Raikkonen wins, Montoya blows this time
This time over it was Kimi Raikkonen who managed to keep his McLaren clear of any mechanical problems and easily won the race. His teammate Montoya was also in good shape but suffered a driveshaft problem 30 laps from the end. Michael Schumacher and Ralf joined the Finn on the podium.
As early as the first few corners the race of both Alonso and Barrichello were decided as both got in contact with another car and had to come in for a new nose. Alonso would be chasing the Brazilian for the complete race. Both finished 10th and 11th respectively.
Also in that first corner, Klien's right rear wheel touched with the left front wheel of Villeneuve throwing the Austrian in the air, rolling over and hitting the ground hard. Klien came away unhurt while Villeneuve was able to continue his race without noticable problems.
That was it for one Redbull, but half a lap further it was David Coulthard who saw his race end. He was closely following another car that just avoided debris from Alonso's broken front wing. As the Scott drove over it, both his front wing and suspension broke. He slid off the circuit and sat aside his car hugely disappointed. He even cleaned up some parts from his car that were left on the circuit.
At the end of the first lap, Schumacher came through in first place, Raikkonen already second and Montoya third. As Raikkonen was on an even lighter fuel load than Schumacher he could follow very closely but was unable to attempt a pass. After both men entered the pits, Schumi was again 5 seconds away as a result of his longer first stint. Montoya meanwhile came into the lead as he planned only to stop twice.
Closing in to their 2nd stops, Raikkonen came very very close to Schumacher and could stay out longer than his Ferrari rival to take over second place behind Montoya.
Few laps later however the story was over for the Columbian as a driveshaft failed when accellerating out of the second chicane. With thirty laps to go Raikkonen took the lead to never give it away anymore.
Both Toyota's performed excellent during the race with Ralf on the podium and Jarno Trulli in 4th place. Jenson Button drove invisibly to 5th while the Williams' completed a two stop strategy with a long first stint with succes bringing home 5 valuable points to the team. Takuma Sato came home in 8th place to take the last point.
Most likely because of the very high temperatures (air: 35°C), only 13 cars made it to the finish, with another two still being classified.
The Sauber of Felipe massa suffered what appeared to be an engine problem but he later came on track again to improve his qualifying start order in Turkey within 3 weeks.
His Canadian teammate powered down his engine drastically since Massa's problem but eventually had to give up to as he came to a halt after the 4th corner.
The Hungarian GP was again a confirmation of the McLaren supremacy while Montoya proved its weakness. Fernando Alonso will be happy that he had such a great lead over the Finn as he loses 10 places in the championship race. Renault could not even bring home a single point as the team struggled from friday on with tires and car settings.
Next up is the all new Turkish GP in three weeks time, promising even higher temperatures.
Full results are as follows:
1 K. Räikkönen McLaren 1:37:25.552
2 M. Schumacher Ferrari + 35.581
3 R. Schumacher Toyota + 36.129
4 J. Trulli Toyota + 54.221
5 J. Button BAR + 58.832
6 N. Heidfeld Williams + 1:08.375
7 M. Webber Williams + 1 laps
8 T. Sato BAR + 1 laps
9 G. Fisichella Renault + 1 laps
10 R. Barrichello Ferrari + 1 laps
11 F. Alonso Renault + 1 laps
12 N. Karthikeyan Jordan + 3 laps
13 T. Monteiro Jordan + 4 laps
14 F. Massa Sauber + 7 laps
15 C. Albers Minardi + 11 laps
Did not finish
16 J. Villeneuve Sauber + 14 laps
17 JP. Montoya McLaren + 29 laps
18 R. Doornbos Minardi + 44 laps
19 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 70 laps
20 C. Klien Red Bull + 70 laps
