RAIKONEN MAKES LEWIS SUFFER
(Image taken from Yahoo)
Well at the time of the 2005 British Grand Prix this site wasn't even up and running. And a year later, it was in mid-overhaul. So, this is my first full report on a British Grand Prix. What can I say about Silverstone? Union Jacks, check, tradition, check. On form Brit to root for, sure as hell check with the expectation that Hamilton was going to win his home race in the style of Nigel Mansell! Ferrari probably had other ideas though, given Kimi's win in France.
Qualifying wise, well things were particularly iffy for Jenson, an unreliable Honda forcing his elimination in Q1, he started 18th. DC made it to Q2 and was top class early on but still failed to make the cut, though he did enough to earn 12th on the grid. In Q3 Lewis drew first blood but he wasn't 100% in the earlier sessions and sure enough, Alonso took pole off him quickly enough, Raikonen was the man that looked to have P1 though...untill Lewis somehow pulled it out the bag at the very last second! Third pole of the season, you cannot argue with that.
In the race, it helped that two of the guys ahead of DC crashed out early and Massa stalled on the grid, allowing the Scot to make it smoothly into the points positions by the time he pitted. By the latter stages of the race though, he was one of three drivers just outside the points, hoping for late retirements. No late retirements happened to the top 8 though and DC had to settle for 11th, the Scot dissapointed with the lack of pace from his car.
With Jenson starting as far back on the grid as he was, there was only one way he was going to get anywhere and that was to one-stop. He didn't get anywhere fast to start with but eventually the Honda strategy paid off to an extent and he was one of the three drivers sniffing for points at the end. Like DC, he had no such luck but did manage to finish 10th which is better than some performances he's had this season. Qualifying seems to be Honda's Achilles heel though.
For Lewis's part, well he got a away cleanish but it wasn't long till Raikonen was on his back though though the rookie deserves credit for keeping the Finn behind him untill the first round of pit stops. He made his first serious mistake of his F1 career though by jumping the gun coming out of the pits which forced him back to third and given that his car clearly wasn't 100%, it was quite an effort for Lewis to pick up yet another podium though, finishing in third.
The win never looked workable however and that was a Raikonen vs Alonso fight. Raikonen took the lead after Hamilton's first pitstop and the Finn briefly hit overdrive before pitting and allowing Alonso to take the lead. Alonso's lead surviving his first pitstop, but the reigning World Champion was always under pressure from Raikonen and Fernando wound up having to settle for second after Kimi took the lead during the second round of pitstops! That was where he stayed to take his second win in a row.
Lewis still leads the World championship though, though his lead over Alonso is down to 12 points. DC's still down in 12th with 4 points(and a top five finish) and Jenson's in 16th with one point(but also a regular competitor).
The F1 and Lewis Hamilton show heads for Germany.
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