Raikkonen Loses Race but Wins Duel with Schumacher

Finland's Kimi Raikkonen lost his chance of a first Grand Prix victory when he was penalised for speeding in the pitlane, but won a personal duel with Michael Schumacher that left him feeling just as good.

The 23-year-old Finn, who finished third, pushed Schumacher off the track and on to the grass after the World Champion tried to pass him on a corner.

But he had to swallow his pride and let Schumacher past seconds later when he was ordered back to the pits for exceeding the speed limit after an earlier stop for a top-up of petrol and some fresh rubber.

"At one point we were side by side but I knew that I was on the inside and the corner wasn't wide enough for two cars so I stayed ahead," said Raikkonen, whose McLaren teammate David Coulthard eventually won the race.

"He got on the outside of me but it was quite easy to keep him behind and he ran wide."

When he was allowed back on the track, Raikkonen suddenly found himself caught in another ferocious scrap with Schumacher after the defending race champion had run wide of a kerb and been forced to slow down while he was cooling his heels in the pits.

Raikkonen suddenly found himself in third spot but with the red Ferrari of Schumacher hotly in pursuit and 12 laps remaining.

Long Battle

Schumacher, who had not finished outside the top three since September 2001, tried every trick he knew to get past Raikkonen but the young Finn once again held his nerve to deny the World Champion a place on the podium by less than a third of a second.

"I had a long battle with Michael and managed to keep him behind me, it was real fun," Raikkonen said. "He always seemed to get a fast exit out of the last corner, which allowed him to catch up and challenge me during braking for the first chicane."

Raikkonen's third-place finish followed a day of ups and downs for the promising McLaren driver, now in his third season of Formula One. He had qualified in 15th position and decided to swap his wet-weather tyres to dry-weather ones following the warm-up lap.

It proved to be a wise move as most of the field also returned to the pits to change tyres within the first few laps and he suddenly found himself in the lead by the 17th lap, an advantage he held until he went in to re-fuel on lap 33.

He re-entered the race in second spot in the first of his two duels with Schumacher but his haste to get back on the track proved his downfall as the stewards called him back in after exceeding the limit by 1.1 km/h.

"I'm obviously disappointed because I was caught speeding marginally in the pitlane which possibly cost me the victory," Raikkonen said. "However I'm pleased that the team won and we can start the season with a good result for everybody."