MONTREAL, Canada, 14 June 2005 — Kimi Raikkonen gave his title hopes a huge boost when he won the Canadian Grand Prix after championship leader Fernando Alonso crashed out of the race here Sunday.
Finn Raikkonen made up for the disappointment of crashing out of the lead on the last lap of the last race with a controlled win in Montreal after seeing both his Renault rivals fail to reach the checkered flag.
The result closed the gap between Alonso and Raikkonen to 22 points and moved Raikkonen’s McLaren team up to within 13 points of championship leaders Renault with 11 races still to run.
“At one point we were a bit lucky to win, but we were unlucky in the last race,” said Raikkonen.
Raikkonen almost threw the win away himself when he lost concentration in the closing laps of the race and went over the grass at the chicane but he was never worried and eased home ahead of second-placed Michael Schumacher.
And while the Finn kept his cool in temperatures of 33 degrees, Spaniard Alonso was left embarrassed after throwing away potential victory when a simple mistake put him into the wall. Pole sitter Jenson Button was a high-profile loser when he crashed out of a potential podium place and Juan Pablo Montoya was also left red faced when he was disqualified from a potential second place.
Rubens Barrichello started from the pit lane after failing to set a time in qualifying but good tactics and a strong performance allowed him to make it two Ferraris on the podium as he claimed third.
Brazilian Felipe Massa finished fourth for Sauber with Australian Mark Webber fifth in his Williams and German Ralf Schumacher sixth for Toyota.
