Spanish Grand Prix - Race Review

We couldnt make the review as we had our exams but we hope this would do

Lap 66: Raikkonen takes the chequered flag to claim his first victory of the season. The brilliant Finn was dominant from start to finish.

Home hero and championship leader Fernando Alonso takes second with Toyota’s Jarno Trulli completing the podium, 0.7 seconds ahead of team-mate Ralf Schumacher.

Giancarlo Fisichella celebrates overtaking Mark Webber for fifth by setting the fastest lap of the race.

McLaren’s Juan Pablo Montoya and Red Bull’s David Coulthard take seventh and eighth.

Lap 63: Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella eases past Mark Webber’s Williams to take fifth.

Lap 62: There are several intriguing battles away from leader Raikkonen. Ralf Schumacher is still pressing team-mate Jarno Trulli for third, Giancarlo Fisichella is closing on Mark Webber in fifth while David Coulthard in eighth is under pressure from Rubens Barrichello.

Lap 60: With six laps remaining, Kimi Raikkonen continues his serene progress at the front. He has a 22-second lead over Fernando Alonso.

Lap 57: Juan Pablo Montoya has to stop for a third time to refuel, dropping him back to seventh.

Lap 55: McLaren’s Juan Pablo Montoya, currently fifth, is making a desperate bid to catch up on the Toyotas ahead of him. He’s the fastest man on the track.

Lap 52: Sauber’s Jacques Villeneuve completes another disappointing weekend by retiring.

Jarno Trulli pits and rejoins just ahead of Toyota team-mate Ralf Schumacher.

Lap 51: There is a real battle between Toyota team-mates Ralf Schumacher and Jarno Trulli for third and a podium finish. Schumacher pits at the end of the lap.

Lap 49: Race leader Raikkonen comes in for his second pitstop and gets back out without losing his position.

He is followed in by second-placed Alonso.

Lap 46: Michael Schumacher’s race is run as his left front tyre gives up the ghost and his Ferrari limps round to the pits and into the garage.

His retirement promotes Trulli’s Toyota to third.

Lap 44: Michael Schumacher’s victory prospects suffer a big blow as he comes in from third for a tyre change.

Leader Raikkonen laps McLaren team-mate Montoya, who is running eighth.

Lap 42: Raikkonen is making relentless progress in the McLaren.

He now leads Alonso by almost 30 seconds, with Schumacher a further 10 adrift in third.

Lap 40: Fisichella’s promising race is ruined as he has to come in from second place for a new front wing and drops down to 13th.

His team-mate Alonso benefits as he moves up to second, with Michael Schumacher third.

Lap 39: Alonso is running well again after his stop, putting pressure on team-mate Fisichella for second place.

Lap 38: Leader Raikkonen laps Barrichello’s Ferrari, but is not pleased with how long it takes the Brazilian to give way.

Lap 35: With the race settling back down after the first round of stops, it is looking very good for Raikkonen.

He has a 25-second lead over Fisichella, who has made big gains to move up to second ahead of team-mate Alonso.

Michael Schumacher is now well poised in the Ferrari in fourth.

Lap 34: Barrichello gets past half distance before making his stop from seventh place in the Ferrari. It is possible he may not need to come in again.

Lap 33: Michael Schumacher has reaped the benefits of his strategy as he is now fourth.

Lap 31: Michael Schumacher sets another fastest lap before making a late first stop.

He looks sure to gain at least one place as Montoya has been forced to make two stops in the McLaren in the space of as many laps.

Lap 28: Fisichella makes his stop and gets out in front of team-mate Alonso.

Michael Schumacher sets a fastest lap in the Ferrari as he nears the end of his stint.

Lap 27: Alonso makes his stop, and the team make adjustments to the tyre pressures.

His team-mate Fisichella is running very well and looking to make up places as he delays his stop.

Lap 26: Trulli has managed to get ahead of Toyota team-mate Ralf Schumacher in the pit stops.

Lap 25: Leader Raikkonen makes his first pit stop and gets out ahead of second-placed Alonso.

The Toyota’s of Ralf Schumacher and Trulli have also made their stops.

Lap 24: World champion Michael Schumacher has yet to show the searing pace he had at Imola. He is not troubling sixth-placed Montoya.

Lap 23: Alonso continues to come under pressure from Ralf Schumacher. The Spaniard’s Renault team-mate Fisichella is lapping much quicker than him.

Lap 22: Raikkonen’s lead over Alonso is now over 20 seconds. Barring a reliability problem, the Finn looks set for his first win of the season.

Lap 19: Ralf Schumacher has closed the gap on second-placed Alonso to under a second as the Spaniard’s Renault struggles for pace.

Lap 18: Webber’s Williams is the first car to pit.

Lap 17: Raikkonen sets another fastest lap to increase his lead over Alonso by more than two seconds.

Lap 15: Raikkonen looks set to go into the first round of pitstops with a commanding advantage.

Lap 13: Friesacher’s dismal race comes to an end as his car ends up in the gravel.

Lap 11: Raikkonen is running more than a second faster than second-placed Alonso.

The two Minardis are still running after stalling on the grid, but they are several laps down.

Lap 10: Raikkonen is still pulling clear at the front, while Ralf Schumacher is pressuring third-placed Webber.

Lap 9: Liuzzi’s race comes to an end as he spins his Red Bull at turn 11 and goes off into the gravel trap.

Lap 8: Raikkonen contines to clock the fastest lap times as he stretches his lead over Alonso to more than five seconds.

Lap 7: Montoya spins his car but just manages to keep seventh place ahead of Michael Schumacher.

Lap 6: Leader Raikkonen sets a new circuit lap record.

Heidfeld and Barrichello, who started on the back row of the grid, are up to 12th and 14th respectively.

Lap 5: Raikkonen’s lead over Alonso is now three seconds.

Lap 4: Raikkonen continues to set the pace, while Coulthard tries to pressure Michael Schumacher for eighth.

Lap 3: Raikkonen is running very well at the front as he sets about building his lead over home favourite Alonso.

Lap 2: Leader Raikkonen gets away well as the safety car pulls off the track, and McLaren team-mate Montoya reclaims seventh place from Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari.

Lap 1: Raikkonen moves away smoothly from pole and into the lead, but Alonso and Ralf Schumacher get the jump on Webber to take second.

Michael Schumacher gets ahead of Montoya to move up a place to seventh.

The Minardis of Albers and Friesacher both stall on the grid, and the safety car comes out.

BAR Banned for 2 races

BAR team boss Nick Fry said: “We’re examining our options. Our objective is to race this weekend.

“We have some of the best sporting lawyers in Britain and probably the world working on this now.

“If we’re to race this weekend we need to get some judgement from a court pretty soon on Friday.” First practice for the race starts at 1000 BST.

BAR reacted angrily after being banned for two races for running an underweight car at the San Marino GP.

“BAR Honda is appalled at the decision and asserts that the judgment is contrary to all of the evidence heard,” Fry said after the appeal court of the FIA, the world governing body, handed out the punishment on Thursday.

“The team proved it complied with the current regulations and the FIA now acknowledges that the regulations are unclear,” said Fry.

“While the International Court of Appeal rejected the FIA’s original accusations of fraud and deception, BAR Honda says that this penalty is wholly and grossly disproportionate.”

The ruling, which included a six-month ban suspended for a year, was the toughest sanction taken against a Formula One team for 20 years.

The team have been excluded from the Spanish and Monaco Grands Prix, and stripped of the 10 points Jenson Button and Takuma Sato picked up for finishing third and fifth at Imola.

There is no further internal appeal process open to BAR, but Fry confirmed he is looking at other legal means to race in Barcelona this weekend, raising the prospect of a civil court action.

But F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone said he felt BAR were lucky not to have been excluded for longer and warned Fry he would be unwise to sue.

“I thought it was a very fair thing to do to be honest. I feel they got off quite lightly.”

Toyota to appeal penalty on Ralf

Having reviewed the evidence, the stewards considered that it was an unsafe manoeuvre and applied a 25-sec penalty to him, who finished in eighth place. However, Toyota are appealing the decision.

“In view of the extremely vague description of the regulation and a number of similar incidents which have gone unpunished, Toyota has decided to appeal the decision of the stewards in order to clarify this issue for the future,” explained Tsutomu Tomita.

If Toyota??(tm)s appeal fails, Schumacher will drop out of the points in the San Marino GP and Heidfeld will gain one point by moving to eighth place.

Alonso wins Grand Prix, but Schumi wins hearts

Alonso barely held on to his lead as he claimed the chequered flag in the San Marino Grand Prix.World champ Micheal Schumacher came second in his F2005 climbing from 13th place at the start. As the race progressed one could feel the Adrenaline. Schumacher overtook cars one after the other, his car arleast 1.5 seconds faster than anyone else. Button took an impressive third while Alexander Wurz came 4th. Wurz’s brilliant performance forces us to think why McLaren hired Montoya in the first place, Wurz is obviously much faster.Villeneuve, for whom it was a do or die race showed he has still got it. It was an impressive start from pole starter Kimi who separated from the pack rightaway, leaving Alonso behind. But Kimi had to retire due to suspension problems.
 
The highlight of the race as I said was Schumi’s performance. At post race press confrence, he thanked everyone except his Dog (must be feeling bad!). He stated that the last few races had brought negative publicity to tyre manufacturers Bridgestone and that he hoped this would set things right. Schumacher now has 10 points in the Driver’s championship and now has shown to the world that he didn’t become World Champion  for nothing. What was remarkable was his difference in pace from teammate Barrichello. MShumacher was 3 seconds faster, showing that driving matters more than the car. Jordans once again showed their reliability with both cars finishing the race.
 
The race results with official timings will follow.

Alonso : King Bahrain GP

Fernando Alonso takes victory at Bahrain Grand Prix with Jarno Trulli taking 2nd place on the podium. McLaren making their come back with a 3rd place at Bahrain. Kimi Raikkonen and Pedro Dela Rosa finish 3rd and 5th respectively.

Michael Schuamcher had some mechanical failure inbetween 20-30 lap and had to retire from the race. Schuamcher was on second place and was looking strong as he was just 0.6 s behind Fernando Alonso. Rubens Barrichello started from 20th place on the grid and had only done 2 laps of Bahrain International Circuit before the race. Barrichello had a major gearbox problem due to which he couldn’t perform any lap on the circuit and the team had no spare car. F2005 was looking strong and we could expect a real good results from it.

More to follow up……….

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