Hungarian GP: The Iceman Survives In A Swelter, Applies His own Heat To Renault
Written by George Katinger · July 31, 2005
Kimi Raikkonen drove a great three stop strategic race to come from fourth place and win the Hungarian Grand Prix. Not surprising, nor was the failure of one of the McLaren cars. Sorry Juan, the race was yours otherwise.
today.reuters.co.uk: UPDATE 2-Raikkonen revives title hopes in Hungary
speedtv.com: Kimi Reignites Title Hopes with Hungary Win
f1.racing-live.com: Encouraging result for Bridgestone
f1action.com: Toyota show critics: We’re as fast as almost everyone
f1.racing-live.com: A strong runner-up spot for Michael Schumacher
today.reuters.co.uk: Alonso blames Ralf for first corner incident
news.bbc.co.uk: Title race still on - Raikkonen
planet-f1.com: Juan: ‘I had the race in the bag’
planet-f1.com: Briatore: ‘It’s a one-off, not a funeral’
What was surprising was Michael Schumacher’s ability to keep second place on the podium and Ralf’s third place finish. As was to be expected all or most of the serious passing was done in the pits. The Hungaroring is a picturesque track with great elevation changes but affords near zero opportunity for race passing. Maybe that will change with the new aero rules that are under discussion for 2008. In the mean time settle for parade laps in Hungary for two more years.
The outcome was dictated at the start with more fireworks than anticipated and from deeper in the field. It must have been caused by the pressure on the drivers to gain spots on the opening lap due to the previously cited lack of passing chances. It resulted in Klien taking his Red Bull for a flip, Alonso banging Ralf’s Wheel, resulting in his front wing failure which cost David Coulthard his front suspension after running over the Renault’s discarded wing. Rubens crashed into Trulli’s diffuser and broke his front wing. What a mess!
The aftermath of that was Michael keeping first, Kimi slipping into second (team orders, perhaps?) and Juan holding third. And that was pretty much that. Fast laps in clean air and slightly better tires on the McLaren resulted in Kimi’s win. Ralf slipping into third was truly surprising and may just result in his keeping his seat with Toyota.
We’ll now have three weeks of silly season discussion before the Turkish GP and trying to figure out the owner-team issues. In the meantime McLaren need to figure out how to finish races with both cars if they are to have any chance of winning the constructor’s title. No vacations for you Ron, get to work!
HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX RESULTS - JULY 31, 2005 - 70 LAPS
POS DRIVER NATIONALITY ENTRANT LAPS TIRE TIME/RETIRE
1. KIMI RAIKKONEN Finland McLaren-Mercedes 70 1h37m25.552
2. MICHAEL SCHUMACHER Germany Ferrari 70 35.581
3. RALF SCHUMACHER Germany Toyota 70 36.129
4. JARNO TRULLI Italy Toyota 70 54.221
5. JENSON BUTTON Britain BAR-Honda 70 58.832
6. NICK HEIDFELD Germany Williams-BMW 70 1m08.375
7. MARK WEBBER Australia Williams-BMW 69 1 Lap
8. TAKUMA SATO Japan BAR-Honda 69 1 Lap
9. GIANCARLO FISICHELLA Italy Renault 69 1 Lap
10. RUBENS BARRICHELLO Brazil Ferrari 69 1 Lap
11. FERNANDO ALONSO Spain Renault 69 1 Lap
12. NARAIN KARTHIKEYAN India Jordan-Toyota 69 3 Laps
13. TIAGO MONTEIRO Portugal Jordan-Toyota 68 4 Laps
14. FELIPE MASSA Brazil Sauber-Petronas 67 7 Laps
CHRISTIJAN ALBERS Netherlands Minardi-Cosworth 67 3 Laps
R JACQUES VILLENEUVE Canada Sauber-Petronas 67 3 Laps
R JUAN PABLO MONTOYA Colombia McLaren-Mercedes 41
R ROBERT DOORNBOS Netherlands Minardi-Cosworth 26
R DAVID COULTHARD Britain Red Bull-Cosworth 0 Accident
R CHRISTIAN KLIEN Austria Red Bull-Cosworth 0 Accident
FASTEST LAP: Raikkonen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 40 1:21.219
DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS:
POS DRIVER NATIONALITY ENTRANT POINTS
1. FERNANDO ALONSO Spain Renault 87
2. KIMI RAIKKONEN Finland McLaren-Mercedes 61
3. MICHAEL SCHUMACHER Germany Ferrari 55
4. JARNO TRULLI Italy Toyota 36
5. JUAN PABLO MONTOYA Colombia McLaren-Mercedes 34
6. RALF SCHUMACHER Germany Toyota 32
7. RUBENS BARRICHELLO Brazil Ferrari 31
8. GIANCARLO FISICHELLA Italy Renault 30
9. NICK HEIDFELD Germany Williams-BMW 28
10. MARK WEBBER Australia Williams-BMW 24
11. JENSON BUTTON Britain BAR-Honda 19
DAVID COULTHARD Britain Red Bull-Cosworth 19
13. FELIPE MASSA Brazil Sauber-Petronas 8
14. TIAGO MONTEIRO Portugal Jordan-Toyota 6
ALEXANDER WURZ Austria McLaren-Mercedes 6
JACQUES VILLENEUVE Canada Sauber-Petronas 6
17. NARAIN KARTHIKEYAN India Jordan-Toyota 5
18. CHRISTIJAN ALBERS Netherlands Minardi-Cosworth 4
PEDRO DE LA ROSA Spain McLaren-Mercedes 4
CHRISTIAN KLIEN Austria Red Bull-Cosworth 4
21. PATRICK FRIESACHER Austria Minardi-Cosworth 3
22. VITANTONIO LIUZZI Italy Red Bull-Cosworth 1
TAKUMA SATO Japan BAR-Honda 1
CONSTRUCTORS CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS:
POS CONSTRUCTOR POINTS
1. RENAULT 117
2. MCLAREN-MERCEDES 105
3. FERRARI 86
4. TOYOTA 68
5. WILLIAMS-BMW 52
6. RED BULL-COSWORTH 24
7. BAR-HONDA 20
8. SAUBER-PETRONAS 14
9. JORDAN-TOYOTA 11
10. MINARDI-COSWORTH 7
Comments
4 Responses to “Hungarian GP: The Iceman Survives In A Swelter, Applies His own Heat To Renault”
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I like Kimi
Kimi is champion in my heart!
Kimi is going to be the next F1 champ. This guy has the whole package. Only thing that can derail the whole thing is the car. Reliability, Reliability!
I tend to agree with the Kimi predictions relative to a title in his future, with one big caveat: I haven’t seen him mix it up in traffic in a close passing opportunity, the way JPM or Fernando would, or Michael for that matter.
Kimi has exceptional talent and speed, especially on an open track; I just want to see him pass someone in anger, to test his mettle.
I think that the end of season is going to be brilliant.He has nothing to lose & can just go for it.If Alonso were to have a DNF the whole thing could go down to the wire.I feel they are both deserving champs, but, McLaren reliability has probably cost Kimi the title.I would have prefered a more equal fight.However, all praise to Renault they were on it from the first race.