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Kimi Raikkonen holds off Schumacher to win Canadian Grand Prix
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-13 08:50

Kimi Raikkonen gave his title hopes a huge boost when he won the Canadian Grand Prix after championship leader Fernando Alonso crashed out of the race.


Kimi Raikkonen of Team McLaren takes the checkered flag as he crosses the finish line to win the Formula One Grand Prix of Canada at the Circuit Gille Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada.[AFP]

Finn Raikkonen made up for the disappointment of crashing out of the lead on the last lap of the last race with a controlled win in Montreal after seeing both his Renault rivals fail to reach the chequered flag.

The result closed the gap between Alonso and Raikkonen to 22 points and moved Raikkonen's McLaren team up to within 13 points of championship leaders Renault with 11 races still to run.

"At one point we were a bit lucky to win, but we were unlucky in the last race," said Raikkonen.

"We got the ten points back that we lost at the last race and we are back in the championship, back and fighting again.

"We had a fast car but I had a small problem with the steering wheel. I asked the team what was going on and they said they could see the problem. They asked me to look over the car a bit, then I pushed as hard as I could to the end."

Raikkonen almost threw the win away himself when he lost concentration in the closing laps of the race and went over the grass at the chicane but he was never worried and eased home ahead of second-placed Michael Schumacher.

And while the Finn kept his cool in temperatures of 33 degrees, Spaniard Alonso was left embarrassed after throwing away potential victory when a simple mistake put him into the wall.

Seven-time world champion Schumacher gave Ferrari a welcome boost when he capitalised on their rivals' mistakes to secure his second podium finish of the season after starting from the front row.

The German, who has struggled so far this season, saw his Ferrari team improve in form this weekend thanks to developments on their F2005 car and from their tyre suppliers Bridgestone.

And after securing a satisfying second place, which pushed him up to fifth in the world championship, Schumacher said: "If you look through the race, we had the performance to go a reasonable pace.

"That was not so obvious on Friday and we developed the car very well. We still have to work on the package to get it right at every moment but this was a great achievement for the team."

Pole sitter Jenson Button was a high-profile loser when he crashed out of a potential podium place and Juan Pablo Montoya was also left red faced when he was disqualified from a potential second place.

Rubens Barrichello started from the pit lane after failing to set a time in qualifying but good tactics and a strong performance allowed him to make it two Ferraris on the podium as he claimed third.

Brazilian Felipe Massa finished fourth for Sauber with Australian Mark Webber fifth in his Williams and German Ralf Schumacher sixth for Toyota.

Red Bull Racing again capitalised on their consistency to score a second double-points finish as Scot David Coulthard came home just ahead of Christian Klien in seventh and eighth respectively.

Button got away well at the start but the Renault pair found a sudden burst of speed and shot past both him and Schumacher in a pincer movement with Giancarlo Fisichella taking the lead ahead of Alonso into the first corner.

Button settled into third but Schumacher had a disappointing start and dropped right down to sixth place, passed by the McLaren pair of Montoya and Raikkonen who took fourth and fifth.

Takuma Sato, who dropped two places to eighth, tried to find a way past Italian Jarno Trulli on the first lap but failed and went across the grass and Jacques Villeneuve was in at the end of the first lap to replace a nose cone.

Schumacher made a pit stop on lap 12, proving that his second place on the grid was down to running a light fuel load on his Ferrari, and the next lead runner to come in was Button, who pitted three laps later.

Alonso and Raikkonen pitted on lap 24 and Fisichella retained the lead when he stopped the next lap.

Indian Narain Karthikeyan, who spun on lap eight after making a mistake under braking, saw his difficult weekend come to an end when he pulled into the Jordan garage on lap 27 to become the second race retirement.

And it all went wrong for Fisichella, again, when the unlucky Italian suddenly slowed with a problem on lap 33 and relinquished the lead to Alonso before pulling into the pits for his fourth retirement of the season.

Button and Schumacher both made their second stops on lap 34 as Montoya set off in chase of Alonso with Raikkonen 5.6 seconds behind him in third and Button 23.3 seconds further back in fourth and Schumacher fifth.

But Alonso threw away the victory when he lost control of the rear of his Renault and clipped the wall at turn nine on lap 39, the damage forcing him to come into the pits and retire.

That left Montoya four seconds clear of Raikkonen at the front while German Nick Heidfeld retired from ninth when smoke plumed from the rear of his Williams on lap 44 and Sato returned to the field after 24 laps in the pits.

Button then threw away a potential podium finish when he clipped the inside kerb on the final corner on lap 47, speared into the outside wall and ripped the front right wheel off his BAR.

The safety car was brought out and Raikkonen pitted immediately, as did Schumacher from third and Trulli from fourth, but Montoya had to wait a further lap to make his stop and lost the lead to Raikkonen.

The safety car came back in at the start of lap 52 but there was frustrating news for McLaren when Montoya was disqualified one lap later for leaving the pits under a red light during the safety car period.



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