UpdateF1 >> Formula 1 News > Montoya marches to victory

Bad luck dogs Raikkonen

Juan Pablo Montoya raced to a well-deserved victory in the Italian Grand Prix after a nail-biting finish.

The Colombian McLaren ace nursed a de-laminating left rear tyre for the last few laps to win by an ever-decreasing 3 seconds from Fernando Alonso, with Giancarlo Fisichella third in the second Renault.

The afternoon threw every form of mishap at Kimi Raikkonen to stall the Finn's World Championship chase.

Having started from eleventh following an engine change, Raikkonen avoided the melee that is Monza's first corner and spent the first few laps stuck behind Jacques Villeneuve's slower Sauber.

Once past the Finn flew, stopping later than the rest on lap 24, taking on enough fuel for the remainder of the race, and seemingly on course for a win. Then disaster struck.

The McLaren's left rear tyre immediately began to delaminate, forcing Raikkonen straight back into the pits and therefore losing him any advantage he had gained. Kimi then began a charge like no other, and even a spin ten laps from the end could not relieve him of an astonishing fourth place.

Montoya deserved his win entirely, opting to stay out on a tyre that was clearly shedding rubber for a number of laps, with Alonso creeping up on him menacingly. But the gap was big enough to keep the Spaniard in second place.

Fisichella drove as requested, a useful buffer between Alonso and Raikkonen in the young Renault stars quest to become the youngest ever world champion.

Behind the top four Jarno Trulli continued his fine season with more points for himself and Toyota, and behind him team-mate Ralf Schumacher further enhanced the Japanese squads emergence as most improved team this season with an excellent drive to sixth from a lowly grid position.

Antonio Pizzonia drove an excellent race to seventh place in the Williams, having been asked to stand in for the unwell Nick Heidfeld on Saturday morning.

Despite no time in the car for almost three months, Pizzonia repated the result he achieved last season in similar circumstances, staying out of the first corner trouble that ruined team-leader Mark Webber's race.

In the last points scoring place was Jenson Button, the BAR-Honda's running well early on after an excellent qualifying performance but unable to continue the pace for a full race distance. Takuma Sato in the second car finished 16th.

Felipe Massa can be considered the first 'Ferrari' driver home, the Sauber driver and 2006 Maranello signing coming home in ninth after a mature and incident-free race, just ahead of Michael Schumacher. Jacques Villeneuve brought the second Sauber home in 11th place.

The 'tifosi' left disappointed, with Michael only 10th and Rubens Barrichello 12th after stopping to replace a punctured tyre.

Christian Klien and David Coulthard finished in 13th and 15th for Red Bull, David being another victim of the first corner fracas where he damaged the front wing.

Mark Webber finished in 14th between the two, following a race long battle with DC that brought to mind comments the Scot has been making in the press with regard to Webbers driving.

Tiago Monteiro and Narain Karthikeyan claimed 17th and 20th for Jordan, sandwiching the two Minardi's of Robert Doornbos and Cristijan Albers, making this the first race to feature no retirements since the Ducth Grand Prix in 1961!

The race was almost a snapshot of Kimi Raikkonen's season; the Finn was easily the fastest man on the circuit, lapping on occasion comfortably more than one second a lap quicker than anyone else, but yet again gremlins not of his doing intervened to ruin his day.

Raikkonen will now need some of the misfortune to hit Championship rival Alonso if he is to carry his title chances beyond Spa, as Fernando now has a lead of 28 points with four races remaining. In the constructors chase the gap is now just 14 points between Renault and McLaren.

Written: Sun, 04 Sep 2005 13:32:16