German F1 GP: Alonso's sixth win, Renault's seventh
from Automotive (1561 articles)
German F1 GP: Alonso's sixth win, Renault's seventh
Image Gallery ( 31 images )July 24, 2005 Fernando Alonso took his sixth win of the season and the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team took its seventh win of the season at this afternoon’s 2005 German Grand Prix in Hockenheim. Fernando Alonso converted his third position on the grid into a comfortable victory after another McLaren DNF led to Kimi Raikkonen’s retirement from the lead halfway through the race. The Spaniard’s run to the chequered flag was uneventful, and he controlled his pace throughout the final stint. Any doubts about Alonso not becoming the youngest F1 champ in history were dispelled with the win – he now leads the drivers’ championship by 36 points with seven races to go. At 10 points for a win and six points for a second place, he could conceivably win the title if he didn’t turn up for the remainder of the season given the unreliability of his main adversary’s car. McLaren has had the fastest car at the last half a dozen races, but has failed to take advantage of its speed.
The Renault F1 Team also leads the Constructors’ Championship by 22 points from McLaren, with a total of 117 points. Team McLaren Mercedes driver Juan Pablo Montoya finished in second place, having started the race from last on the grid and once again demonstrating the incredible speed found by McLaren. Kimi Raikkonen was forced to retire with a hydraulic failure on lap 36 whilst leading the 67-lap race – had Raikkonen’s car been reliable this year he would be close to Alonso on points as he has comfortably led several GPs only to have been forced to retire. Though he maintains a mathematical possibility of winning the championship, it depends on a lack of reliability from Alonso, which is highly improbable given his remarkable consistency and the reliability of the blue and yellow Renaults so far this year. Kimi also set the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1:14.873.
Michael Schumacher finished in fifth, after looking at another possible podium midway through proceedings, but lack of grip again costing the team a competitive edge. Ferrari’s decision to be the odd-man-out with its tyre alliance has cost it dearly this year.
The third spot on the podium went to BAR – it’s first of 2005. At the beginning of the season, it would have been inconceivable to think that BAR would have been in seventh place in the constructors title with 15 points after 12 races. Last year BAR finished second to Ferrari in the title, while this year it has taken two thirds of the races to find the combination of speed and reliability to take a podium. The Honda V10 engine is now producing competitive horsepower with the required longevity, though BAR might find it difficult to move any higher than sixth in the standings. Expect some serious effort between now and 2006 as Honda prepares its V8 – the Japanese giant does not countenance losing, much less losing embarrassingly badly.
Giancarlo Fisichella’s fourth place finish disguised an eventful Grand Prix, and a magnificent display of controlled, aggressive driving. The Italian was hit by Sato on the exit of Turn 3 on the first lap, breaking his left rear wing endplate and depriving him of downforce, as well as costing track position. The Italian climbed through the field during the first round of pit-stops, but soon afterwards was asked by his engineers to slow his pace in order to preserve the rear brakes, which showed an unusually high level of wear. These were inspected at his final stop, and the Italian drove the last stint with the brake balance wound fully forward. Three laps from the end, he was given the all-clear on his brakes and was able to drive at his true pace. At this point, he neatly outbraked Michael Schumacher into Turn 6 to take a hard-fought fourth place.
Panasonic Toyota Racing secured three more points after Ralf Schumacher took a hard-earned 6th place. Under overcast skies, Ralf started 12th and drove well all day, benefiting from a good strategy to climb through the field. But it was a dramatic day for Jarno Trulli, who had to pit to replace a damaged front left tyre after a first lap collision. Jarno rejoined at the back and battled his way up before a late drive-through penalty for a blue flag infringement. A final, unplanned pitstop to refill his engine's pneumatic fluid led to his eventual retirement on the last lap. His failure to score points, alongside Ferrari’s Rubens barichello, means the pair who were tied for equal fourth place in the drivers classification, have been leapfrogged by Montoya and are now equal fifth.
Fernando Alonso, Mild Seven Renault F1 Team, Winner: “I am delighted with this victory. We saw McLaren dominate this weekend, and knew it would be tough to beat them in the race, even though our pace was much closer than in qualifying. So to win here in Germany is a good surprise but we all know that the race is 70 laps long, and you don’t get any prizes for being fastest until half-distance. The car was reliable all weekend, as it has been throughout the season, and we know we have to find some more performance: that will start with new pieces for Hungary. In terms of the race, it was quite straightforward – the biggest problem today, like in Silverstone, was with the blue flags which were not being shown to the lapped traffic. After Kimi retired, it was quite easy to manage the gap to the others, and control the race, so it was not the most exciting win. But I think it was an important afternoon for the team, because we increased the lead to McLaren as well, and it puts us in a strong position for Hungary in a week’s time.”
Flavio Briatore, Mild Seven Renault F1 Team, Managing Director: “You have to finish races to win them, and that is what we managed today. I am delighted with the result this weekend. Along with McLaren, we have been competitive since Friday afternoon and Fernando and Fisico both drove great races today – especially Fisico at the end, when he was managing the brakes and still managed to overtake Michael. Fernando has strengthened his championship position, and Fisico brought home more good points for the Constructors’ Championship. I want to congratulate the whole team for the win, and dedicate it to all our colleagues in the Renault group: we are proud to be racing for them.”
Pat Symonds, Mild Seven Renault F1 Team, Executive Director of Engineering: “Fernando drove an outstanding race to take his sixth win of the season. As expected, our race pace was much closer to the McLarens than in qualifying, and Fernando was still pushing hard when Kimi was forced to retire. After that, it was a question of controlling his pace to the flag. Giancarlo put in an equally impressive drive to take fourth. He was hit by Sato on lap one, which damaged the rear wing and cost him downforce, before experiencing unusually severe rear brake wear from halfway through the race. He ended up driving with the balance all the way forward – primarily using the front brakes – which is far from ideal at this circuit. In those circumstances, to finish fourth and overtake Schumacher on the penultimate lap was quite an achievement.”
