Alonso’s streak Finnished

McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen ran away with the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday to dash Formula One leader Fernando Alonso’s hopes of cele...

McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen ran away with the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday to dash Formula One leader Fernando Alonso’s hopes of celebrating a fourth win in a row before his home crowd.

Alonso, the Renault driver who has set the championship alight and fired up a nation’s dormant passion for Formula One, had to settle for a distant second place behind the Finnish ‘Iceman’. The McLaren crossed the line 27.6 seconds before Alonso after pulling away at a second a lap in the early stages.

Raikkonen’s first win of the season, and third of his career, ended Renault’s run of four victories in a row and made up for the disappointment of two weeks ago when he led at Imola from pole before retiring.

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It also ended Michael Schumacher’s hopes of a record-equalling success in Barcelona. The seven-times world champion had a tyre nightmare, retiring for the third time in five races, while his team mate Rubens Barrichello was lapped by Raikkonen at half distance on an afternoon to forget for Ferrari. Schumacher had won the last four Spanish Grands Prix and another win would have equalled the record of five in a row at a single venue set by the late Brazilian Ayrton Senna at Monaco from 1989-1993.

Italian Jarno Trulli was third for Toyota, his third podium finish of the season, to maintain his second place in the championship.

Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher was fourth, ahead of Renault’s Italian Giancarlo Fisichella and Australian Mark Webber in a Williams. Watched by the King of Spain Alonso could at least take comfort in an extended overall lead and his fifth successive top three finish. (Reuters)

Narain 13th

Narain Karthikeyan had a tough day at office as he had to fight a punishing track and his own teammate Tiago Monteiro while finishing 13th last at the Spanish Grand Prix of the Formula One world championship here today. The Jordan Toyota EJ15 car continued to remain off pace through the weekend as Karthikeyan had to push hard and had to swallow hard when overtaken by Monteiro at the Circuit de Catalunya. Monteiro too had problems as he had an engine failure after qualifying but did very well to overcome the setback of starting last on the starting grid. — PTI

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