ISTANBUL, 22 August 2005 — McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen won yesterday’s inaugural Turkish Grand Prix but Renault’s title favorite Fernando Alonso stole second place following a mistake by Raikkonen’s teammate Juan Pablo Montoya.
Spaniard Alonso, now 24 points clear of Raikkonen with five races left, overtook Montoya when the Colombian spun on the penultimate lap while following Raikkonen home.
Without that slip, McLaren would have been celebrating their first one-two in five years.
“The week was a little bit disappointing as we weren’t competing with the McLarens, but the end was nice,” said Alonso.
Raikkonen’s commanding win from pole position at the new Istanbul track was the Finn’s fifth success of the season and second in a row. He finished in one hour 24 minutes 34.454 seconds, 18.6 seconds ahead of Alonso.
Alonso, still on course to become Formula One’s youngest champion at the age of 24, has 95 points to Raikkonen’s 71.
Montoya, struggling with a flat-spotted tire, finished third ahead of Renault’s Italian Giancarlo Fisichella. Briton Jenson Button was fifth in a BAR, ahead of Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and the Red Bull pairing of David Coulthard and Christian Klien. The undulating anti-clockwise track, likened to the Belgium’s daunting Spa circuit by many, threw up plenty of overtaking for the estimated 90,000 strong crowd that included former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. There was no Turkish delight for Williams or Ferrari’s seven times world champion Michael Schumacher. Schumacher, who had struggled in practice and was running 10th, was put out of the running by Williams’s Australian Mark Webber. The two collided on lap 15 as Webber, apparently attempting to unlap himself after a pitstop to replace a punctured tire, tried to squeeze past at the final corner. Schumacher spun, pitted and resumed the race but then returned to the garages and got out of the car.
After a furious effort by the champion’s mechanics, he eventually resumed 19 laps down in a bid to improve his qualifying position for Ferrari’s home Italian Grand Prix on Sept. 4 at Monza. He finally retired with six laps to go.
“All weekend long we have not been competitive,” said Schumacher. “In the race it was sort of expected we would not get any points.” Both Webber and Williams’ team mate Nick Heidfeld retired after repeated rear tire failures. They were only bit players on a day that once again belonged to McLaren, who were left nine points adrift of Renault in the constructors’ standings.
