When ‘the fastest driver in the world’ Kimi Raikkonen produced magic to win the 2005 Japanese GP
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Kimi Raikkonen
As the Japanese Grand Prix weekend approaches, we look back on one of the most ‘classic’ drivers ever at the circuit. The year was 2005, and the world was about to bear witness to one of the greatest ever drives by a legend of the sport. Kimi Raikkonen, recently retired, was then driving for McLaren.
Unfortunately for him, the championship had already been wrapped up in the previous race at Interlagos by Fernando Alonso. No matter what he did in Japan, he would be finishing second in the championship. The Finn did not let him stop this, and went on to take a victory to remember for the ages.
But he had been on the back foot right from Saturday. The qualifying session took place in wet conditions and the top 4 of the championship all qualified 14 or below, led by Michael Schumacher in P14, Fernando Alonso at P16, Kimi Raikkonen behind him and Juan Pablo Montoya at P18. But that had no bearing on the end result.
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Kimi Raikkonen overtook Giancarlo Fisichella on the last lap
While the qualifying session took place in wet conditions, the race was completely dry, which meant that Kimi Raikkonen had an even harder task ahead of him to climb to the top from 17th on the grid. But he did it. At the start of the race, he and Fernando Alonso surged past those ahead of them.
By lap 24, Raikkonen had already made his way quite a bit through the field and was sitting P2. Mark Webber and Jenson Button pit on lap 42, handing the Finn the lead. After his final pit stop on lap 45, he handed the lead back to Giancarlo Fisichella. But the heroics were just starting.
As he emerged out of the pits, he began to cut down the Italian’s lead at an alarming rate, a whopping 1.3 seconds on lap 49. Then at the start of the final lap, he was right on Fisichella’s rear wing. The Renault driver attempted to go defensive, but that left him wide open, and Raikkonen surged past.
This was a legendary Japanese Grand Prix. It’s not just Kimi Raikkonen’s incredibly victory that is notable, but also Fernando Alonso’s overtake on Michael Schumacher while going through 130R. While the win could no longer help him in the championship, it was an incredible feat and it was obvious that he was overjoyed.
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)