Was the 2005 European Grand Prix the defining moment in that year’s Formula 1 title races?
Possibly not, given the fast-but-fragile McLaren MP4-20 had let Kimi Raikkonen down before then, and would do so again too.
But his dramatic suspension failure on the final lap at the Nurburgring, which left him point-less and handed victory to main rival Fernando Alonso, was without doubt one of the iconic images from the 2005 season.
And it’s the natural jumping-off point for this episode of our Bring Back V10s classic F1 stories podcast, where Glenn Freeman is joined by Mark Hughes and Ben Anderson to look at how close the McLaren driver was to hanging on ahead of Alonso – and all the factors that left Raikkonen nursing a badly flatspotted tyre to the finish.
That plus a closer look at Ferrari’s 2005 struggles, Jacques Villeneuve finding himself in trouble with Peter Sauber, BMW denying rumours it was about to buy that team, BAR’s return from a two-race ban, how David Coulthard threw away a potential first Red Bull podium and Jarno Trulli’s bizarre claim that he could’ve won this race.
