HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX RACE
Pedro de la Rosa finished today's 70-lap Hungarian Grand
Prix in second place, scoring his first ever Formula 1 career
podium in his fourth race for Team McLaren Mercedes. Kimi
Raikkonen retired on lap 26 whilst in second place following
a coming together with Vitantonio Liuzzi, which resulted in
the Mercedes-Benz safety car being deployed. Pedro was on
a three-stop strategy, pitting on laps 16 (11.8 seconds),
26 just as the safety car was deployed (11.0 seconds) and
lap 51 (7.9 seconds). Kimi pitted on lap 17 (11.0 seconds).
With rain falling at the Hungaroring all morning most of the
race was run in wet conditions. Kimi fifth in the Drivers'
Championship with 49 points and Pedro is 12th with 10 points.
Juan Pablo Montoya is seventh with 26 points, and Team McLaren
Mercedes is third in the Constructors' standings with 85 points.
Formula 1 now enters a three week break from on-track activity
until the Turkish Grand Prix at the end of August, however
development of the MP4-21 will continue intensively in Woking,
Brixworth and Stuttgart.
PEDRO DE LA ROSA
"I am extremely happy to score my first Formula 1 podium
today, and it is great to score eight points for the team,
who have all worked so hard for this. It was a very interesting
race with the wet conditions, so I just tried to keep my head
down, push all the way and stay out of trouble, as I knew
if I got to the end we had the speed to be on the podium.
The Michelin tyres worked really well today in all the conditions,
especially the dry tyres at the end. We backed off a little
in the middle section as we were very heavy on fuel and we
wanted to conserve this and go as long as possible, but in
the end the track conditions changed, and we pitted earlier
to change the tyres. This really is a great feeling and it
is down to all the team that we were able to achieve this
today."
KIMI RAIKKONEN
"I could do nothing to avoid the collision with Liuzzi.
He really slowed down on the racing line and there was just
nowhere for me to go except into the back of him. The start
of the race was really good for me with my first set of Michelin
tyres working really well, but after the first stop I was
really struggling with grip on the front, and as a result
Fernando Alonso was able to build on his lead. It is never
great to end a race like that especially when there was every
opportunity to win it, but we just have to move forward, and
I really appreciate the gesture of Liuzzi coming to apologise.
Well done Pedro for a strong performance."
RON DENNIS
"I would like to congratulate Pedro on a tremendous,
measured and effective drive today scoring a great second
place. The team and I are personally delighted for him, and
it is a much deserved result and demonstrates the racing quality
of a great driver. Whilst the race, I am sure, was exciting
to watch it was tinged by some disappointment that we should
lose Kimi in such a way. Understandably we feel a race win
that should have been eluded us today."
NORBERT HAUG
"A first class performance by Pedro mastering tricky
conditions throughout the race. His second place is well deserved,
and he kept his cool in every circumstance. It is a pity that
Kimi dropped out after having a misunderstanding followed
by a crash with Vitantonio Liuzzi who backed off to let Kimi
through. We will now during the summer break continue to work
hard to further improve our package, and we want to demonstrate
our upwards trend at the next Grand Prix in Turkey. Congratulations
to Honda and Jenson Button for their first win.
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