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| October 10, 2005 | Monday | Ramzan 5, 1426 |
Raikkonen pulls off last-lap win
SUZUKA (Japan), Oct 9: McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen conjured up one of Formula One’s great drives on Sunday to seize victory on the last lap of a thrilling Japanese Grand Prix after starting 17th.
Yet, on another bittersweet afternoon for his team, the Finn’s heroics failed to prevent rivals Renault from recapturing the lead in the constructors’ championship with one race remaining.
Renault took second and third place with Italian Giancarlo Fisichella and newly-crowned champion Fernando Alonso respectively to move two points clear of McLaren after starting the day two points behind.
Alonso, the 24-year-old Spaniard who became the sport’s youngest champion two weeks ago, was also outstanding in overtaking Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher not once but twice after starting 16th.
He has 123 points to Raikkonen’s 104, but the Finn now has seven victories to Alonso’s six.
Australian Mark Webber finished fourth in a Williams, ahead of Briton Jenson Button for BAR and compatriot David Coulthard in a Red Bull.
Seven-time champion Schumacher was seventh with brother Ralf, who started on pole for Toyota, taking the final point.
McLaren’s sixth win in a row, and 10th of the season, followed a nail-biting finale with ‘The Iceman’ emerging from his final pitstop to hunt down Fisichella and power past round the outside of turn one on the final lap.
Renault have 176 points to McLaren’s 174 while Ferrari, champions for the past six years, secured third place.
The action-packed afternoon, full of overtaking and suspense, turned into a show of strength from a team fighting a rearguard action after heavy rain in Saturday qualifying wrecked their hopes of a front-row start.
They suffered a further blow after one lap when Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya piled into the tyre barrier after a coming together with Jacques Villeneuve’s Sauber.
The incident brought out the safety car until lap eight as marshals cleared Montoya’s wrecked car from the edge of the track. Villeneuve was demoted from 11th to 12th place in the official results after a 25-second penalty.
BAR’s Japanese driver Takuma Sato was excluded after shunting out Toyota’s Jarno Trulli, less than a month since he did the same thing to Michael Schumacher in Belgium.
Results: 1. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren 1:29:02.212; 2. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault +00:01.633; 3. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 00:17.456; 4. Mark Webber (Australia) Williams 00:22.274; 5. Jenson Button (Britain) BAR 00:29.507; 6. David Coulthard (Britain) Red Bull 00:31.601; 7. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Ferrari 00:33.879; 8. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota 00:49.548; 9. Christian Klien (Austria) Red Bull 00:51.925; 10. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Sauber 00:57.509; 11. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Ferrari 01:00.633; 12. Jacques Villeneuve (Canada) Sauber 01:23.221; 13. Tiago Monteiro (Portugal) Jordan 1 lap; 14. Robert Doornbos (Netherlands) Minardi 2 laps; 15. Narain Karthikeyan (India) Jordan 2 laps; 16. Christijan Albers (Netherlands) Minardi 4 laps.
Fastest Lap: Kimi Raikkonen, 1:31.540, lap 44.—Reuters
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