The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : It's Kimi Raikkonen again

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 12, 2005

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Sport - Racing : Motor

It's Kimi Raikkonen again

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS (Belgium): Kimi Raikkonen won the Belgian Grand Prix for the second straight year on Sunday, keeping alive his distant shot at the title while denying Fernando Alonso a first chance to become Formula One's youngest champion.

Raikkonen overtook McLaren Mercedes teammate Juan Pablo Montoya in the final stages for his sixth victory of the season. Alonso capitalised on Montoya's late collision and finished second with a contained and conservative race.

Button third

Jenson Button of Britain was third, followed by Mark Webber of Australia.

``It was a perfect race for the team but very unlucky for Juan Pablo,'' Raikkonen said.

Alonso pumped his fists on the victory stand as if he had won. The 24-year-old Spaniard leads Raikkonen 111-86 with three races to go, with the next one in Brazil in two weeks. Alonso can clinch the title there by finishing in the top three.

``We can be competitive there. I need six points,'' Alonso said. ``I am very confident it will be possible.''

Raikkonen had to finish within four points of Alonso to prevent the Spaniard from winning the title Sunday. The Finn easily did so but now he needs to keep winning and count on some poor showings by Alonso to extend his championship challenge beyond Brazil.

``If they keep finishing behind us, it is not possible to catch him anymore,'' Raikkonen said.

Alonso and Renault have proved remarkably reliable in racking up the points week after week.

``We don't need the risks at this point of the championships,'' Alonso said.

Montoya maintained his strong form after last week's victory in Monza. He was on the pole and led much of the way before losing his top place to his teammate during a pit stop. With three laps to go, he collided with Antonio Pizzonia.

Raikkonen finished the 44 laps around the 6.976 km (4.334-mile) track in 1 hour, 30 minutes, 1.295 seconds, beating Alonso by 28.394 seconds. Button was 32.077 seconds slower and Webber trailed by more than a minute.

Michael Schumacher out

In the scramble for positioning, Takuma Sato hit Michael Schumacher's Ferrari in the back and both were out of the race. A furious Schumacher got out of his car, got in Sato's face and angrily gesticulated with the Japanese.

When asked what he told Sato, he said ``I'd better not repeat it, there may be children watching.''

It ended another disappointing weekend for the German, with six victories the winningest driver at Spa-Francorchamps.

Raikkonen, who needed a win to keep a credible challenge for the title going, closed in on Montoya. The Finn finally did the inevitable when Montoya went for fresh tires after the 33rd lap. Raikkonen also kept setting the fastest lap time. He went for new tires a final time with 10 laps to go and coasted to victory. — AP

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