Kimi Raikonnen, in a seamless debacle, wrapped up a thumping victory at the Turkish GP. With this victory, the Finn now stands in second position (which he already did) as he steadily builds on the ever-increasing threat to Fernando Alonso for the World Championship title. Kimi has amassed 71 points this season and lags Renault-ace, Fernando Alonso by merely 24 points.

With merely 5 races to go, Kimi Raikonnen, is almost on his way to clinch the 2nd position in the World Championship rankings. But nothing is certain yet--as he may endeavour to catch up with Fernando, especially after considering the proven fact that the McLaren is faster the Renault! And besides he would have little competition from the man currently occupying the 3rd position and lagging by 16points --- had it been the case that this man would not have been the divine Michael Schumacher "Himself" who has been a World Champion seven times. So let us not draw conclusions so fast especially in a sport where there is so much action, contest and surprise! As only time will decide the destiny of the Formula One greats.

The race begins:

It seemed as if Renault driver, Fisichella was determined to annoy his teammate, Alonso---as he lingered between the mighty Kimi-Fernando tussle and a pushy Montoya in his McLaren. There was a lot of congestion at the back of the grid, while Felipe Massa drove his Sauber-Petronas haywire (after losing his front wing from a dash with the Williams). Surprisingly, Alonso was not pushing too hard, despite a vast difference between him and Kimi's McLaren. As a matter of fact, there was a huge gap between Kimi and Fisichella too. Raikkonen, on the forefront, had built up a lead of almost 1.4 seconds by the end of the first lap.

In the second lap, Fernando Alonso drove past Fisichella. So now it was Kimi Raikonnen---Fernando Alonso---Giancarlo Fisichella---Juan Pablo Montoya---Jarno Trulli---Nick Heidfield. Meanwhile, in the midfield the order between seventh to tenth position was---Christian Klien---David Coulthard---Mark Webber---Rubens Barrichello.

On lap 13, Alonso entered the pit lane followed by Fisichella on lap 14. It seemed that both the cars were on the same pitstop strategy. Alonso resumed on 5th position whereas Fisichella resumed in the 9th position after a long stop at the pits.

Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher, in a bid to overtake Mark Webber on lap 14, seemingly made a technical error (yes! you heard it right!) giving the Australian little space to control on the inner side of the curve. And then Webber (not that he brings in extraordinary expertise) slammed into the seven-time World Champion with no due respect to the German's endeavour to complete the race (as though he had asked for it). And then, Michael Schumacher spun precariously and twirled about the track to head straight into the pits. This time, the World Champion will not censure or question Webber's driving-techniques, because an experienced driver (that too--of Schumi's caliber) should be capable of assessing the quantum of space required by a driver so close to him. Before the race had started, last week, Schumacher had hinted that the new circuit in Istanbul could hand him an extra advantage thanks to his ability to learn circuits quickly. Schumacher had said "I will take a thorough look at it on Thursday and get to know it. There's no need to go there before that, checking it out on Thursday will be sufficient, because I usually don't have any problems getting used to new tracks."

Now that's what we would call confidence!!! Although you may call it something further! Needless to say, from what occurred at the Turkish Grand Prix, one thing is for sure---it would have been a better idea to visit the new tracks before Thursday.

Besides the Ferrari team was not looking good in the practice sessions too! However, we are not suggesting (although you are justified in feeling so) that the Ferrari team has a lot to learn from Takuma Sato's BAR-Honda. As ironically as ever! Sato performed what was expected of Michael Schumacher and his BAR-Honda team what was expected from Ferrari. No doubt! Full marks to the Japanese driver (and his team) who embarked on a one stop strategy in the race and clinched the 9th position at the Turkish Grand Prix after starting at the 21st position on the grid (rather not starting at all when the green lights went on).

Now that we have spoken a lot about the Ferrari (which rightfully deserved at least 2/3rd of the space in our race reports until last year), let us get back to the race.

After Alonso had resumed from the pitstop, the order changed slightly---it was Kimi (of course), followed by Montoya, Jenson Button and Alonso. Fisichella could have been in the fourth position had it not been for a long pit stop.

Jenson Button had got past Alonso to drive into third position - the British driver lighter on fuel. Then on lap 21, Montoya and Jenson Button entered the pit-lane, whereas on lap 22, race leader Raikkonen made to the pits.

After lap 25, the sequence was more or less similar--- Raikkonen 12 seconds ahead of Montoya--- then Alonso---followed by Giancarlo Fisichella, Jarno Trulli, Jenson Button, Takuma Sato, David Coulthard, Christian Klien and Rubens Barrichello.

Now, strangely enough! On lap 34, Michael Schumacher (who, everyone thought had retired) sprung onto the track after a gap of almost 19 laps. This means that the Ferrari was ready to zoom again---with Schumi, aiming to get a better qualifying start position for the Italian Grand Prix.

And now we come to the great Jordan driver Tiago Monteiro, who had a great role to play in deciding the outcome of the Turkish Grand Prix. Not that he won the race or amassed huge points into his bag! In fact he was far from winning a single point in the race. It wouldn't be your fault if you would wonder as to what made us feel that he played such a crucial role?

All that we can say is that---Tiago Monteiro definitely knows how to squeeze into the remotest of places where he is not required!

With only 3 laps to go, Monteiro, who was several laps behind the frontrunners of the race, clanked with Montoya's front right tyre, giving Montoya (who was in the 2nd position) an extra boost to the outer side of the tricky Turkish track. Not that Montoya couldn't have prevented it---as his McLaren did not immediately expel from the track after the dash. In fact a driver of Montoya's caliber shouldn't have been affected by the dash, as it clearly seemed that the McLaren was back onto track for quite a few paces (although the distance between him and Alonso in the 3rd position diminished as a consequence of the clash). It is difficult to say who erred! And why Monteiro and Montoya crashed into each other in the first place!

But one thing is for sure! Renault reaped the maximum from this muddle-

And no! Sabrina (the teenage witch) was not in Turkey this Sunday! And neither was she spinning her magic wand to cheer Renault!

So as Montoya faultered across the crisscross track, a triumphant Fernando Alonso gushed into the 2nd position, maximizing the damage limitation for his World Championship title, as the McLaren team looked on with gloomy eyes. In fact some of the members of the team had even climbed the barricade to cheer for the two McLarens zip past the chequered flag.

But yet there wasn't much disappointment---as apparently, Kimi Raikkonen had won the race! And Fernando Alonso was in the 2nd position. Fisichella, with a fair performance finished 4th and Jenson Button finished 5th.

And as far as Juan Pablo Montoya is concerned, we have only one thing to say---"Haste makes waste!"

Was it necessary to push so hard? Especially when he was barely two laps shy of accomplishing the ultimate? And if you think that Montoya supposedly pushed hard only when he was on the track, your guesses are downright amiss! Montoya's McLaren was so eager to push on and on, that it did not mind carrying away the fuel rig at the pit stop. That could have possibly damaged the fuel tank of the car, but so far there were no signs of any adverse effects.

A strong achiever at the race was Jenson Button---after having started from 13th position on the grid, the BAR-Honda raced up onto the 5th position. Meanwhile, the Turkish environment seemed to solidify the disaster for the Ferraris with Rubens Barrichello completing the race on 10th position.

Mark Webber too had a roller coaster of emotions at the Turkish Grand Prix, right from the point of bad-omen, biting the dust of Christian Klien's tyre. Although he overtook Christian Klien at that point, he eventually had to retire on the heels of a tyre-malfunction (No! Williams-BMW does not run on Bridgestone!). But it seems that the Michelin tyres gave way only in the case of Williams-BMW cars.

And as far as the dash with Michael Schumacher's Ferrari is concerned, Webber said "You cannot sit behind a slow car forever. I was much quicker coming down the straight and pulled out to pass him. We have talked endlessly about drivers not moving in the breaking areas but of course he kept coming. You can bet we will be talking about that at the next meeting of the GPDA."

And if you had any false pretenses about Red Bull Racing, all these years, it is time to change your mindset (we tell you). Because Red Bull Racing was the only team other than McLaren and Renault, which scored points with both its cars at this race. Britain driver David Coulthard finished seventh whereas Austrian driver, Christian Klein finished eighth. The Toyota team had mixed feelings ensuing from a 6th position by Jarno Trulli and a poor performance by Ralf Schumacher who finished 12th.

Felipe Massa driving for Sauber team had entered the pits on the 28th lap due to an engine breakdown, which will not be much of a concern next year (not because the Sauber team will improvise the engine, but because Massa will not be with their engine-he will be with Ferrari). But yet again! Since Formula One comprises of a series of uncertainties, Sauber team might even come up with an engine more consistent than the Ferrari next year, given the current deterioration in Ferrari's performance.

Insight:

However one aspect of the race, which outshined all other aspects was the shiny new Turkish track at Istanbul. It was indeed an excellent track to race upon. Among the very few anticlockwise circuits in the world, the "Otodrom" layout was a huge success. The crowd was cheerful, helpful and cooperative. The Turkish race holds great prospects in the future seasons of Formula One.

Next GP:

As the Turkish Grand Prix brought in a plethora of surprises right from start to finish�it gave rise to another vital issue --- and that is not just the uncertainty of who wins the race but also the uncertainty over who will clinch the World Championship title. With Kimi Raikkonen's ever-increasing pace to catch up Fernando Alonso, you never know what can happen on 4th September at the Monza track in Italy, which is the home ground of Michael Schumacher, who is currently in 3rd position.