April 15 , 2004

At the inaugural Bahrain Grand Prix both West McLaren Mercedes failed to reach the finish. Kimi Räikkönen retired after eight of the race's 57 laps due to an engine failure. His team-mate David Coulthard came into the pits on lap 50 due to a loss of pneumatic pressure. He stopped at the end of the pit lane after an unsuccessful effort to repair the problem. The race was won by Michael Schumacher's Ferrari. After three of the 18 rounds of the Formula 1 World Championship David is eighth in the drivers' championship with 4 points while Michael Schumacher leads with 30 points. In the Constructors' Championship West McLaren Mercedes is fifth with 4 points.

MP4-19 03: David
MP4-19 04: Kimi

The start: David had qualified in tenth position on the grid and improved one place by the end of the opening lap. On lap two he was overtaken by Mark Webber (Jaguar) and went back to tenth. Due to strategic considerations Kimi did not complete a timed lap in qualifying and started from 19th position in the last row. The Finn improved his placing after the start to 14th by the end of the opening lap.

The race: On lap seven David was up to eighth, while Kimi had climbed to 11th. One lap later the Finn had to retire due to an engine failure. David came in for his first scheduled refuelling on lap 9 (7.89sec) at the same time as Webber. Immediately afterwards David overtook the Australian in the pitlane to move into eighth place.

On lap 23 David came in for his second stop from sixth place (7.892sec) and resumed in ninth position. On lap 27, after most of his immediate competitors had completed their second stops, David was in sixth place. On lap 38 the Scot came in for his third scheduled stop (9.217sec) and resumed ninth. While running eighth David came into the pits again due to a loss of pneumatic pressure. The team tried to solve the problem, but the car stopped at the end of the pit lane.

David Coulthard: "A disappointing outcome after an extremely unsatisfying couple of days in Bahrain. I had a few good battles during the race but as has been the case throughout I lacked speed. Another points finish would have been possible but at the end I lost air in the pneumatic system of the engine. I came into the pits to see if we could do something to rectify the situation but it proved impossible and that was the end of that."

Kimi Räikkönen: "It's been a difficult weekend for me and the entire team. I started the race from last but made a good start and gained quite a few places during the first couple of laps. I was battling with one of the Jaguars for 11th but all of a sudden I lost power and my engine went. There is not really anything else I can say or do. I just want to forget this weekend and look forward to the rest of the year."

Ron Dennis, Team Principal: "Definitely not the outcome any of us would have liked. Both Kimi and David could have finished in the points today but to do that you have to finish. However the entire team will continue the efforts to optimise our package and whilst we have had a difficult start to the season I'm confident that we will improve."

Norbert Haug, Vice-President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "The entire team is disappointed with the weekend's performance. We still have to investigate the reason for Kimi's engine failure. David's retirement was caused by loss of air in the pneumatic system of the engine. We now have to work even harder together as a team to put every effort into improving our reliability and competitiveness."