Raikkonen celebrates Suzuka thriller

KIMI RAIKKONEN said his win in the Japanese Grand Prix will go down as one of his best ever races after he snatched victory in a nailbiting finish.

The Finn raced through from 17th to first, picking off former world champion Michael Schumacher in one of several passing moves in a thrilling race, and passing Giancarlo Fisichella for the win on the final lap.

“That is one of the best for sure, maybe the best one, because I really had to fight for it and after all the problems we had this weekend it was very nice,” he said.

“There was quite a lot happening during the race all the time there was traffic and I was not really able to run my own speed, in the clean air, only at the end. It was exciting with some nice overtaking.

“It is always nice when you can fight like this. I am very happy, of course, for the win, and maybe it makes me more happy than normal because it’s nicer than driving a whole race on your own in front.”

Raikkonen’s face was in stark contrast to two weeks ago in the Brazilian Grand Prix, when he lost any chance of battling back in the world championship fight with Fernando Alonso after finishing second to team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya.

The race left observers claiming it one of the best ever, packed with wheel-to-wheel overtaking moves and ending with the fairytale seventh victory of the year for Raikkonen in a McLaren.

But after a season where overtaking has proved difficult on many tracks the fact that there were far more battles in Japan was, Raikkonen claimed, down to a change in the circuit.

“I think the nature of the circuit seems to somehow suit this year better than other years,” he said. “There was quite a big speed difference with some cars and the change to the circuit has definitely made it easier to overtake here.

“I think the quick left-hander is now easier so you can follow (another car) through, going flat behind people and it makes it easier to try and overtake into the chicane and onto the main straight.”

That is where the lead changed hands as Raikkonen sped past Fisichella after almost touching wheels with the Renault driver on the main straight as they completed the penultimate lap.

“I wanted to get past him and I was thinking which way I should go. Of course the inside is more easy to overtake, but Fisichella went on the inside so I didn’t have much choice but to go around the outside,” Raikkonen said.

A despondent Fisichella conceded: “He was catching me on the straight and going on the left side. I did my best but unfortunately I always try to keep my position but I could see there was the possibility of a collision.”

The win was crucial for Raikkonen’s McLaren team in their battle with Renault for the constructors’ title because, with Renault’s Alonso third and Montoya retired, it kept them within two points of their rivals.

For his part, World Champion Alonso claimed he could have beaten Raikkonen to victory, after a decision by the governing body, the FIA, gave his rival the lucky break.

Alonso said: “It sounds strange but I am disappointed with third because the car felt just fantastic and I thought that we were probably a match for McLaren.

“It was the first time since the start of the season I have felt that way so after starting ahead of them and having the opportunity to beat them, it didn’t really work out for us today.”

Alonso overtook Christian Klien early on by jumping the chicane and although he gave the place back before overtaking again he was forced to slow to let the Austrian past a second time.

Alonso’s team boss Flavio Briatore was baffled by the call from race control to pull the Spaniard back, two laps after the incident when he had built a strong advantage over Klien.

Briatore said: “I think the key moment of this race was not at the end, but in the first stint when Fernando was forced to give his position back to Klien, we just didn’t understand why.

“He had already done it once, but the FIA asked him to do it again and that cost him nine seconds and meant he was in much more traffic during the rest of the race.

“It was a fantastic race but without that delay Fernando could have been in front of Raikkonen after the second stop and maybe we would have seen a different result.”