October 10, 2004

West McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen finished the Japanese Grand Prix in sixth position. David Coulthard had to retire from the race whilst lying in fifth position following a collision with Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari). Michael Schumacher won the 53-lap race in the other Ferrari. For the first time in Formula 1 history qualifying took place on the Sunday. The FIA and local authorities took the decision to cancel Saturday's programme due to a forecast typhoon which in the event did not materialise. West McLaren Mercedes is fifth in the Constructors' Championship with 61 points, two weeks before the final race of the season in Brazil.

The start: The heavy rain which usually precedes a typhoon set in on Friday as a result of which all activities on the circuit were cancelled for the following day. Consequently qualifying took place on a drying track surface on Sunday morning. David qualified eighth, Kimi 12th. Both drivers improved by one place respectively away from the start, finishing the opening lap in 7th and 11th position.

The race: In the first phase of the race David found himself stuck behind Mark Webber (Jaguar) and overtook the Australian on lap ten to take fifth position. Kimi's initial progress was hampered by a group of cars headed by Jacques Villeneueve (Renault). The Finn came in for his first refuelling stop on lap 14 (10.6sec) and resumed in 14th place. David pitted one lap later in 8.1sec and went back into the race in fifth position. When Kimi came in for his second stop on lap 36, he fell back from sixth to tenth.

Because of his two stop strategy he improved to sixth at the finish after 53 laps. On lap 38 Barrichello collided with David at the chicane before the pits and the Scot had to retire with a damaged right front suspension, driving slowly to the garage to finish his afternoon.

Kimi Räikkönen: "A fairly uneventful race for me. I was struggling with the car and from 12th it's fairly limited what you can do. I didn't make a brilliant start, but I gained one place and that was really it. I had an incident with one of the Jordan cars when I was trying to lap it towards the end of the race at turn nine. Basically I was on the inside and he just turned in on me. He hit me quite hard and damaged my steering a bit, so I was struggling to keep the car on the road. A race to forget to be honest but bring on Brazil."

David Coulthard: "It goes without saying that I'm really disappointed with the end to my Japanese Grand Prix. We were looking to score points but unfortunately on lap 38 I had a coming together with Rubens at the Chicane whilst he was trying to pass me. I don't think anybody is to blame; it's just one of those things which happen when you are battling for positions. The incident broke the front right hand suspension and that was it, but it was a good race until then. I gained a place at the start but got stuck behind Webber, however when I finally got past I was immediately able to speed up. It was a shame for things to end this way - it would have been nice to have scored five points or even more."

Ron Dennis, Team Principal: "The finishing positions of the race pretty much reflected qualifying, which unusually took place on a Sunday morning on a drying circuit. David was lying fifth until the collision with Rubens. Kimi's sixth place from 12th on the grid was the result of the team's strategy which served both drivers well. We now all look forward to the final round of the 2004 World Championship in Brazil."

Norbert Haug, Vice-President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "Not the result that we had hoped for but coming from grid positions eight and 12th your chances are limited. Unfortunately there was a misunderstanding between David and Rubens Barrichello, who crashed into Coulthard's car. This cost David a possible third or fourth place, he was able to keep up with Takuma Sato and Jenson Button. Considering his grid position Kimi did a good job finishing sixth. Everybody in the team concentrates on the last race in Sao Paolo where we want to finish the season with a good result."