ISTANBUL, 21 August 2005 — McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen seized pole position for Sunday’s first Turkish Grand Prix and swept Renault’s championship leader Fernando Alonso off the front row.
The Finn, Alonso’s chief rival in the Formula One title race, lapped the anti-clockwise Istanbul circuit in one minute 26.797 seconds on Saturday to pip Renault’s Italian Giancarlo Fisichella by 0.242 of a second.
Spaniard Alonso, who has won six times this season and leads Raikkonen by 26 points with six rounds left, was third and starts alongside the Finn’s Colombian team mate Juan Pablo Montoya.
It was Raikkonen’s fifth pole of the season and eighth of his career.
“Coming into the last part I ran a little bit wide and locked the rear end so I lost some time but I knew I was quick enough on the first part,” said Raikkonen.
“Yesterday was not perfect but... overnight we changed the car and straight away it was good and I did a good lap time before the qualifying so we were quite confident.
“But on new circuits you never know really how qualifying is going to be because it’s quite dusty. I’m very happy with the car and how things have gone.”
Alonso was relaxed about the looming battle between McLaren and Renault, who are 12 points clear in the standings, and happy with his lap.
“I think tomorrow we have a good chance to be on the podium and hopefully fighting for the win,” he said.
“We are in a perfect position to do a good result.” Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and Williams’ Nick Heidfeld filled the third row.
Ferrari’s seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher had a miserable afternoon, spinning off on his timed lap and failing to set a time.
Schumacher needed just one more pole position to equal Brazilian Ayrton Senna’s record of 65 but that never looked likely after the German struggled in practice.
BAR’s Jenson Button, who had been consistently fast in practice, qualified 13th after running wide at turn eight — a sweeping left-hander that caught Raikkonen out in practice and has proved tricky for all.
Button’s Japanese team mate Takuma Sato made a similar mistake but compounded his error by dawdling while slowing-down and being overtaken by the Williams of Australian Mark Webber who was on his qualifying lap and was seventh fastest.
Fisichella said there had been a strong wind on the start/finish line.
“I was a little bit conservative on the first and second part but went very well on the final sector,” he said. “It’s very encouraging for tomorrow, I want to go for the podium and the target is to win the race.” Canadian former champion Jacques Villeneuve spun his Sauber and failed to set a time. Neither did Minardi’s Dutch driver Robert Doornbos, who pulled over with flames from his rear brakes.
