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Background and Qualifying Shake-up
Suzuka is widely-regarded as one of the most challenging and exciting circuits in the world and it fittingly hosted one of the best Grand Prix ever back in 2005. This was the year when Michael Schumacher and Ferrari's stranglehold on Formula 1 came to an end, as Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso duked it out for the title. The driver's championship had already been decided in Fernando's favour at the previous round in Brazil, but that didn’t deter any of the 20-strong grid from giving it their all around 53 laps of Japan’s premium track.
A wet qualifying mixed up the grid a treat, which meant that Ralf Schumacher’s Toyota was on pole, both Red Bull’s were in the top 6, Michael Schumacher was down in fourteenth, world champion Alonso in 16th and the McLarens down in 17th and 18th. This promised to be a superb F1 spectacle, and it didn't disappoint.
Electric Race Start
Ralf got a good start off the line and maintained his lead going into Turn 1 but the home crowd were no doubt devastated to see Takuma Sato’s Honda go wide into the gravel. Ferrari’s Rubens Barrichello joined him and had a puncture as a result. Meanwhile, the likes of Alonso and Michael were slashing their way through the field but Juan Pablo Montoya overstepped the boundaries and smashed his McLaren into the wall on the exit of the chicane. He retired and subsequently brought out the Safety Car for a few laps.
The racing resumed on Lap 7 but, somewhat surprisingly, Ralf Schumacher pitted on just Lap 12 to hand the lead to Giancarlo Fisichella’s Renault. After several failed attempts, Alonso had passed Christian Klien’s Red Bull and was now into sixth place, behind Michael. Raikkonen had also closed up after some extremely fast laps and made it a very impressive trio. Alonso was clearly faster but the seven-time world champion was placing his Ferrari absolutely perfectly to defend from the Spaniard. But even the most successful man in the sport’s history could do nothing about what was to come.
On Lap 19, Alonso got a fantastic run out of Spoon corner, picked up the slipstream and swooped around the outside of the 130R. Literally breath-taking! It was then Raikkonen’s turn to pass Michael, who was now leading having not stopped, but the Finn couldn’t manage it. They emerged in fourth and fifth places and were crucially ahead of Alonso as the world champion had to clear traffic on a heavy fuel load.
Frantic Finish
With 25 laps remaining, the podium places were occupied by Giancarlo Fisichella, Jenson Button’s Honda in second and Mark Webber’s Williams in third. A few laps later, on Lap 29, Kimi had finally cleared Schumacher’s Ferrari and flew off into the distance. Alonso took a few more laps to get past the German but by then the McLaren driver was already on the back of Webber and was literally out of sight.
Alonso went into the pits on Lap 36 for his final fuel stop before his teammate did likewise a lap later. Fisichella re-joined behind the trio of Button, Webber and Raikkonen and was sitting pretty for his first win since the opening round of the season. On Lap 40 of 53, both Button and Webber pit which unleashed Raikkonen and allowed him to tear up the track. Before pitting with 9 laps to go, Kimi set a 1:31.540 which is still the lap record of Suzuka to this day.
Raikkonen was a man on a mission and Fisichella was either getting complacent or physically unable to respond to the Finn’s blistering pace. The 20-second lead that the Italian had just ten laps ago was now being relentlessly eaten away at. Meanwhile, in the battle for third between Alonso and Webber, Fernando got a great run on the Australian and despite being closed off on the inside he sent his Renault diving into Turn 1. He had his right front on the grass but he still made it, superb bravery.
Three laps remained and Raikkonen was right behind Fisichella, a grand-stand finish was definitely on the cards. Catching is one thing but passing is another, however, the rate at which Kimi had caught the Renault gave him a real chance of the win. Giancarlo was driving defensively and this would ultimately cost him as on the last lap as Raikkonen got a much better exit out of the chicane and flew around the outside of Fisi! Unbelievable!
Raikkonen went on to win in the Grand Prix after starting down in 17th place! Fisichella was no doubt left red-faced after throwing away a race that he really should’ve won and Alonso completed the podium in what I believe is the best fully-dry race in Formula 1’s history. It was the perfect send-off for the monstrous V10’s!
