• 2005 Monaco Grand Prix

Monaco glory for Raikkonen

David Addison
May 22, 2005
A view from the top in Monaco © Sutton Images
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McLaren's upswing in fortunes continued in Monaco as Kimi Raikkonen took his second win of the season to narrow the gap to championship leader Fernando Alonso.

Raikkonen had out-qualified Alonso and led from the start, opening up a gap of over a second by the end of lap one. He had a five-second cushion when Christijan Albers spun his Minardi. The safety car was deployed and it appeared too late for Raikkonen to dive for the pits. In contrast the Renaults of Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella were able to pit and seemed to have gained an advantage.

However, Raikkonen and the McLaren boffins on the pit all were unconcerned. As long as Raikkonen had a lead of 20 seconds over Alonso when he pitted all would be well. Alonso was delayed behind Jarno Trulli's Toyota after his first pit stop and this further helped Raikkonen who took off to build the lead once more. When he pitted, the Finn led by over 34 seconds. Job done.

Alonso was struggling with his tyres. His hard-compound Michelins were losing grip and that caused him to fall back behind the Williamses of Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber who clinched his first GP podium.

Alonso was fourth while Michael Schumacher was seventh after shunting his Ferrari into David Coulthard's Red Bull when trying to avoid Albers' stranded car early in the race.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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