Results from the 2005 Turkish Grand Prix
It was and wasn't McLaren's weekend at the inargural Turkish Grand Prix. Kimi Raikkonen dominated the rate despite failing to retain his pole position at the start, and took his fifth chequered flag this season, narrowing the gap between him and Fernando Alonso for the Drivers'Championship title. It would have been an a perfect weekend for them if Raikkonen's team mate, Juan Pablo Montoya hadn't clashed with a back marker on the second last lap. He recovered without giving up a position to the Renault of Fernando Alonso behind him, but the damage to his front wing caused him handling problems and he ran wide a lap later to hand the Spaniard a welcomed second place. Montoya finished third, ahead of the other Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella, followed by a commendable fifth position to Briton Jenson Button.
As a result of missing out on a McLaren one-two, Raikkonen was only able to claw back two points on Alonso in the Drivers'Championship and three points in the Constructors'race.
Qualifying was dominated by McLaren, with Kimi Raikkonen taking pole position and team mate Montoya in fourth. The Renaults of Fisichella and Fernando Alonso started second and third respectively. Some scuffle during qualifying also shook up grid positions, as Takuma Sato was penalised for being in Mark Webber's way and ended up having to start at the end of the grid. Michael Schumacher had to start in 19th position, due to a sudden engine change before the Grand Prix race and drivers Jacques Villeneuve, Robert Doornbos and Narain Karthikeyan were not able to set qualifying times.
Raikkonen regained his lead from Fisichella early on and never looked back. Aside from the strong finish of the top five, Jarno Trulli posted a sixth place and the two Red Bull Racing drivers of David Coulthard and Christian Klein finished with the rest of the points.
It was, once again, a horrible weekend for Williams-BMW, with both drivers retiring from the race with rear right tyre failures (twice each!). Some were speculating that this was due to the extreme force in turn 8 of the track. Ferrari didn't have a great weekend either, with Schumacher having to retire in lap 32, after several technical problems and a scrap with Mark Webber. Rubens Barrichello mustered a disappointing 10th place finish
With five races left in the season Renault will be no doubt focusing on their cars reliability more than anything else. It's now clearly obvious that the the McLarens have better pace but as long as Alonso and Fisichella continue to finish strongly in the points, Raikkonen's chances of closing the 24 point lead are minimal. McLaren will still be confident of overhauling the smaller gap for the Constructors'Championship, with two potential race winners on the track. Alonso leads the Drivers'Championship with 95 points ahead of Raikkonen's 71 and Michael Schumacher who has 55. In the Constructors'Championship, Renault are only 9 points ahead of McLaren with 130 points, while Ferrari and Toyota are adrift on 86 and 71 points respectively.
Full race result from Istanbul Park (2005)
- Kimi Raikkonen - McLaren-Mercedes 1h 24m 34.454s
- Fernando Alonso – Renault +18.6s
- Juan Pablo Montoya - McLaren-Mercedes +19.6s
- Giancarlo Fisichella - Renault +37.9s
- Jenson Button - BAR-Honda +39.3s
- Jarno Trulli - Toyota +55.4s
- David Coulthard - Red Bull Racing +69.2s
- Christian Klien - Red Bull Racing +71.6s
- Takuma Sato - BAR-Honda +109.987s
- Rubens Barrichello - Ferrari +1 lap
- Jacques Villeneuve - Sauber-Petronas +1 lap
- Ralf Schumacher - Toyota +1 lap
- Robert Doornbos - Minardi-Cosworth +3 laps
- Narain Karthikeyan - Jordan-Toyota +3 laps
- Tiago Monteiro - Jordan-Toyota +3 laps