Rottweiler Raikkonen roars past Renault!

Raikkonen roars to victory!

The three week gap does not seemed to have hampered Raikkonen's momentum as a perfect weekend for the McLaren driver saw him take podium and breeze to victory at the inaugralTurkish Grand Prix at the Otodrom circuit. The party would have been perfect had it not beenfor the last minute blip by the Finn's team mate that put Alonso a step higher on the podium that he must have hoped for. Montoya, who was bumped on his back by a Jordan driver with just a lap to go took third and the Renault of Giancarlo Fissichella came fourth in an eventful race.

The Tilke designed track at Turkey promised to deliver right from the word Go! The track isbasically built on four different surface levels, thus providing ups and downs and blind corners which drivers had to take at 200 kilometers an hour. With eight left hand corners and six right handers, the anti-clockwise circuit also boasted the notorious turn number eight, described by veteran drivers as "four corners in one". With plenty of dust from the yet to be landscaped area that surrounds the circuit and a rain-storm prediction for the weekend, Turkey was all set to dish out an undulating race.

Qualifying saw a lot of drama with both BAR's bottoming out at turn 8 and Michael Schumacher
spinning out. But for the title contenders, it was a regular affair, with Kimi grabbing pole ahead of Fissichella and Alonso, with the second McLaren of Montoya completing the first two rows on the grid. Schumacher strated further back on the grid than anticipated after the German decided to change his engines. An interesting note is that Michelin is said to have asked its teams not to "touch the kerbs" in several places. Sources say that the tyre manufacturer had the same worries as they did before the infamous Indianapolis incident. Among those on the 'bad' end of the grid were former champions Villeneuve, the Indian rookie Karthikeyan and Takuma Sato, who seems to like the gravel more than the tarmac.

As soon as the red lights were out, Fissichella took advantage of a Raikkonen who was trying to block him, emerging the winner out of the first turn. However, the Italian lost P1 to the Finn at the fag end of the first lap. From there on, it was boom time for McLaren and Kimi Raikkonen. At the middle of the pack, Massa ran wide and pitted on lap 2. Michael makes spectacular moves, gaining eight positions before the end of lap 1. Meanwhile, the Renault pits directed Alonso to pass his team mate, citing that he was slower. Moments later, Alonso passed Fiscio. Is this a milder form of a team order? We wouldnt know, for we never heard what the pit-wallers had to say to Fiscio! Button, who started on row seven, passed Schumacher, the Ferrari unable to match the speeds of the British-Japanese team.

The middle part of the race saw some spectacular events, with both Willaims losing their right rear-tyres like clock-work and Webber colliding with Schumacher, something that would lead to the eventual race retirement of the seven-time champion. Button sets blistering pace, taking out Barrichello, Coulthard, Klein and Trulli within six laps. Later, he also made a great move on Alonso whose car was heavier from a recent pit-stop. Clearly, Sir Frank must be impressed with his performace, and must be upping the pressure on the BAR driver. Fissichella lost his third place to the Columbian, Montoya, after a poor pit-stop.

Towards the end of the race, things seemed perfect for a McLaren 1-2, but the collision between Montoya and Monteiro made it clear that the top step of the podium was out of rach but the second and third places were still up for grabs. The Monteior incident led to Montoya developing a flat-spot on his tyre and losing second position to the Renault of Fernando Alonso. Fissichella, Button and Trulli did well to grab points, and so did the Red Bull drivers, for their flawless performances.

Trully, it would have been a McLaren 1-2 had it not been for the Jordan driver's fault. Kudos to them, McLaren, for keeping up their challenge to the title leaders Renault. Mixed results for the Grove team, with Button proving that he could be a future race winner. Sato, on the other hand, managed to stay out of the points yet again. A poor race for the Williams' team, with tyre problems that could probably be setup issues. A great race for Toyota, the team managing to grab a couple of points.

The Ferrari's must have been unsurprised, for their car has failed to deliver, with both their drivers tottering along, finishing outside the points. Michael had a brief outing after the clash with Webber, a trip to ensure that he wouldnt be the first of the drivers out on qualifying at Monza. As for the Indian, he managed to stay ahead of his team mate, although Dutchman Doonboors seems to have done a very credible job, coming in thirteenth. Incidentally, the other Minardi retired, owing to a technical problem.

With five races to go, the title challenge seems to be hotting up. With all due respects to Kimi, the Driver's challenge is over, with 24 points being the gap between the speeding Spaniard and the flying Finn. On the constructor's front, however, just nine points separate Renault and McLaren, and a couple of good performances from McLaren should ensure that the championship goes down to the wire.

Looking forward to Monza, the circuit built within a king's garden and also the fastest track on the calendar. It would be interesting to see if Michelin comes up with the same kind of warnings it did for this race, and it would also be interesing to see how Ferrari performs, for afterall, this is the closest race to their Maranello outfit and has been a happy hunting ground for the Scuderia team.

Adios till Monza!