. The Williams of Heidfeld and Webber finished second and third bringing to five the constructors with a realistic hope of winning the constructor’s title though bookies installed McLaren as favourites following the race. Though both Ferrari’s finished in the points, Michael Schumacher’s chances of winning the title for a fifth straight time now look completely gone.
Raikkonen started from his third consecutive pole position, led from the start, finished the first lap 1.2sec clear of championship leader Alonso and proceeded to set the fastest lap of the race nine times in the first 26 laps.
The safety car was then deployed, after a collision between several cars in the Mirabeau corner, which briefly blocked the track, from lap 25 to 28. After that Raikkonen led ahead of Jarno Trulli(Toyota) and Alonso. On lap 42 Raikkonen was leading by 35sec and came in for his sole refuelling stop (10.5sec) without losing the lead to Alonso. From that point forward, Raikkonen nursed the car home, managing the margin to second placed Alonso easily as the Spaniard was having massive trouble with traction and was lapping quite slowly, holding up the hard-charging wWilliams of Webber and Heidfeld.
In the closing laps the pair both got past Alonso and closed rapidly on Raikkonen who again managed the margin to finish comfortably in first place 13.8seconds ahead of Heidfeld.
Once again, the high society social atmosphere that brings the rich and famous from all over the world and makes the Monte Carlo Grand Prix the most watched motor race on the planet each year will ensure the venue is never lost to Formula 1.
Sadly, the tight and narrow street circuit is a ridiculous place to attempt to have a motor race and very few passing moves were possible unless the car being passed was suffering from problems. For long periods of the race, much moreso than in a normal F1 race, queues of cars traveled in single file waiting for someone to pit or make a mistake, neither of which happened very often – half of the 14 finishers elected a single stop strategy including winner Raikkonen.
After the safety car period Montoya was tenth and got stuck in a queue behind Barrichello (Ferrari). On lap 46 the Colombian came in from eighth position to refuel (9.5sec) and resumed without losing his place. On lap 61 he overtook Massa (Sauber Petronas) and moved up to seventh. On lap 64 he overtook Fisichella (Renault) at the Loews corner and immediately passed Trulli (Toyota) after the tunnel to take fifth. After that he closed in on Alonso, but overtaking on the narrow street circuit was not possible in the brief period of time he had and Alonso, who had been driving a wide car for the entire race, was able to keep him at bay. Montoya took the chequered flag 0.1sec behind the world championship leader in fifth position.
For the Williams drivers, both achieved their best ever Formula One results at the most important Grand Prix of the entire season. For Williams, which now lies in fourth in the contructors title on 35 points, just eight shy of Toyota’s 43 points, the result was particularly promising given that both BMW P84/5 engines were on their second race and next weekend at the European GP the team will be able to slot fresh engines into the cars.
The Mild Seven Renault F1 Team experienced a challenging afternoon scoring just five points, taking its total in the constructors’ championship to 63 points, thanks to Fernando Alonso’s fourth place finish.
