EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX RACE
Nürburgring, Germany, Sunday 7th May 2006
Kimi Raikkonen MP4-21 02
Juan Pablo Montoya MP4-21 05
T-car (Kimi) MP4-21 01
Team McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen finished today's
60-lap European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring in fourth place.
Juan Pablo Montoya had to retire from the race on lap 54 following
an engine failure. Both drivers were on two-stop strategies
with Kimi coming in on laps 23 (7.9 seconds) and 44 (6.8 seconds)
and Juan Pablo stopping on laps 27 (9.2 seconds) and 48 (8.3
seconds). Kimi is now third in the Drivers' Championship with
23 points whilst Juan Pablo is sixth with 15 points. Team
McLaren Mercedes is third in the Constructors' standings with
38 points. The Team now moves directly to Barcelona for the
Spanish Grand Prix next weekend.
KIMI RAIKKONEN
"I was able to pass Rubens Barrichello at the start of
the race but unfortunately Jenson Button squeezed through
at the first corner, then on the fourth lap I overtook him
before the chicane. Despite giving my all throughout the race
it was not enough to get a podium. The overall performance
of the car was not as I would have liked, however we are closer
to the lead and there is a definite improvement from the last
race. We now have to continue our hard work so that we can
perform better at the next grand prix in Barcelona."
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA
"Not a great afternoon for me really. I didn't get the
best start and lost quite a few places in the scrum at the
first corner. After that it seemed that I was always stuck
in traffic. This was particularly at points in the race where
I really needed clean air to make any inroads if I was to
benefit from the heavier fuel load I was carrying compared
to my nearest competition. Unfortunately I had an engine failure
six laps from the end of the race, which prevented me from
scoring the final point."
RON DENNIS
"Not an ideal result today, but there is still a long
way to go in the Championship. We are very close with Renault
and Ferrari, which was demonstrated by Kimi setting the second
fastest lap of the race, so there is every opportunity for
us to win races. We didn't manage to close the gap enough,
but we were not far off the pace which is encouraging. Juan
Pablo had a bad start, significant trouble with traffic and
ultimately suffered an engine failure. We will now look towards
Barcelona which will be tough as it is back-to-back with this
race, but we still intend to improve our competitiveness further."
NORBERT HAUG
"It is unfortunate to miss the podium with fourth place.
However, Kimi's gap throughout the race showed that we were
closer to our competitors than at the last race and were doing
comparable lap times. Kimi gave his best, but over the course
of the race he couldn't get close enough to Fellipe Massa
to overtake him after either of his two pit-stops. Juan Pablo
suffered an engine failure six laps from the end of a two-race
engine cycle. We took the risk of higher stress in the final
phase of the race as we wanted Juan Pablo to finish in the
points. The cause of the engine problem will be investigated
tonight as the engine will be immediately flown back."
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