Fernando Alonso kept Kimi Räikkönen under relentless pressure throughout the European Grand Prix and took advantage at the final moment when Räikkönen’s suspension failed, sending the Finn into the barriers. Alonso now leads the championship by 32 points.
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From the start the European Grand Prix looked set to favour McLaren-Mercedes. In three of the four practice sessions before qualifying, one of the silver cars topped the timesheets.
Qualifying, pared back to a single session, left Alonso sixth on the grid in his Renault. Both Williams cars were ahead, though they were expected to be running lighter fuel loads. Juan Pablo Montoya qualified fifth and Jarno Trulli fourth, both likely carrying more fuel and therefore a potential threat to Alonso’s progress early in the race.
At the front, Nick Heidfeld, buoyed by his best-ever result of second in Monaco, took pole in a relatively light Williams. Crucially, Kimi Räikkönen split Heidfeld and team mate Mark Webber, positioning himself well to challenge for the lead at the first corner given the Williams’ modest starts in previous races.
When the lights went out, events unfolded predictably at the front but unpredictably elsewhere. Montoya launched quickly to pass Webber, who ran wide and clipped the McLaren. Alonso slowed to avoid the incident and was struck by Ralf Schumacher, but reacted skillfully to keep the Renault out of a spin. He rejoined in fifth, behind Räikkönen, Heidfeld, Trulli and a surging David Coulthard in the Red Bull, who had climbed from 12th on the grid.
Montoya continued after repairs, restarting in 13th, one position ahead of Michael Schumacher, who had started tenth. Webber was forced out on the spot, while Ralf Schumacher and Takuma Sato made pit stops for repairs.
Trulli also suffered misfortune: his mechanics had delayed on the grid before the formation lap, earning him a drive-through penalty. He later claimed the penalty cost him a potential win.
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Räikkönen could not immediately break away from Heidfeld as he had in Monaco and Spain. The reason became clearer on lap 12 when Heidfeld made his first scheduled stop — one of three he would complete. Rubens Barrichello had already stopped the previous lap after passing Jenson Button and Vitantonio Liuzzi in his light-fuel Ferrari.
BAR had set Button’s car heavy on fuel to minimise qualifying-position disadvantage, leaving him vulnerable to Montoya and Schumacher. By lap 14 Giancarlo Fisichella was pressuring Button; Fisichella had filled with fuel after starting at the back following a stall on the initial start.
Räikkönen pitted on lap 17, sooner than many expected, which pleased Renault because it indicated Alonso would run another five laps before his own stop.
Räikkönen’s stop briefly promoted Coulthard into the lead, but Coulthard then exceeded the pit-lane speed limit and was issued a drive-through penalty, effectively ending his podium hopes.
By lap 22 Alonso had completed his first stop and resumed in third, behind Heidfeld and Räikkönen and ahead of Barrichello. Heidfeld and Barrichello were closing and due for their second stops. Heidfeld had reduced Räikkönen’s advantage from around 4.0s to 1.8s when, on lap 30, Räikkönen overshot the Ford Kurve, bounced across the grass and rejoined. Heidfeld briefly inherited the lead for one lap before his pit stop.
Four laps later Räikkönen made another error, locking his right-front wheel while attempting to lap Jacques Villeneuve at turn one. Smoke poured from the tyre as he ran wide, an incident that would contribute to later problems. Tyre wear was beginning to tell on several cars: Ralf Schumacher spun into the gravel at the Ford Kurve and retired.
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Pit sequences shuffled the midfield. Liuzzi slipped back from an early seventh place, losing positions on track and in the pits to Michael Schumacher and Montoya. Schumacher and Montoya then moved up behind Felipe Massa’s Sauber, running sixth at that stage.
Montoya briefly challenged Schumacher around the outside of turn one on lap 39 but could not get past and fell back. Fisichella remained stuck behind Button’s BAR for an extended period, unable to find a way through.
Räikkönen’s final stop on lap 44 exposed visible damage to his right-front tyre and a broken right bargeboard. Alonso, sensing an opportunity, pushed hard but ran wide at the Dunlop Kurve on lap 45, losing around seven seconds. He pitted on the following lap, as did Michael Schumacher, who rejoined ahead of Massa.
With the last round of stops completed the race entered its closing phase. Räikkönen struggled with severe vibration from the damaged right-front tyre and could not maintain consistent lap times. Alonso began to close the gap, shaving up to 1.5 seconds per lap.
Other drivers were also fighting grip issues. Liuzzi ran wide at the Coca-Cola Kurve, Massa went off at the Ford Kurve, and Michael Schumacher briefly traversed gravel at turn eleven. Massa then suffered a front-left tyre delamination that ripped the endplate from his car’s front wing, reducing downforce and forcing another stop.
The lead battle intensified. Although Räikkönen could have pitted to change the tyre, doing so would almost certainly have dropped him out of victory contention, so he persisted. His lead fell steadily from 4.9s on lap 53 to 4.0s on lap 55, 2.7s on lap 57 and then to just over one second with one lap remaining.
On the final lap, braking for turn one, Räikkönen’s suspension failed under the strain of the violently vibrating tyre. The suspension fractured and the McLaren was pitched off the circuit, narrowly missing Button’s car. Räikkönen climbed out unhurt as Alonso, Heidfeld, Barrichello, Coulthard, Schumacher, Fisichella, Montoya and Trulli passed. Räikkönen had led 48 of the 59 laps yet left without a point.
Alonso completed the final lap to take the win, celebrating with four fingers to mark his fourth victory of the season and extending his championship lead over Räikkönen by ten points on the day. There are still 12 rounds to run and many opportunities remain before the title is decided.
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