Kimi Raikkonen had his best triumph so far at the Japanese Grand Prix thriller yesterday. After having to change his engine and the falling rain during the qualifying which put him to the 17th starting position, he had made his way to victory—the seventh this season; while the world champion Fernando Alonso has collected six (three of them happened after Raikkonen had an engine failure).

In the race world where overtaking is not quite often, Raikkonen ruined Giancarlo Fisichella’s dream to win at the last lap. Fisi, who was constantly leading before it all happened, said a modest remark, “Honestly I was pushing 100% but he was much quicker than me. Maybe, because I was a bit slow on the exit of the chicane and the hairpin.”

Fisi’s teammate, Alonso, came up the third. It wasn’t so bad either, as he started at the 16th grid—only Raikkonen was better. On the result, he said, “I could have won!” Yeah right, if Kimi had another engine failure!

This has been posted here on October 10, 2005