Renault may be dominating the Formula One world championship however McLaren weren’t to be embarrassed on home soil at Silverstone on Sunday.
The French and British rivals dominated the British Grand Prix with Juan Pablo Montoya claiming his first victory of the season from Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Giancarlo Fisichella.
It was Alonso in the Renault who had started favourite after claiming yet another pole position on Saturday.
However the Spaniard was to be surprised on the following afternoon through Silverstone’s opening sector as Montoya leapt off the line and muscled his way into the lead soon after the lights dimmed.
From there the race was essentially a two-car battle with the leading duo trading blows for the entire 60 lap duration.
Alonso hounded Montoya’s gearbox through the opening stint only for the Colombian to edge out a lead through the second.
After the final round of pit stops, with just 11 laps to go, Alonso returned to the circuit just over a second down on his rival and the battle for victory was to go to the wire.
Lap after lap Alonso relentlessly pushed to the point where he was little more than half a second behind.
However passing the leading MP4-20 was to prove a difficult task and Montoya held on to claim his first victory of the season.
In the shadows the relentless Raikkonen followed. The Finn had started from 12th position – due to an engine penalty – and marched his way up the order to claim another podium finish.
Fourth was Fisichella who for the second week running cost himself vital points by stalling during his final pit stop.
The Italian’s mistake allowed Raikkonen through but he managed to keep the BAR of Button behind.
Sixth was Michael Schumacher who continued to struggle with a Ferrari that is frustratingly short on pace.
His team-mate Rubens Barrichello followed ahead of Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher in the final points paying position.
RACE SHORTS
* Last laugh. Kimi Raikkonen had the last laugh at Silverstone.
The Finn recorded the fastest lap of the race on his final circuit with a time of 1:20.502.
* Odd one out. Narain Karthikeyan was the odd man out at the British Grand Prix.
Surprisingly the Indian was the only one to retire from the 60-lap event.
Karthikeyan’s Jordan ground to a halt with problems on lap 11.
Written: Sun, 10 Jul 2005 13:36:46
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