Raikkonen scintillates at Suzuka.

"The track is my canvas. My car is my pencil,” said Graham Hill. And on a sunny day at Suzuka, Kimi sketched one such performance, sizzling from seventeenth on the grid after a rain marred qualifying lap to become the Numero Uno at Japan. Fissichella, the more fortunate of the Renault runners came in second and Fernando Alonso came in third after starting sixteenth, silencing his critics with what I would term as “balls-out” racing.

Saturday qualifying saw quite some action, with rain during the later part of afternoon. Perhaps it is the Japanese rain gods at work, ensuring that their teams Toyota and Honda were given the front row of the grid. Ralf started on P1 with the Briton, Jensen Button on P2. Fissichella was for once luckier half of Renault, starting in third as opposed to Alonso’s sixteenth. By the time the youngest ever champion came out, it was raining cats and dogs, but the brave Spaniard put on a show that served as a precursor to what one could expect from him during the race. Kimi and Montoya started at No 17 and No 18 respectively. With the met department predicting a sixty percent chance of rains, it was all set to be a spectacular show of pit strategies, tire strategies and scorching speeds.

Come Sunday and Suzuka saw a clear day, with the rain gods failing to deliver. The grid was all set, and Ralf Schumacher led the slowest warm-up lap in decades. The red lights went off and Ralf made a superb start. Coulthard and Fissichella made good starts, with the latter nudging to second spot. But behold, the back of the pack is where all the action is. Schumacher, who started on row seven, made up seven places, with Alonso and Raikkonen hot on his trail, passing the slower cars as if they were back markers. The first lap also saw the demise of Montoya, with Villeneuve, forcing him to go wide. The incident saw a five-lap safety car parade. Clearly, the drivers seemed to struggle with what was definitely a mismatch – a car set up for wet weather tires running on dries, not even intermediates.

Drama on the track saw an over ambitious Alonso cutting the chicane to over take Klein. He let Klein retake his position not once but twice, the order coming from the stewards the second time around. How ever, with the minor incident out of his way, Alonso set off after Schumacher with Raikkonen hot on his trail, watchful and ready should either Michael or Fernando commit a mistake. Such was the Finn’s great driving that in spite of keeping watch of his two greatest opponents he was still able to post fastest laps.

The first set of pit stops confirmed that Ralf was after all on a three-stop strategy. Flavio, the Renault team boss must have sighed a sigh of relief. Perhaps Alonso would not finish in the points, but so would Raikkonen, where as Fiscio would collect a full house, bolstering Renault’s lead in the race to the Constructor’s championship. Fissichella pitted on lap 20, and Alonso, in a breathtakingly spectacular move swept past the ‘king of corners’ Michael Schumacher at 130R, perhaps one of the fastest and most difficult of corners on the Formula One calendar. The Spaniard then sped off into the horizon, hungry to post fastest laps. Meanwhile Raikkonen was being held up by Schumacher, and in the ensuing lap, both of them pitted together, with the German still managing to come out ahead of Raikkonen.

With both Schumacher and Raikkonen emerging ahead of Alonso after the first set of pit stops, it was now the opposite scenario to what happened a few laps before. Raikkonen swept past Schumacher on the grid-straight, leaving Alonso to deal with the ‘macher’s machinations, where as he, Raikkonen, would post fastest laps. Alonso made the most of it, ensuring that Schumacher locked up on a chicane, thus losing momentum. The passing on the grid straight then became a mere formality.

The racing of these three drivers was so captivating that perhaps everyone but the other drivers failed to notice that there were other cars on the track. Webber had a good run with the WilliamsF1, coming out of the pits ahead of Button, in what might be his first podium in a long time. But then, the glowing silver streak behind him would ensure that such an event wouldn’t happen. After all, if you happen to drive a McLaren Mercedes MP4-20 and complete a race, there isn’t much chance that you would land up outside the podium. And if you happen to be Kimi Raikkonen, you would even dare to dream more, perhaps dream of even standing on the top step of the podium.

With Raikkonen managing to come within striking distance of Fissichella after a splash ‘n’ dash pit stop, the game was all set for an exciting finish. Alonso, meanwhile made quick work of Webber, something that might have made the Australian feel like he was in a passenger train and Alonso in a rocket ship. Meanwhile, Fissichella lost momentum, almost tripping on a Minardi. Raikkonen tried to close Fissichella out on the main straight, but Fissichella would have none of it. With just two laps to go, Raikkonen was all over the back of the Renault driver, eventually managing to sweep past him at the first corner. At the paddocks, Flavio Briatore’s face turned red as the Italian stormed down the pit lane. Clearly, this one move could cost his team the Constructor’s championship. Perhaps it was time to put the second Renault under a better driver.

When Raikkonen headed down the pits, Ron Dennis, the McLaren team boss who seldom loiters towards the park ferme area rushed up from the pit-wall, bear hugging his driver, his beloved Kimi Raikkonen. Perhaps this is the only other time apart from Suzuka 988 when I have seen Ron’s face so animated, so happy to receive the Constructor’s trophy. Perhaps the Finn is his next Prost or Senna.

The race even otherwise was a delight, with Webber, Button, Coulthard giving strong performances. Michael and Ralf gathered the remaining points, coming in seventh and eight. The Minardi’s completed their race, with Albers managing to finish in spite of being involved in a dramatic pit-lane fire incident. Narain finished fifteenth, failing to capitalize on a good qualifying lap.

Overall, the race was a sizzler, with Renault and McLaren switching positions on the constructor’s table. Renault now lead by two points, and it remains to be seen if McLaren can hold fort in the last race of the season, due to happen this weekend at Shanghai, China.

Looking forward to the wire a.k.a China!