Whilst Kimi Raikkonen shot off to victory, both Renault drivers were unusually struggling for pace and tyre life. Giancarlo Fisichella had dropped way out of the points (and even finished a lap down) but Alonso was frantically trying to defend second place from the charging Williams drivers of Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber.
On lap 71, Heidfeld launched an attack at the chicane and cleanly made it past into second. A couple of laps later Webber tried to follow suit, but both he and Fernando overshot and the Renault stayed ahead. On the next lap pretty much exactly the same thing happened, but despite Alonso’s best efforts to gain an advantage, this time Webber made it stick.
Although Webber had his first F1 podium (and what a place to get it – at Monaco!) he wasn’t as happy as he might have been. Earlier in the race, he’d been ahead of his teammate, but Heidfeld was called in for his stop first which allowed him to jump ahead and eventually take the second place that Webber felt should have been his.
