MOTOR SPORT/Formula One Championship Turkish Grand Prix: Everything's going right for Kimi Raikkonen at the moment. The Finn has the fastest car in Formula One, he's looking the fastest, most composed, driver and he's winning. Just a shame everything else around him is going wrong.
Twenty-six points adrift of championship leader Fernando Alonso heading into yesterday's inaugural Turkish Grand Prix, Raikkonen did his bit. He qualified his car on pole, he didn't panic into turn one at the superb new track near Istanbul as Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella stole a march on him to take the lead and he was bullied by Alonso, who threatened to take second.
Instead, Raikkonen shouldered off the Spaniard's challenge, awaited the next opportunity and tore past Fisichella to reclaim his rightful place.
Thereafter, he didn't put a wheel wrong. Fisichella pulled aside to let Alonso through, allowing the Spaniard to hang on to the McLaren's coat-tails but Raikkonen put his foot down in response. Over the next 13 laps the pair traded fastest laps in a mesmerising blur. First the Renault driver would push to close the gap. A minute and half later the times would flash across the circuit's screens informing the crowd the Finn had replied by shaving a few precious tenths off his rival's time.
And then on lap 13, the race predictably fell the Finn's way. After Alonso had qualified in third, ahead of the second McLaren of Juan Pablo Montoya, despite being a second adrift of the Colombian in previous sessions, the suspicion had existed Renault were fuelling light in a bid to get their cars into a position to fight their faster rivals. So it was.
Alonso hit the pits for the first time on lap 13. Raikkonen breezed past, still with nine laps' worth of fuel on board and yet faster than the Renault. There would be no catching him. Montoya too seized the advantage - pushing through to claim second and set up the ideal bulwark against a charge by Alonso. Raikkonen needed it too. To take the title he needs to win all the remaining races. Alonso needs to finish in the top three in the closing events to become the sport's youngest ever champion.
With Montoya installed in second, Raikkonen's chance was still alive. All was going according to plan. The pattern was maintained through the lead four's second stops. Raikkonen, with 10 seconds on Montoya, the Colombian with a healthy gap back to Alonso.
Then, as has happened so often to the Finn this year, everything around him went wrong. Montoya threw the spanner in Raikkonen's championship works. Or rather Jordan's Tiago Monteiro, who pushed Montoya into the situation. Attempting to lap the Jordan with two tours of the circuit remaining, Montoya got into a tangle with the Portuguese driver. They clashed. Montoya spun. Alonso bore down.
The McLaren driver managed to hold his second place as the Renault driver homed in, but the next time round, the Colombian, his car unbalanced by a broken rear diffuser, slid off at the tricky turn eight and Alonso was through to claim second and two more points than he was expecting. Two points that could yet define the title race.
Raikkonen tried to be philosophical about the damage the Monteiro incident could do to his chances. "I think we were a bit unlucky as a team. It would have been nice to have a one-two but what can you do? Sometimes it goes on like this. It also would have helped me and the team, but anyhow, two points are two points and they can make a big difference at the end of the season."
1 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren 01hr 24mins 34.454secs
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 01:24:52.460
3 Juan Montoya (Col) McLaren 01:24:53.460
4 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 01:25:11.463
5 Jenson Button (Gbr) BAR 01:25:12.466
6 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 01:25:28.467
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Drivers: 1 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 95pts, 2 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) McLaren 71, 3 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari 55.
Constructors: 1 Renault 130pts, 2 McLaren 121, 3 Ferrari 86, 4 Toyota 71, 5 Williams 52, 6 Red Bull 27.
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