Formula One: Raikkonen Rules in Turkey

Kimi Raikkonen showed again that the McLaren-Mercedes is the quickest car in formula one when he dominated the inaugural Turkish grand prix here. He tore round the new Istanbul Park circuit to leave the Renault of the world championship leader Fernando Alonso 18.6sec in his wake.

It was the poker-faced Finn's second win in a row and his fifth in the 14 races this season. Yet the mathematics of the unfolding championship battle, with five races to come, suggest that Raikkonen and McLaren might have caught their stride too late to retain anything but an outside chance of preventing the 24-year-old Alonso from becom ing the youngest world champion in the sport's history.

With 50 winner's points left, Alonso emerged from Turkey still holding a 24-point lead over the McLaren team leader, yielding only two here.

Even if Raikkonen and his team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya finish first and second ahead of the Renault driver in all the remaining races, Alonso will squeeze home with the championship by four points if he finishes third each time.

With that in mind McLaren were understandably hoping that Montoya might have held on to the second place he monopolised for much of the race but he slid wide at the fastest corner on the circuit with just over a lap to go, allowing Alonso to overtake and gain two crucial points.

To be fair, the Colombian was grappling with a handling imbalance caused by a damaged rear underbody diffuser (used to manage air flow under the car), the result of the Jordan driver Tiago Monteiro inadvertently nudging him into a spin as the McLaren lapped him. Responsibility for the incident was laid firmly at Monteiro's door, though many observers were left baffled as to why Montoya chopped aggressively back in front of the Jordan after passing him.

The start took place in front of the huge new grandstands packed to capacity with nearly 100,000 spectators. Beforehand limousine loads of Turkish dignitaries had been escorted through the paddock and starting grid by Bernie Ecclestone, the formula one commercial rights holder who sold the promoters this race at an annual cost in the region of $20m.

Security was high with rifle-toting marksmen discreetly spirited away on the top of the grandstands and administration buildings. Happily, there was no trouble as the crowds rose to their feet in delight as Giancarlo Fisichella's Renault just got the jump on Raikkonen to lead into the first left-hander.

"I didn't exactly get the best start," said Raikkonen. "I got a bit of wheelspin and then Fisichella got past me and Alonso got alongside me. Then on the first lap Fisichella ran wide at the exit of turn nine, I think, and I got beside him. But I didn't pass him because they were much faster in a straight line, so I was actually behind them both braking into turn 12, but then from the middle [of the track] I could brake later and got first place."

Alonso overtook Fisichella for second place at the end of lap two but, although he steadied the Finn's advantage at little more than a second during the opening phase, Raikkonen stayed out nine laps longer than the Spaniard before making his first refuelling stop on lap 22. By that time the McLaren driver had such a cushion that he was able to dictate the pace.

"From my point of view I knew the McLarens were faster," said Alonso, "so I concentrated on doing a race without any mistakes and driving consistently. The car was reliable again and I had some luck from Montoya's problems as well. But you know, sometimes you can make your own luck. I kept the pressure on and it paid off."

Fisichella finished a distant fourth, after losing more than 10 seconds due to a problem with a refuelling rig at one of his pit stops, and Jenson Button took a strong fifth after his climb through the pack from 13th on the grid.

"I had a terrible start but to work my way back through the pack was fantastic. The result is a little disappointing in a way because we had good pace all weekend but we've just got to try not to make the same mistake again."

By contrast the once all-conquering Ferrari team was in dire trouble. It had been planned that Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello should use the Bridge- stone tyre compound they used at Budapest three weeks ago. But the team reverted to the compound construction used at Magny-Cours, which they hoped would at least be consistent.

Come qualifying, however, things could hardly have gone worse. Barrichello grappled with graining tyres and consequent understeer and Schumacher admitted he misjudged the effect of a tail wind on his braking and spun off. In the race he collided with Mark Webber's Williams before retiring with power steering problems. Prospects for Ferrari's home race at Monza in two weeks' time have seldom looked bleaker.