April 25 , 2004

West McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Räikkönen came home eighth in the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola after starting the race 20th and last on the grid. His team mate David Coulthard finished 12th after a first-lap incident causing an extra pit stop to replace the nose cone. Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) won the 62-lap race. After four of the 18 rounds of the Formula 1 World Championship David is eighth in the drivers' championship with 4 points. Kimi is tenth with one point whilst Michael Schumacher leads with 40 points. In the Constructors' Championship West McLaren Mercedes is fifth with five points.

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

The start: David had qualified in 11th position on the grid. Braking into the first chicane on the opening lap, he hit another car and lost his nose cone. At the end of this lap he pitted for repairs (14.7sec) and rejoined the race in 20th and last position. The team then changed David's strategy from a three to a two stop. Kimi started last on the grid. He had not set a timed lap in Saturday's qualifying, because his engine had to be changed afterwards. The Finn came back from the opening lap in 15th place. The race: Kimi was on a two-stop strategy whilst most of the other drivers had planned three stops. David made his first scheduled stop from 16th place on lap 19 in 9.4sec. Kimi was ninth when he pitted for the first time one lap later resuming in 14th position. On lap 40 David came in for his final stop (10.5sec) without losing a place. Kimi made his second stop one lap later in 10.2sec and remained ninth. After Takuma Sato (BAR-Honda) retired on lap 57, Kimi and David took positions eight and 12 respectively and maintained these places until the finish.

Kimi Räikkönen: "I'm pleased to finish my first race of the season and get one point, but obviously we want to be fighting for the lead and not eighth place. I started the race from last, so I had to fight hard to make up some positions. The track is very narrow, so it's quite difficult to overtake and when you are so far back you inevitably get stuck. I know that the team will continue to work hard on improving our package and making further progress both with pace and reliability."

David Coulthard: "When you start in the middle of the field you have to take risks coming into the first corner in order to make progress. On this occasion I took too much of a risk and ended up damaging the nose of the car and going off the track. I was able to make it back into the pits where the team replaced the nose and changed me from three to a two stop strategy in order to try and make up positions. I fought hard but 12th was the best we could do."

Ron Dennis, Team Principal: "The problems we experienced in practice with Kimi and the first corner incident with David effectively meant that we raced from the back of the grid which is an unusual and not to be repeated experience for the team. However we can take some comfort from our pace mid-race and the reliability of the cars. We aim to introduce further improvements at the Spanish Grand Prix, which should provide us with better grid positions and results.

"Norbert Haug, Vice-President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "Kimi started from last and David was last after his unscheduled first-lap pitstop to change the nose following his accident at the first corner. So positions eight and 12 were the best we could achieve today. Both drivers were on a two-stop strategy. The entire team will now continue to work in a concentrated way to significantly improve our package with regards to both reliability and performance."