By Parminio
May 31 2005

After an eventful start that saw Kimi overtake the Williams of Nick Heidfeld into turn 1 and Juan Pablo Montoya get into it with Mark Webber and the rest of the flying circus at the top of the grid, McLaren looked set to run away with the race again. It wasn't going to be McLaren's day however.

The first leg of the race went according to plan with the exception of Juan Pablo Montoya getting into an accident with Mark Webber that ended Mark's race before the first turn and put Juan Pablo back down the grid along with many others.

Kimi, as predicted, stretched out an early lead over Heidfeld only to give it away later with an off. It didn't last long for Heidfeld however, as Kimi was able to regain P1 after Nick's pit stop. Then came the lockup of the ages. Sliding about 150 feet into T1, Kimi flat spotted his tire so badly that the vibration was clearly visible in the on-car camera. The vibration became worse and worse as the race wore on, and eventually the strain was more than the front suspesion could bear. The suspension let go at the start of the last lap of the race, handing the victory to Renault's Fernando Alonso; a blow that McLaren could ill afford in it's race back to the top for the Drivers and Constructors titles.

It would appear that victories are going to get harder to come by with the resurgence of the Williams F1 team, who have looked stunningly quicker over the last 3 races.

Of note as well is Ferrari's 2nd straight race finish without a hitch. Ferrari's tire woes seem to be settled as far as making the race distance, and appear to be getting better as each race presents itself. It's only a matter of time before they too start appearing on the podium.

Will all of that, it is difficult to believe that Kimi has any realistic chance at the World Drivers title, and for McLaren to have a chance to overtake Renault for the constructors, the driver errors have to come to an abrubt end. Not only that, but the lack luster performance of Juan Pablo Montoya needs to be addressed as well.