China: A Fantastic Decision = Podium

By Karl King
October 16 2005

In the first half I almost fell asleep but it's a good job I didn't. Disaster for McLaren with a broken drain may have cost them the Constructor's as Renault emerged victorious.

With not much to talk about Toyota's way we'll stick with the second half as Narain Karthikeyan threw his Jordan into the wall leaving an utter wreckage on track. The Safety Car was brought out for the second time in the afternoon.

Most teams pitted their drivers for the final stop, with Toyota leaving Ralf out on track. Personally I was at the edge of my chair screaming at what I thought was a massive mistake by Toyota.

As Ralf eventually made his second stop he emerged back in fourth behind Fisichella. We were looking good for 5 points when it was announced that Giancarlo Fisichella would have a drive-through penalty for holding up cars in the pit lane. Schumacher took up the podium-paying position by a small margin, and held off Fisico for the remaining laps.

Full report to follow

Chinese Grand Prix result - 56 laps

1.  ALONSO        Renault    1h39m52.618s

2.  RAIKKONEN     McLaren    +4.0s

4.  R.SCHUMACHER  Toyota     +25.3s

3.  FISICHELLA    Renault    +26.1s

5.  KLIEN         Red Bull   +31.8s

6.  MASSA         Sauber     +36.4s

7.  WEBBER        Williams   +36.8s

8.  BUTTON        BAR        +41.2s

9.  COULTHARD     Red Bull   +44.2s

10. VILLENEUVE    Sauber     +59.9s

11. PIZZONIA      Williams   +1m24.6s

12. MONTEIRO      Jordan     +1m32.9s

13. TRULLI        Toyota     +1 lap

14. BARRICHELLO   Ferrari    +1 lap

15. DOORNBOS      Minardi    +1 lap

16. ALBERS        Minardi    +5 laps

R.  SATO          BAR        +22 laps

R.  KARTHIKEYAN   Jordan     +28 laps

R.  MONTOYA       McLaren    +32 laps

R.  M.SCHUMACHER  Ferrari    +34 laps