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Iceman wins hot Montreal grand-prix
By Stéphane Schlesinger on 13 June 2005 | 
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The grand-prix of Canada did not betray its reputation: it was enthralling from start to finish. It began at the beginning of this 70-lap race: Fisichella jumped from the fourth to the first position while Alonso stole the second position from M.Schumacher, who completely missed his start. He was also passed by Montoya and Raikkonen. Button was third then.
Villeneuve probably hit Takuma Sato and was soon obliged to have the front wing of his car replaced. This cost him 50 seconds and definitively pushed him to the back of the race.
Barrichello decided to start from the pits.
It was only after the first wave of pit stops, initiated by Michael Schumacher on lap 12, that the story met new developments. Fisichella was caught back by misfortune on lap 32: a hydraulic failure on his car forced him to resign, after managing to drive his car back to the pits. Alonso became an uncomfortable leader for he was being hunted by 2 McLarens. After M.Schumacher and Jenson button’s second stop, Alonso hit a wall, not harshly but strongly enough to leave the race.
At that moment the 2 McLarens began leading the race. Shortly after, Heidfleld’s engine exploded, and on lap 46, Button brushed against the tyres in front of the champions’ wall. He stopped his BAR-Honda in the middle of the track, which caused the Safety Car to neutralize the race. Then, confusion invaded the race. Raikkonen, Barrichello, Coulthard, Michael Schumacher, Klien, Villeneuve, Massa, Webber, and Trulli seized the occasion to stop for refuelling. Montoya had to wait the following lap to refuel, but, he made 2 fatal mistakes. First, he quit the pits despite the red light an then he passed a Redbull while the Safety Car was still on track. He was blackflagged and disqualified a few laps later.
Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher kept their respective 1st and 2nd positions, ahead of Trulli and Barrichello.
On lap 63, Trulli resigned, because of his brakes, and Rubens took over the third position. This was not to change until the end of the race.
This race was a mere deception for both Renault and Williams-BMW, while Ferrari could hardly expect to put 2 pilots on the podium.
With his deserved victory, Raikkonen has given the championship a new start, now only 22 points behind Alonso.
Who said Formula 1 had become boring and predictable?
GP results:
1. Kimi Raikkonen, Finland, McLaren-Mercedes, 70 laps, 1 hour, 32 minutes, 9.290 seconds.
2. Michael Schumacher, Germany, Ferrari, 70, 1:32:10.427.
3. Rubens Barrichello, Brazil, Ferrari, 70, 1:32:49.773.
4. Felipe Massa, Brésil, Sauber Petronas, 70, 1:33:04.429.
5. Mark Webber, Australia, BMW-Williams, 70, 1:33:05.069.
6. Ralf Schumacher, Germany, Toyota, 69.
7. David Coulthard, GB, Red Bull, 69.
8. Christian Klien, Austria, Red Bull, 69.
9. Jacques Villeneuve, Canada, Sauber Petronas, 69.
10. Tiago Monteiro, Portugal, Jordan, 67.
11. Christijan Albers, The Netherlands, Minardi, 67
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