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Grand Prix of Germany :: 22-24 July 2005

Alonso does it again in Germany
Initially, the race at Hockenheim looked like sticking closely to the established 2005 season script.

Kimi Raikkonen turned his P1 grid position into a strong early performance, pulling out a comfortable lead from the leader of the Drivers’ Championship – Fernando Alonso – in his Renault.

After a great start and a very committed passing move, Michael Schumacher held onto third place heading into the first round of pit stops – with Jenson Button in fourth.

But on lap 35 the plot took a twist as, once again, Kimi Raikkonen endured a mechanical misfortune, his McLaren coasting to a halt by the side of the track and the rest of the field sweeping past.

Alonso moved into a comfortable lead, which he held all the way to the flag, taking his sixth victory of the season so far. With Raikkonen failing to finish, the Spanish driver now enjoys a 35 point lead in the championship – with just seven races still to go.

Behind Alonso the battle was far closer. Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari began to wilt in the closing session of the race, the current world champion suffering from what seemed to be a serious lack of grip on his Bridgestone tyres. Juan Pablo Montoya managed to find his way past during the final round of pitstops. The Colombian had started his race from the back of the grid following a spin during his qualifying lap, his eventual second-placed finish a testament to the McLaren’s undoubted pace here.

Then Jenson Button managed to force his way past Schumacher with a very strong move into the hairpin – much to the chagrin of the tens of thousands of Schumacher fans in the crowd. The BAR driver held onto his advantage after the final round of stops, ending the race in third place.

With just five laps of the race still to run, Schumacher’s dogged defence of his fourth-place looked like it might be enough to take him to the flag – until Giancarlo Fisichella managed to find a way past. The Renault (which had suffered damage in a first lap incident) ended up fourth, Schumacher held onto fifth, with Ralf Schumacher’s Toyota ending the race sixth. David Coulthard enjoyed another very strong race, taking his Red Bull to a seventh place3 finish and another two world championship points. With Felipe Massa concluding the points-scorers in eighth for Sauber.

Once again, the German race was marked by remarkable mechanical endurance from the runners - with everyone except Raikkonen classified as a finisher. The luckless Mark Webber survived a first lap shunt to drive most of the race seven laps down in what was basically an extended test session for Williams – although his unclassified P19 at least means he gets to qualify after first-man-out Raikkonen in Hungary next week.

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