Kimi Raikkonen slashed the lead in the driver's championship to Fernando Alonso had built up by a full ten points as he took the chequered flag in a typically incident and accident prone Canadian Grand Prix. Michael Schumacher finished in second position for Ferrari with Rubens Barrichello, starting from the pit-lane, finishing third in the second F2005.
The Canadian Grand Prix story in many ways is about who should, could and did not win the 70-lap drama. The race began with Jenson Button on Pole Position for BAR Honda alongside Michael Schumacher. The start saw Giancarlo Fisichella vault from fourth on the grid to lead with Fernando Alonso slotting into second position. As the Renault's streaked out into the lead, Button ran in third with Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen tucked behind the BAR Honda.
Fisichella held off Alonso's challenge until lap 32 when his hydraulics systems developed a major problem and the unfortunate Italian was into the pits next time around to retire from his fourth race of the season. Renault team-mate Alonso assumed the lead but six laps later, perhaps pushing a little too hard, he clipped the wall with his right rear wheel and he too toured to the pits to retire the Renault.
With both Renault's out of the action and Button taking an early stop on a three-stop strategy, Juan Pablo Montoya took over at the front with Kimi Raikkonen lurking a couple of seconds back in the sister McLaren Mercedes. The next chapter of the drama to unfold was triggered by Button, who running third behind the McLaren duo, clobbered the infamous 'champion's wall' exiting the final turn bringing out the Safety Car, losing third position in the process.
As the Safety Car was deployed, Montoya and McLaren seemed to suffer a bit of a communications problem resulting in him not pitting for his second stop. Kimi Raikkonen pitted, thereby assuming the lead as Montoya peeled off to the pits next time around. Perhaps angry with himself or the team for the failure to pit the lap before, Montoya blasted out of the pits as the safety car went by.
It was to no avail, as although he exited the pits behind Raikkonen, he had in fact gone through the red light at the end of the pit lane. The Colombian was black-flagged and disqualified from the race. So this is how Kimi Raikkonen, so cruelly robbed of victory last time out at the Nurburgring, won the Canadian Grand Prix. A little luck returned in his favour.
Michael Schumacher started the race second but a poor start saw him drop back down the order. Pushing Button hard from mid-distance, Button made an unforced error and took himself out of the race, thereby gifting Schumacher the position. It was unfortunate for Button, who had not put a wheel wrong all weekend, as BAR Honda now leave Montreal still with no points to their credit. Team-mate Takuma Sato pitted with a gearbox problem early in the race while running 11th, had the unit replaced after 25 laps in the pits, and then spun out with rear brake problems.
Rubens Barrichello drove a canny race from the pits to secure the second podium position for Ferrari, while Felipe Massa withstood pressure from his rivals throughout the race to bring his Sauber Petronas home a fine fourth, equalling the team's best result of the season. It was a solid drive from the Brazilian who crossed the line less than a second ahead of Mark Webber in the BMW Williams.
It was a difficult race for the Williams team as Nick Heidfeld ran well all race long and was up to sixth ahead of Massa when his BMW V10 let go on the main straight. Webber made mistakes in the race but fought back to claim the fifth spot for the team.
Ralf Schumacher pushed hard all race long for Toyota but sixth position was as good as it would get for the team while Jarno Trulli was unlucky not to secure the final podium position in the Toyota. Heading to the final turn his front brakes put out a huge puff of dust and smoke and failed dramatically ending his race seconds later.
Over at Red Bull Racing, David Coulthard and Christian Klien battled all day long with a car that was not on the pace of their rivals, but both stayed clear of trouble and brought the RB1's home seventh and eighth.
Local fan favourite Jacques Villeneuve qualified a fine eighth, but after losing four positions at the start in his Sauber Petronas, he headed to the pits from a new front wing on the first lap after contact with Takuma Sato. The former Champion battled his way back into the race, crossing the line right behind Klien. Ninth position and no points was not what Villeneuve deserved today.
Of the rest, Tiago Monteiro finished gain in the Jordan Toyota finishing ahead of Christijan Albers in the sole surviving Minardi. Patrick Friesacher retired his Minardi with a suspected gearbox problem while Narain Karthikeyan brushed the wall - Alonso style - and was forced to retire the second Jordan.
It was an action packed race, one in which there could have been many race winners were it not for small mistakes or plain bad luck. The Formula One circus packs up in Montreal and heads across the border to Indianapolis for the US Grand Prix with the on-track action kicking off next Friday. With Raikkonen on top again, the Championship has come alive as the gap at the top is narrowed to 22 points.