Results from the 2005 British Grand Prix
1. 10 MONTOYA
McLaren Mercedes M 1h24'29"588
2. 5 ALONSO
Renault M + 0'02"739
3. 9 RAIKKONEN
McLaren Mercedes M + 0'14"436
4. 6 FISICHELLA
Renault M + 0'17"914
5. 3 BUTTON
BAR Honda M + 0'40"264
6. 1 M.SCHUMACHER
Ferrari B + 1'15"322
7. 2 BARRICHELLO
Ferrari B + 1'16"567
8. 17 R.SCHUMACHER
Toyota M + 1'19"212
9. 16 TRULLI
Toyota M + 1'20"851
10. 12 MASSA
Sauber Petronas M 1 lap(s)
11. 7 WEBBER
Williams BMW M 1 lap(s)
12. 8 HEIDFELD
Williams BMW M 1 lap(s)
13. 14 COULTHARD
RedBull Cosworth M 1 lap(s)
14. 11 VILLENEUVE
Sauber Petronas M 1 lap(s)
15. 15 KLIEN
RedBull Cosworth M 1 lap(s)
16. 4 SATO
BAR Honda M 2 lap(s)
17. 18 MONTEIRO
Jordan Toyota B 2 lap(s)
18. 21 ALBERS
Minardi Cosworth B 3 lap(s)
19. 20 FRIESACHER
Minardi Cosworth B 4 lap(s)
20. 19 KARTHIKEYAN
Jordan Toyota B DNF
The battle for the victory in the British Grand Prix took a decisive step towards its conclusion at the very start of the 60-lap race as Juan Pablo Montoya made a fantastic start from third position on the grid to run side by side with pole sitter Fernando Alonso towards the Maggotts and Beckets turns where he nosed into the lead.
It was close throughout but in the end it was Montoya who took the race win, his first since Brazil last year, but just less than three seconds from Fernando Alonso who extends his championship lead over third placed Kimi Raikkonen by another two points to 26.
Alonso drove a good race but as he and many had feared, the McLaren Mercedes package was just a little too strong around the high speed Silverstone circuit.
Raikkonen drove perhaps the strongest race of anyone from 12th position on the grid thanks to his engine change penalty. The early laps saw the Finn slice his way up to eighth position only to find himself stuck behind Michael Schumacher who in turn was stuck behind Jarno Trulli who was again lapping off the pace in race conditions.
The first round of stops saw Raikkonen leapfrog both Schumacher and Trulli and he set about reducing the half-minute gap to the leaders. With aggressive driving and pure pace, Raikkonen emerged from the second round of pitstop in third position, closing the gap the leading duo to less than 15 seconds by the chequered flag. Perhaps as a mark of defiance, Raikkonen’s final lap of the race showed his raw speed as he lapped ways faster than anyone else had managed all race long.
Giancarlo Fisichella has a strong race until the second and final pit stop when he stalled the Renault for the second successive race losing the final podium position to Raikkonen. Fisichella chased Raikkonen hard but the damage had been done.
Jenson Button started the race from the front row in his BAR Honda, dropping to third from the outset and despite his best efforts, could not keep pace with the front runners. The first round of pitstops saw him lose out to Fisichella and in the second round of stops, he lost out to Raikkonen. He crossed the line over 20 seconds adrift of the second Renault.
Silverstone was not kind to the Ferrari team with Michael Schumacher finishing a whopping 75 seconds behind the race leader while Rubens Barrichello’s race was ruined by running a three stop strategy that saw him stuck behind his team-leader on track losing time when he could perhaps have run a great deal faster in clear air. Still, Ferrari picks up points with sixth and seventh positions.
Over at Toyota, Ralf Schumacher picked up the final point after a steady drive while Jarno Trulli continued his trend of showing great qualifying pace, but no pace at all in race conditions. As in Magny Cours, Trulli lapped between one and two seconds off the pace with the field bunched up behind him until the first round of stops. From that point onwards he slid backwards before banging in his fastest laps of the race in the closing stages. It is hard to understand that if he and the car has the pace to lap fast in qualifying and in the final laps of the race, why he does not do it for the majority of the race?
Felipe Massa finished in tenth position for Sauber Petronas ahead of Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld who had another tough race for BMW Williams. David Coulthard and Jacques Villeneuve enjoyed a great scrap for 13th position with Coulthard eventually getting the position in his Red Bull while his team-mate Christian Klien chased Villeneuve valiantly across the line to take 15th.
Takuma Sato was classified 16th two laps down as the Japanese driver stalled his car as he approached the grid. We then had a comedy of errors as Race Director Charlie Whiting started the Grand Prix only to send out the Safety Car seconds later at the same time as Sato’s BAR was cleared from the grid.
Tiago Monteiro finished his 11th straight race for Jordan Toyota while his team-mate Narain Karthikeyan was an early retirement and in fact the only retirement in the field. At the back, Christijan Albers and Patrick Freisacher finished three and four laps down respectively for Minardi.
Formula One has a chance to regroup and to test before reconvening at Hockenheim in two weeks time for the German Grand Prix. Alonso will sleep pretty well tonight with his 26 points lead.