Monaco GP Race Report: Kimi Wins Monte Carlo Thriller
Sunday May 22 2005
Kimi Raikkonen won a Monte Carlo Grand Prix that had it all from crashes, to penalties, to overtaking.
Raikkonen won an utterly compelling Monaco GP that like so many, sprang to life in the final 20 laps. However the Finn was well clear of all the action.
Behind him there was action and drama aplenty with the two Williams' finishing on the podium, a crazy accident blocking the track, six-car trains and Jacques Villeneuve trying an unwide move on his team-mate into Ste.Devote
The end result was a second successive win for Raikkonen, another podium for Nick Heidfeld and a very first top-three finish for Mark Webber. And for the first time this season, Fernando Alonso fell short of a podium finishing, coming home in fourth place ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher.
Meanwhile Ferrari bagged their first double points-haul of the campaign with Michael Schumacher beating Rubens Barrichello to seventh place on the final lap.
Race Report: The sun was shining bright over Monaco harbour as the cars toured round on their formation lap. The track was up to 42 degrees Celsius with an ambient of 23 degrees - perfect conditions.
All eyes were focused on the front of the grid and the battle between Raikkonen and Alonso as the red lights went out. The McLaren moved over to take Alonso’s line and there was no way past for the World Championship leader.
Further back Mark Webber had a dog of a start, painfully slow away from third on the grid and immediately slipping behind Fisichella and Jarno Trull, falling back into the clutches of his BMW-Williams team-mate
Further back, Juan Montoya in the second Mclaren, starting from 16th on the grid, had got through to 12th by the end of the opening lap.
So the order on Lap 2 was Raikkonen, from Alonso, Giancarlo Fisichella in 3rd place, Trulli in 4th from Webber, Heidfeld, David Coulthard, Michael Schumacher in 8th, Felipe Massa 9th, Jacques Villeneuve 10th and Rubens in 11th.
Kimi Raikkonen set off down the road to put the kind of gap between himself and Alonso that he had done in Barcelona, however by Lap 8 it was still only 2.4 seconds.
(full report to follow).
Times
01 Räikkönen McLaren 1:45:15.556
02 Heidfeld Williams + 13.877
03 Webber Williams + 18.484
04 Alonso Renault + 36.487
05 Montoya McLaren + 36.647
06 R Schumacher Toyota + 37.177
07 M Schumacher Ferrari + 37.223
08 Barrichello Ferrari + 37.570
09 Massa Sauber + 1 laps
10 Trulli Toyota + 1 laps
11 Villeneuve Sauber + 1 laps
12 Fisichella Renault + 1 laps
13 Monteiro Jordan + 3 laps
14 Albers Minardi + 5 laps
Did not finish
15 Liuzzi Red Bull + 18 laps
16 Friesacher Minardi + 48 laps
17 Coulthard Red Bull + 54 laps
18 Karthikeyan Jordan + 59 laps
Source: http://www.planet-f1.com/news/story_19623.shtml