| Austrian Grand Prix News: |
| Before the race had even begun, the first victim of the afternoon appeared after Red Bulls Christian Klien couldnt start the car after heat soak reputedly damaged the electronics on the car. It is really a shame because the whole weekend went really well for me and to retire so early wasn't the goal" aid the disappointed Austrian. But he wasnt the only driver to retire as only 12 competitors took the chequered flag.
As all eyes were on the Renault of Giancarlo Fisichella as smoke began to fly of the rear of the car, the retirement of Narain Karthikeyan went virtually unnoticed by all expect the Indian and the Jordan Grand Prix team on Lap 2. Fisichella, whose engine appeared to be failing was called into pitlane only to be waved through and asked to complete one more lap before finally pulling into the pit garage and retirement. Ferraris woes continue after rushing to debut their new car the F2005 with Michael Schumacher making his first retirement due to technical dramas in 58 GPs while team-mate Rubens Barrichello struggled with a weak gearbox after starting from rear of the field after yet another gearbox change as well as an engine change, nursing the car home to finish outside of the points. Schumacher took to the race second on the grid and managed to slot in behind Fernando Alonso off the start finish line before being threatened by Toyotas Jarno Trulli. But the German fought off the challenger before succumbing to hydraulic failure on Lap 12 while only a few tenths behind the race leader. |
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| Heidfelds team-mate Mark Webber was in a strong third place and looking on course to claim his first podium position with twenty laps to go until he too fell victim to the slippery conditions on Turn 10, loosing traction and failing to make the corner dropping down the fifth by the time he got going again. He then had to deal with badly worn tyres that caused the handling on the FW27 to worsen even more and which cost him another position by the races end. Webber summed his feelings with It was a tough race for me.
BARs horror start to the season was added to with yet another double retirement from their drivers. Takuma Sato had horrendous brake wear and was forced to retire due to safety concerns on Lap 27 after close to eighteen laps of huge plumes of brake dust trailing his car at every corner. Jenson Button, who was out of the points for most of the day apart from during pitstop cycles by the other teams, managed to stay out until nine laps to go when the team also bought him in with brake concerns. The team attempted to look over the brakes and went to send Button back on his way when the niggling gear selection problems hed been dealing with all race came to a head and he couldnt get away from the pit stall. After an agonising 70 seconds he finally got going again only to pull to a halt at the end of pit road. |