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Alonso Takes San Marino, But Not Without A Red Baron Challenge
By By Mark Gero
Apr 25, 2005, 12:19

IMOLA, Italy - Fernando Alonso went on to win his third consecutive Formula One race at the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, but it wasn’t as easy as that.

The Spaniard narrowly beat a rejuvenated Michael Schumacher after the world champion had to push his Ferrari flat out, starting from 13 the on the grid.

Alonso did not start out too well at the beginning of the race, on a day that had a 20 percent chance of rain in the forecast. The Renault driver, who began 2
nd
on the grid, had to chase McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen for the first nine laps. Raikkonen was running a very light fuel load, and quickly built up a three second lead, only to have it all come crashing down on him, a victim of a broken driveshaft.

After Giancarlo Fisichella crashed out at Tamberello on lap 5, Alonso was the only Renault car left in the race and built up a huge lead of 18.7 seconds halfway though the race. But Alonso began to lose vital time as Jenson Button and another driver that had not been near the front this season - Michael Schumacher - began to close in.

The German began to move up the grid by lap 32, and drove his Ferrari flat out to get near the front, catching the top two cars by averaging a two second gain per lap. Button began to look in his mirrors as the seven-time world champion found himself closing in after taking third. Schumacher then found his chance to advance as both cars approached the toughest chicane of the circuit, the Variente Alta, to slipstream past the Briton, and take first place, as Alonso had pitted on the previous lap.

However, both Schumacher and Button still needed to make one more pit stop, and Button, as soon as he was passed, came in for fuel. Alonso then regained second position, and when Schumacher came into pit lane, he came out quickly, posting a 6.1 second stop. But it was still too long a stop as Alonso shot past the straightaway, as Schumacher came out of the pits, putting the German now in second place.

But the fun was not over yet. Schumacher regained his speed, and with only five laps left to go, was right behind Alonso as both drivers battled it out for the last few laps. Alonso almost let Schumacher take advantage of him at Tosa corner, but the Spaniard kept his cool and began to inch a little bit further away, where Schumacher found it too late to pass him, and Alonso took the checkered flag, winning only by 1. 6 seconds.

Button finished third, his best so far this season. Alexander Wurz, taking over from the injured McLaren regular Juan Pablo Montoya, drove his first grand prix race in years, finishing in fourth; Honda driver Takuma Sato took fifth, for his first points of the year; Jacques Villeneuve, under pressure from his Sauber team to perform, did so with a sixth place finish; and Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher gave the Toyota team seventh and eighth places respectively.

“I had probably the best performance that I had ever had,” Alonso stated after the race, “There were two or three corners that were very close”, referring to the chances that Schumacher could have passed him.

But when asked whether or not because the racing was so intense, was Alonso thinking that it was better to finish with second then fight it out for first, Alonso gave an honest and confident answer: “I had never thought of that, it was always in my mind to come in first.”

Now that is performing under pressure for you.

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