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#5 2005: The Iceman keeps his cool to win an epic
How often have we seen the fate of an F1 battle turn on its head on the last lap?
Kimi Raikkonen may be called the Iceman but it was over a decade ago where his legend was forged thanks to a ballsy drive at one of the most challenging circuits on the F1 roster: Suzuka.
A race that shall, for years to come, be remembered by his fans as being an epic duel between the McLaren of Raikkonen and the seemingly faster Renaults and Ferraris, saw the triumph of a man who drove as if he was possessed.
At the start, Raikkonen, who had a poor qualifying session, began his Suzuka challenge from seventeenth, surely not a position on the grid he may have expected to finish inside the point, let alone the race.
Later, in an accident-marred Grand Prix where local hero Takuma Sato collided with Jarno Trulli's Toyota, the two frontier fighters - Juan Pablo Montoya and Jacques Villeneuve - came together at the chicane to enforce a safety car intervention.
Then, Ralf Schumacher pitted after 12 laps, giving the lead to Fisichella who was being challenged by Jenson Button in his BAR-Honda.
Further down the grid, when Schumacher, Alonso and Kimi were involved in improving their grid standings, Alonso seemed the better driver, making up a few impressive places.
Raikkonen, running with heavy fuel-load in his 2005 McLaren pitted and yet challenged Alonso repeatedly. His move on Michael on the outside of Turn 2 was spectacular.
The only constant in the race, it seemed, was Raikkonen, staunch in his improvement of an ordinary qualifying run the previous day.
Every passing lap he'd better his race pace, bolstered by better handling and eventually moved into second, right behind race-leader Fisichella.
This is when the 'Iceman' kept his cool. Within seconds of the checkered flag, going boldly on the outside of Fisi, who in his protection of the inside line, could do little to offset Raikkonen, the McLaren driver clinched an unthinkable epic.
