TURKISH GRAND PRIX SUNDAY
Team McLaren Mercedes driver Pedro de la Rosa finished today's
Turkish Grand Prix in fifth position. Team mate Kimi Raikkonen's
race ended after the first of 58 laps following an incident
at the start and a subsequent off at Turn 4. Pedro had his
only pitstop on lap 31 (11.1 seconds) Kimi is fifth in the
Drivers' Championship with 49 points whilst Pedro is 11th
with 14 points. Team McLaren Mercedes remains third with 89
points. To prepare for the last race of the European Formula
1 season the team will test at Monza this coming week with
Kimi and Pedro.
PEDRO DE LA ROSA
"A good result coming from 11th position. There was mayhem
at the first corner following Fisichella's spin and I just
made it through despite lots of debris on the track. It was
a tough race with the one-stop strategy as I had to look after
my rear tyres and this made it challenging to be consistently
quick. However my race pace was good and I could even overtake
a couple of cars. With a higher grid position a better outcome
of the race would have been possible."
KIMI RAIKKONEN
"It got very messy at the start. I tried to avoid a spinning
Fisichella, but then Speed hit my left rear tyre causing a
puncture. I drove for almost a whole lap with a damaged tyre
in order to get back to the pits to see what could be done.
The team changed my tyre, but I think the car must have incurred
quite a lot of damage at this point. When I re-joined the
race, I came into Turn 4, had no rear end grip, got sideways,
ran out of road, hit the tyrewall and that was it. My back
is a bit sore but nothing to worry about. I'm obviously disappointed
that my race was over so quickly, but there was nothing we
could do."
RON DENNIS
"Pedro drove a very good race, using our one-stop strategy
to achieve a solid fifth position. Kimi's accident was the
result of Fisichella's incident at the start which led to
Speed hitting Kimi from behind, damaging his left rear tyre.
The subsequent tyre failure damaged the bodywork, as Kimi
was making his way back to the pits. This changed the aerodynamic
characteristics of the car and on re-joining the race Kimi
ran wide at Turn 4. The impact jolted his back, but our team
doctor is optimistic that Kimi will be able to test as planned
at Monza this week."
NORBERT HAUG
"A good race of Pedro's starting 11th and finishing fifth.
He stayed focussed and made the best out of the one-stop strategy
and kept his cool. It's a pity for Kimi – the crash
at the first corner was not his fault, but if you start lower
down the grid you are in danger of such incidents. We now
will continue to work hard at next week's test in Monza in
order to be in good shape for the Grand Prix in a fortnight."
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