March 8, 2004

The West McLaren Mercedes drivers David Coulthard and Kimi Räikkönen came home tenth and 11th respectively in the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona. Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) won the 66-lap race.

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

The start: David started the race from tenth position and was eighth after the first lap. Kimi was 13th on the grid and was in tenth position at the end of lap one.

The race: Both drivers were on a three stop refuelling strategy like most of their competitors. The first routine stops started on lap eight. Kimi came into the pits one lap later (8.1sec). David followed next time round in 10.6sec. After they resumed Kimi was holding 12th place ahead of his team-mate. The second round of stops began on lap 23 and David came in four laps later, refuelling and fitting new tyres in 9.0sec. Kimi came in on lap 29 for his second stop, also being stationary for 9.0sec. Prior to the third round of stops which began on lap 41, Kimi and David were holding 11th and 12th position. David came in for his final stop on lap 43 (9.9sec). At Kimi's final stop on lap 46 the team topped up his pneumatic system. The stop took 16sec and the Finn resumed behind David in 12th position. On lap 52 David and Kimi were in 10th and 11th position which they held to the chequered flag 14 laps later.

David Coulthard: "A very difficult race as obviously our performance was down. We just have to take the pain at the moment and continue to work hard to improve. The positive things are that the car was reliable and the strategy was right. I overshot the first pitstop at bit, which lost us some time, and I think there was a small problem with the fuel nozzle in the other stops but it didn't cost us too much time. There is no doubt that we will get better - we have the depth, the focus and the resources - but it will take some time."

Kimi Räikkönen: "We just couldn't do better today as it was clear we were not quick enough. There is no point in me getting frustrated as there is nothing I can do to change the situation, and I know that the team is as motivated and focused as ever to make progress. I made a good start from 13th and gained three places to get into 10th at the first corner. We made a few adjustments in the second pitstop to try to improve performance which took some additional time. In my final stop we had to put some air into the pneumatic system's airbottle as the pressure had dropped a bit."

Ron Dennis, Team Principal: "The outcome of today's race is certainly not what we want, but we always knew that we would struggle at the Barcelona track. However, there is still some way to go before improvements can be seen. Our task is clear - the entire team has to continue to work hard to get back to where we want to be which is at the front."

Norbert Haug, Vice-President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "Our performance was weak. There is still a lot to do, and everybody in the team knows that."