The hand of fate favoured McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen here in Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix when he took a slice of points away from Renault rival Fernando Alonso's world championship lead. The previously unflappable Spaniard made a mistake that cost him dear when he crashed into the wall at the unforgiving circuit in the Isle de Notre Dame and his Finnish rival was there to pick up the pieces and take the win.
The twist of fortune, just two weeks after Alonso benefited from Raikkonen's final lap crash to take victory at the Nurburgring, proved the world championship is far from over this season.
And as the field packed up to head straight to Indianapolis for Sunday's United States Grand Prix, McLaren chief Martin Whitmarsh said: "We always said the championship was on and others said it wasn't.
That, of course, is not the view of Whitmarsh's opposite number at Renault, Flavio Briatore, who insisted his team "will be back on top next weekend".
Renault and McLaren are the teams to beat at the moment and they were evenly matched in Montreal but the result of both championships will be significantly down to reliability in the remaining 11 races.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005

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