Kimi Raikkonen dominated the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya on Sunday, the McLaren Mercedes driver ending Renault’s apparent domination of the 2005 season far. He finished the 66 lap race, held in front of massive 115,000 crowd with a 27.6s advantage over nearest challenger Fernando Alonso, the darling of the crowd, with the Toyotas of Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher in third and fourth.

But it might so nearly have been different. Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher started the race in eighth place and thanks to his strategy, was lying third when he suffered a deflating rear tyre with 22 laps to go. After this was replaced, the same thing happened to a front tyre, and it was then decided to retire the car. Teammate Rubens Barrichello, starting 16th after an engine change, was unable to challenge and finished just outside the points.

In gloriously sunny conditions, Kimi Raikkonen shot into the lead at the start with Alonso slotting into second from Ralf Schumacher, who also got ahead of front row man Mark Webber. Trulli was next from Giancarlo Fisichella, then came Michael Schumacher, the returning Juan Pablo Montoya and David Coulthard.

After a brief safety car period to recover the two Minardis which stopped after a few yards after the start, Raikkonen soon began to pull away from Alonso. Ralf Schumacher hung onto third place, just under four seconds behind, pushed by Webber, while Trilli was next once he’d pulled away from Fisichella.

Raikkonen had eased away to a 10s lead by lap 14, but then this rose dramatically over the next ten laps to over 25s as Alonso suffered handling problems. Ralf Schumacher caught him, but wasn’t able to overtake, while Webber gave up fourth place with the first pit stop on lap 18, so it was Trulli who managed to catch his teammate, the pair right behind Alonso. Fisichella was next from Montoya who had left behind Michael Schumacher, Coulthard and Felipe Massa.

The pit stops began in earnest on lap 24, with Ralf Schumacher coming in first, followed a lap later by teammate Trulli, who emerged ahead of the German driver. Raikkonen pitted on the same lap while Alonso came in two laps later as did Coulthard and Massa. Fisichella came in on lap 29 as did Montoya, who had to pit again as there was a problem with the refuelling rig.

As they neared half distance, Raikkonen now led Michael Schumacher, who had yet to stop, by 12s with a similar gap back to Fisichella who had come out again head of Alonso. Schumacher pitted a lap before half distance and emerged in fourth place behind the Renaults and Raikkonen. Trulli was fifth ahead of Ralf who had Webber and Barrichello close behind.

Fisichella, however, suffered a loss of downforce and pitted for a new nosecone on lap 40, which handed second place back to Alonso, with Michael Schumacher now in third place. But on lap 44, he came in with a loss of pressure in the left rear wheel which demoted him to eighth place and when the same thing happened a lap later to the front left, he drove straight into the garage and out of the race.

Raikkonen’s lead was now nearly 30s over Alonso who in turn was 22s ahead of the Toyotas, Trulli ahead of Ralf Schumacher. Coulthard was next. On lap 49, the leaders both made pit stops, Raikkonen losing a couple of seconds, and the Toyotas and Coulthard and Massa stopped two and three laps later.
 

Raikkonen maintained a healthy lead to the chequered flag and a dominant victory. Alonso salvaged a distant and lonely second place, while Trulli just held off teammate Ralf Schumacher for third and fourth. Webber was in fifth place but lost it to a recovered Fisichella two laps from home. Montoya finished seventh after three pit stops and being lapped by his teammate and Coulthard held off Barrichello for the final World Championship point.

Jean Todt: “We knew this would be a difficult race, but it turned out to be tougher than expected. In the middle stint of the race, it seemed we might be able to produce a repeat of our Imola performance, with Michael on a great climb up the order, thanks to a strategy of going for a longer first stint than his rivals. Unfortunately, on lap 44, a loss of pressure in the left rear tyre meant Michael had to pit to change it. A similar problem, this time to the left front, occurred on lap 46 and Michael retired at this point.

"All our chances now rested with Rubens, who despite his best efforts and a one-stop strategy, finished just outside the points, having started from the penultimate row. We have to accept that in this first part of the season, our opponents are stronger than us. But we will not get discouraged and we will absolutely not give up. We will tackle the rest of the championship with the same will and determination that has characterised our approach for so many years.”

Rubens Barrichello: “I had a really difficult race. The tyres were getting better as the race progressed, but then they developed blisters and I could not do any more. I had a lonely race and I was never able to push as hard as I wanted as I was not very happy with the balance of my car. I did not seem to have the pace today.”

Michael Schumacher: “I think a third place would have been a realistic target seeing how the race was going. So it was very disappointing that I had those two problems. Already on the lap before, I felt the car becoming unbalanced, then suddenly the tyre pressure was gone. Then, after the rear tyre was changed, the same thing happened again. It is strange that both were on the same side and the other tyres were fine. We have a lot of work to do across the entire package, before Monaco.”

Ross Brawn: “At the end, this was a very disappointing result. And it was all the more frustrating as I think we were in a strong position with Michael at one stage of the race. I do not think he could have won, but a podium finish would have been possible. We had two consecutive problems with the left side tyres, so now we need to find out exactly what happened. I know Fisichella had to pit because of debris, so maybe Michael also picked up some of that.

"Rubens did well, considering where he started. He drove well and pushed hard and did the best he could. We switched him to a one-stop strategy and it was a shame he could not stay ahead of Coulthard. It is clear that now, we need to regroup and go forward to improve the situation.”

Rubens Barrichello: 9th + 1 lap 65 laps chassis no 246; Michael Schumacher: R lap 46 46 laps chassis no 245; Temperatures: air 25 °C, track 38/36 °C