Belgium: Toyota lose out on possible race victory


By Nick Sparkes
September 11 2005

Panasonic Toyota Racing looked set for their best finish yet, first with Jarno Trullis strong performance during the first 11 laps and later Ralf Schumachers stellar drive up to the back of Montoya’s McLaren. But wrong tyre choices left the team walking away with just 2 points, out of a possible 18.

The start was damp, with possible showers towards the end, althought these never came. Everybody started on intermediates, which would be the key tyre throughout the Grand Prix.

Jarno Trulli got a great start in his Toyota, tagging onto the back of both McLaren’s during the first 11 laps until Giancarlo Fisichella spun his Renault at the top of Eau Rouge bringing out the safety car. This forced Jarno to drop back, whilst Ralf Schumacher who stopped a lap early found himself in third position behind Jacques Villeneuve and Juan Pablo Montoya. Ralf moved ahead of Jacques after the restart and drove up to the back of Montoya’s McLaren before Ralf made his second stop. But a gamble on dry tyres failed to come off, with Ralf spinning on his out lap, forcing the Toyota driver to change back onto intermediates a lap later.

Up front Montoya controlled the race with his teammate Kimi Raikkonen large in his mirrors. The team called Montoya in first for the final round of pit stops, allowing Kimi some clear air to allow the flying Finn to build a gap in his quest for victory. Once Kimi made his stop, he exited the pit lane ahead of his teammate, a McLaren one-two looked certain.

Yet, in the final six laps, the track was all but dry, with some of the runners pitting for slicks, the advantage so huge. Both Williams drivers and Ralf Schumacher pitted for slicks, their times 10 seconds faster than the drivers on intermediates. With only a couple of laps left, Montoya got involved with a fast recovering Williams of Antonio Pizzonia on dry tyres, both cars retiring after an incident on the entry to the Fagne Chicane. This allowed Fernando Alonso up into second, with Jenson Button a deserving third.

Jarno Trulli spun off after an incident involving Montero’s Jordan, whilst Ralf Schumacher took the fastest lap and seventh position thanks to his late change to slick tyres.

Pos. Driver Team Laps Time Gap Kph Best Lap
1 K. Raikkonen
 Team McLaren Mercedes
44
1:30:01.295
204.568
1:53.810
34
2 F. Alonso Mild Seven Renault F1 Team
44
1:30:29.689
+28.394
203.499
1:56.131
31
3 J. Button
 Lucky Strike BAR Honda
44
1:30:33.372
+32.077
203.361
1:53.323
44
4 M. Webber BMW WilliamsF1 Team
44
1:31:10.462
+1:09.167
201.982
1:52.287
44
5 R. Barrichello
 Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
44
1:31:19.431
+1:18.136
201.651
1:52.590
44
6 J. Villeneuve Sauber Petronas
44
1:31:28.730
+1:27.435
201.310
1:54.251
44
7 R. Schumacher Panasonic Toyota Racing
44
1:31:28.869
+1:27.574
201.305
1:51.453
43
8 T. Monteiro
 Jordan Grand Prix
43
1:30:02.004
+1lap
199.893
1:57.886
41
9 C. Klien
 Red Bull Racing
43
1:30:15.290
+1lap
199.402
1:52.582
43
10 F. Massa
 Sauber Petronas
43
1:30:52.661
+1lap
198.036
1:57.748
28
11 N. Karthikeyan
 Jordan Grand Prix
43
1:30:53.970
+1lap
197.988
1:55.885
43
12 C. Albers
 Minardi F1 Team
42
1:31:36.029
+2laps
191.904
2:01.627
6
13 R. Doornbos
 Minardi F1 Team
41
1:30:26.656
+3laps
189.729
2:01.148
38
14 J. Montoya
 Team McLaren Mercedes
40
1:22:21.834
DNF
203.261
1:55.988
14
15
 A. Pizzonia BMW WilliamsF1 Team
39
1:22:09.425
DNF
198.678
1:57.541
32
 
Not Classified
 J. Trulli Panasonic Toyota Racing
34
1:11:57.801
DNF
197.739
1:56.953
3
 D. Coulthard
 Red Bull Racing
18
0:39:17.601
DNF
191.713
1:58.451
8
 M. Schumacher
 Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
13
0:29:10.948
DNF
186.422
1:57.444
10
 T. Sato
 Lucky Strike BAR Honda
13
0:29:11.055
DNF
186.410
1:57.534
10
 G. Fisichella
 Mild Seven Renault F1 Team
10
0:20:00.697
DNF
209.107
1:57.117
9

Times courtesy of toyota-f1.com