Montoya Earns Victory at Silverstone - Sun 10th Jul 2005
Juan Pablo Montoya scored a long-overdue maiden victory for McLaren at the British Grand Prix, withstanding race-long pressure from world championship leader Fernando Alonso.
In a microcosm of this year?s title battle, the race was all about McLaren and Renault. No one else got a look in.
Alonso clung on tenaciously right to the end, but there was no way that JPM was going to give away a lead he took in a ballsy move right at the start of the race.
Giancarlo Fisichella probably should have finished third, but a stall at his final pit stop ensured that Kimi Raikkonen claimed the final podium position.
The Finn, who was the pre-event favourite, stormed through in his patented style from 12th on the grid after incurring a 10-place penalty for an engine change in practice for the second week running.
Jenson Button fought valiantly but was simply unable to match the pace of the four cars in front of him, finishing fifth on home soil ahead of the outclassed Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello.
Ralf Schumacher took the final points position in a race that, extraordinarily, 19 of the 20 cars finished.
When the lights went out at the start Montoya took off like a scalded cat, easily out-dragging Button and then going wheel-to-wheel with Alonso through Copse.
When it comes to bravado the Colombian has few equals, and he was through into the lead by the time they turned into Becketts.
But almost immediately the safety car was deployed because Takuma Sato?s BAR had been stranded at the back of the grid on the formation lap and was still in a dangerous location.
The interruption played into Raikkonen?s hands, bunching up the field and preventing the leaders from disappearing into the distance.
But the respite didn?t last long as Sato?s car was soon removed from harm?s way and the Japanese driver was able to rejoin the race after visiting the BAR pits.
Montoya tried to make a break at the restart, but Alonso pegged the gap to the leading McLaren at between one and 1.5 seconds throughout the first 17 laps.
Button fell back into an increasingly distant, but secure, third place, with Barrichello and Fisichella following at a respectful distance.
Meanwhile Jarno Trulli was bottling up both Schumacher?s Ferrari and an increasingly impatient Raikkonen, who was conscious that he could not afford to lose too much ground to the leaders.
With a gaggle of slower cars ahead and Alonso starting to slice a few tenths off his lead, Montoya took the opportunity to come in for his first pit stop earlier than planned on lap 22.
Alonso followed suit on the next lap, and the pair were neck-and-neck as the Renault blasted out of the pit lane exit and into Becketts.
With momentum on his side Montoya prevailed, and soon set about stamping his authority on the race?s second stint.
It was a while before he re-assumed the lead, however, because Fisichella stayed out until lap 26 and took advantage of some quick laps on a low fuel load to leapfrog Button, who had pitted five laps before him.
As in France a week ago, Raikkonen ran a longer first stint than anyone, but this time the advantage of doing so was neutralised as he was trapped behind Alonso?s Renault.
He finally forced a way past into Stowe, but only had the benefit of a clear track for a few fleeting moments before taking on service on lap 27.
One of the keys to the race?s pivotal middle stint was a front wing change the McLaren team made to Montoya?s car during the preceding pit stop, which dialled out some unwanted oversteer and enabled JPM to pull out a decisive advantage.
His lead fluctuated due to lapped traffic, but stood at more than six seconds by the time he pitted for the second time on lap 45.
It was enough.
With four more laps? worth of fuel on board Alonso put the hammer down, but he lost crucial time trying to lap Trulli?s Toyota ? the normal blue ?move over? flags being notable by their absence.
The Renault mechanics gave him a slick stop, but as he exited the pit lane Montoya was long gone and into Becketts.
The Spaniard never gives up, and gave relentless chase throughout the closing stages, never allowing Montoya to relax for a moment.
But the Colombian had the measure of him and duly reeled off the final laps to take the fifth win of his career and his first since the 2004 season finale in Brazil.
Raikkonen posted a string of blistering laps to demote Button to fifth during the final pit stop cycle, and gained another place at the expense of Fisichella, who had an agonisingly long wait after his engine unaccountably died for the second race in succession.
It was a cruel disappointment for the Italian, who has had all the bad luck in the Renault team this year.
But third was still scant reward for Raikkonen, who put in another barnstorming performance only to see title rival Alonso widen his advantage by another two points.
For Montoya, however, the race provided some redemption after a torrid season riddled with injury, mistakes and misfortune.
