Sensational win for Raikkonen
From 17th on the grid but with a new engine, Kimi was able to climb back up to the top while most of the race being together with Alonso who eventually finished 3rd. Giancarlo Fisichella finished second but let Raikkonen pass in the last lap. Being about 1.5 seconds slower than the Finn, it should however not happened and is basically a bad happening for Renault F1 in the constructor's championship
After the rainy qualifying session, both McLaren drivers and Alonso faced a tough challenge to get to the top of the field. All three quickly passed several drivers and moved up. Fernando Alonso did the best job of them, being in 8th position already after one lap. Juan Pablo Montoya missed the chicane just before the main straight as he aimed to pass some slower cars. He thereby touched Raikkonen who was able to continue. Montoya himself slipped off the circuit and hit the tyres hard. What followed was an everlasting safety car period of 6 laps. Drivers like Barrichello and Sato took advantage of that to pit to have damage repaired to their cars after going off in the first corner after the start.
Fisichella was at that time second after he passed Button at the start. As Ralf was on a three pit stop strategy, the Roman easily followed the leading Toyota to take the lead as soon as he would come in for his first pitstop. Alonso meanwhile outbraked Klien in the chicane only to miss his corner and let the Austrian pass again. As the Renault however has a better top end speed, Alonso immediately overtook Klien again at the end of the straight and quickly pulled away while now Raikkonen got stuck behind the Austrian.
When Alonso was 7s ahead of Klien, the FIA sursprisingly ordered Alonso to let Klien pass again. A decision that I think needs some clarification as he earlier had let him pass after missing the chicane himself. More information to follow about this... Alonso obviously did so, backing off and putting his foot on the throttle again when his Renault was in between Klien and Raikkonen. While Alonso quickly was able to overtake Klien again, so was Raikkonen and as a result Alonso lost an advantage of about 10 seconds if you include passing Klien again.
Few moments later both men got stuck behind M. Schumacher. After some close challenges, Alonso was able to show his back when going on the outside in the R130. 2 laps later Alonso went in for his first stop while Raikkonen passed Schumacher. Both Raikkonen and Schumacher were running high on fuel and were completing a long first stint. After they had all finished their first stops, it was now again Schumacher who held up the two, however in reverse order.
The difference between Raikkonen and Alonso was basically all about strategy. While Alonso had to pass several drivers two times because ending up behind them in the pitstops, Raikkonen's long first stint paid off and needed less overtaking to get in front. As a comparison, Fernando came out on track again after his second stop in 5th place behind Mark Webber and Jenson Button who switched position during their pitstop. When Raikkonen came out 6 laps from the end he was in front of those two men.
In the meantime, Albers' Minardi cought fire during his last pitstop. The Dutchman quickly jumped out of his Minardi to see it being covered under foam.
While Fisico was pushing hard, Alonso drove for his money and proved he is a true champion. One after the other he brilliantly overtook Button and Webber. Raikkonen on his behalf had only the other Renault to aim for and closed in rapidly. By the time there were only two laps to go, Kimi was right behind the Roman. With one lap to go, Kimi Raikkonen got away from the chicane a lot better than Fisichella who was defending his position. The McLaren driver pushed the engine to the maximum and was able to pass in the last passage of turn 1.
Kimi was full of joy on the podium, a memorable moment for the usually so cool Finn. So was Alonso though who had reason to be happy after driving an agressive race. Alonso later declared he felt quicker than Kimi but was a little hampered by the strange FIA decision and his pitstop strategy.
Renault have now regained the lead in the championship with 2 points ahead of McLaren.
the complete results are as follows:
1 K. Räikkönen McLaren 1:29:02.212
2 G. Fisichella Renault + 1.633
3 F. Alonso Renault + 17.456
4 M. Webber Williams + 22.274
5 J. Button BAR + 29.507
6 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 31.601
7 M. Schumacher Ferrari + 33.879
8 R. Schumacher Toyota + 49.548
9 C. Klien Red Bull + 51.925
10 F. Massa Sauber + 57.509
11 J. Villeneuve Sauber + 58.221
12 R. Barrichello Ferrari + 1:00.600
13 T. Sato BAR + 1 laps
14 T. Monteiro Jordan + 1 laps
15 R. Doornbos Minardi + 2 laps
16 N. Karthikeyan Jordan + 2 laps
17 C. Albers Minardi + 4 laps
