Kimi Holds On
Turkish Grand Prix

By Erik Nielsen
Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media

Kimi Räikkönen managed to keep the McLaren-Mercedes running for the full race distance and converted the pole position into a win. The Finn led all but a portion of the first lap in the inaugural Turkish Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso would finish second, allowing the Iceman to close the gap by two points to 24 points. The Woking based team was doing their best to extend the lead with Juan Pablo Montoya running in second during the closing laps, but Tiago Monteiro misjudged the braking point after been lapped and tapped the rear end of the McLaren. While Montoya recovered, Alonso was able to close the gap and wait for the Columbian to make a mistake. He didn't have to wait long as a few laps later; Juan Pablo would run wide allowing the Spaniard to easily pass. He would hold on to third, ahead of Fisichella. The gap may seem a bit wide between Kimi and Fernando at this point for the driver's championship, but only nine points separate the two teams in the constructor's championship so it's still anyone's game.

Fifth place went to Jenson Button who drove a fine race and moved up the field after starting in thirteen. Unfortunately for the British driver, most of the press coverage that he's getting is still centered on his contract situation for 2005. Now BAR has come out and said that they are willing to pay off Williams to keep him. They don't call this the silly season for nothing.

The last two points paying positions were captured by the two Red Bull Racing cars of Coulthard and Klien. Why is it that, no matter the quality of the car, DC will always finish around seventh? Both cars in the points kept the British team from being passed by BAR in the standings. Sato-san finishing in ninth helped their cause, too.

Unfortunately for the tifosi, Scuderia Ferrari is still struggling with this year's car. While it does seem balanced, the car is a second or two off the pace of what McLaren-Mercedes and Renault are capable of. Rubens Barrichello announced that he'll be going to BAR in 2006 to be replaced by another Brazilian, Felipe Massa, so the Portuguese speaking mechanics will still stay fluent. But the current Brazilian could do no better than tenth in this race. Reigning world champion Michael Schumacher will probably want to forget this weekend. The German spun during his qualifying lap and had to start from the back of the grid. After avoiding debris off of Massa's car, he was moving up the standings until he tangled with Mark Webber's Williams-BMW. The mechanics would do some work on the car and Schumacher would run a few cautious laps to improve his running order for the next grand prix, but that was all he could do.

Sir Frank's boys weren't having much fun before the crash, either. Both cars were having problems with the right rear tire going flat. Rumors are that they were running the tire pressures low to get more grip, but conspiracy theorists will just blame Michelin rather than operator error.

Everyone else that was running was just a moving chicane.

With only five races left, it looks like this is turning into the Kimi-Fernando-McLaren-Renault show. There will probably be a spoiler or two between now and the end of the season, but those are the key protagonists at this point. The fun continues in two weeks at Monza. If you're a Ferrari fan, let's hope that Bridgestone can come up with something between now and then.