The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Kimi Raikkonen ruins Spanish party, claims third victory

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Monday, May 09, 2005

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Sport - Racing : Motor

Kimi Raikkonen ruins Spanish party, claims third victory

BARCELONA: Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren-Mercedes won the Spanish Grand Prix from the pole on Sunday, claiming his third career Formula One victory and ruining the day for a 115,000 sellout that hoped to see a victory for Spain's Fernando Alonso in a Renault.

Raikkonen never trailed in the 66-lap race, coming out ahead of the pack after both of his pit spots in an incident-free day at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Schumacher forced out

Seven-time series champion Michael Schumacher was forced out after 46 laps when his Ferrari limped into the pits with what looked like a suspension problem on the left front of his car.

Schumacher has now failed to win in six straight races, which matches his longest winless streak since he joined Ferrari in 1996. His last victory was in the Japanese Grand Prix, the penultimate race of last season. He won 13 times in 2004.

It was also the second time in the last three races that Ferrari has failed to score a point.

``I just kept the pace, I didn't go full speed and I won quite easily,'' said Raikkonen, who took the pole two weeks ago at Imola, but dropped out after nine laps with a broken drive shaft. ``Finally, it happened. The last race was close.

``You can never be 100 percent sure until you cross the finishing line. Something can always happen.''

Raikkonen's winning time was 1 hour, 27 minutes, 16.830 seconds. Alonso finished second, 27.6 seconds behind, with third for Jarno Trulli of Toyota. Ralf Schumacher of Toyota was fourth, followed by Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella and Mark Webber of Williams-BMW.

Winning streak ends

Raikkonen's victory ended a three-race winning streak for Alonso, who was trying to become the first Spaniard to win his national race since it was first run 54 years ago.

Alonso, who is the youngest F1 driver to ever win a race — two years ago in Hungary, maintained his lead on the season's overall standings with 44 points, and Trulli held second with 26. Raikkonen moved into third place with 17 points. Fisichella and Ralf Schumacher have 14 points each.

In the team points, Renault leads with 58, followed by Toyota with 40, McLaren with 37, Williams with 21 and Ferrari with 18.

``Second place here at home is a like a victory for me — eight points in the pocket again is a fantastic result for me and the team,'' Alonso said, acknowledging that Raikkonen was too fast. ``I was thinking that it was not possible to follow him, he was too quick.''

Spanish King Juan Carlos has called Alonso by phone after each of his three wins this season, and his victory in Hungary.

This time the Spanish monarch was on hand and talked with Alonso afterward.

``He told me keep it like this — or something like this — that everyone enjoyed the race. It was a big party we saw this weekend in Spain,'' said Alonso, who was cheered on by 10,000 fans from him home region of Asturias.

Wins from the pole

Raikkonen became the 11th driver in the last 15 Spanish GP's at this circuit outside the Catalan capital to win from the pole. His last victory came in the Belgian Grand Prix eight months ago.

The field was cut from 20 drivers to 18 when BAR-Honda was banned for two races on Thursday when the FIA ruled that Jenson Button's car was underweight and raced illegally at last month's San Marino GP.

Raikkonen pulled away relentlessly from the start, at times adding two full seconds per lap to his edge over Alonso. After 22 laps, Raikkonen had 24-second lead over the Spaniard.

Raikkonen pitted after the 25th, a quick 8.6-second stop that allowed him to come out ahead of Alonso, who pitted on the 27th and slipped back into the pack.

Schumacher, starting from No. 8 on the grid, began to make up time midway through the race, where he turned back-to-back quickest laps — moving him temporarily into second place — before pitting after 32.

His race began to break down after 44 laps, when he pitted to replace a blown left rear tire. Two laps later, he went out with the problem to his left front.

It was Schumacher's second retirement in the last three races with mechanical problems. — AP

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