BUDAPEST, 1 August 2005 — Kimi Raikkonen secured his fourth victory of the season here in yesterday’s Hungarian Grand Prix to re-ignite the title race as current leader Fernando Alonso failed to score any points.
Finn Raikkonen eased to a comfortable victory but was forced to work hard for his win by determined reigning champion Michael Schumacher.
The Ferrari seven time champion led from pole but Raikkonen put him under intense pressure and finally made it past in the second round of pit stops before being gifted the lead when teammate Juan Pablo Montoya’s car broke down.
The Finn is now 26 points behind Renault driver Alonso with six rounds remaining and while his chances remain slim the race marked a crucial turnaround in fortunes between the leader and the challenger.
Raikkonen was cruelly denied victory by mechanical failure in Germany last weekend and missed the chance to challenge at the preceding French and British Grands Prix because of engine failures in practice.
But this time it was Alonso in the wars, pushed down the order to 11th after a first-lap collision and an under-performing car.
Schumacher secured a morale-boosting second place for Ferrari when he fended off the close attentions of his younger brother Ralf in the closing stages to ease home after a much-improved weekend for his world champion team.
Ralf Schumacher secured his first podium finish for Toyota as he led home Italian teammate Jarno Trulli after both drivers had lucky escapes in first lap collisions.
Briton Jenson Button used a two-stop strategy to claim fifth for BAR-Honda and score his fourth consecutive points finish while German Nick Heidfeld used a similar strategy to climb up into sixth place for Williams.
Australian Mark Webber brought the second Williams home in seventh but was lapped by the leaders and Takuma Sato completed the points scorers for BAR-Honda.
A dramatic start saw Alonso hit the back of Ralf Schumacher’s Toyota and damage his front wing then Red Bull Racing driver Christian Klien was dramatically barrel-rolled out by one of the Saubers.
Alonso’s wing ripped off on the straight heading into turn 12 and David Coulthard spun violently after running over the debris, ending Red Bull’s race before the first lap was complete. Pit stop strategies played a crucial part in the outcome.
On lap 36 Schumacher peeled into the pits, with Raikkonen called in on lap 37.
He moved easily ahead of his rival by the time he returned to the track, with Montoya having assumed the lead.
But then the bad luck hit Montoya when his car began to slow and he cruised round to the pits to post his second retirement of the season and leave Raikkonen in control.
