2004 Formula 1 World Championship, round 18:
Brazilian Grand Prix
Kimi Räikkönen Second
David Coulthard finishes his 150th and last race for the team in 11th place.

October 25, 2004

West McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Räikkönen finished the Brazilian Grand Prix at Sao Paolo's Interlagos circuit in second place. After 71 exciting laps the Finn completed the last race of the season 1.0sec behind winner Juan Pablo Montoya(Williams) who will join him as his new team-mate next season. David Coulthard finished his 150th and final race for the team in 11th place. The team finishes the year with fifth place in the Constructors' World Championship with 69 points. In the Drivers' ranking, Kimi has ended up seventh with 45 points and David tenth with 24 points.

The start: Following a rain shower immediately before the start of the Grand Prix the competitors went into the opening phase on a damp but drying track. Kimi, third in qualifying, went into the race on intermediates, overtaking Montoya at the start and went past Rubens Barrichello's Ferrari to take the lead two corners later, completing the first lap at the head of the field. David had started on dry tyres and lost a number of places on the still slippery track and in the first corner traffic jam, coming round for the first time in 17th place.

The race: At the start of the fourth lap Kimi was overtaken by Barrichello and came into the pits one lap later to change onto dry tyres[6.1sec]. The Finn resumed the race in tenth place. He was third on lap eight at the end of the first round of pit stops. Kimi was second behind Montoya on lap 19 and came in for his second refuelling stop [8.47sec] by now in the lead. Thereafter he ran second about five seconds behind the Colombian. Montoya pitted for the third time on lap 50 whilst Kimi could go another five laps before coming in for the last time on lap 55 [7.07sec]. He rejoined 1.4sec behind the eventual winner. Kimi was able to reduce the gap to less than one second, but this was not quite enough to overtake. David was running on a two stop strategy. The Scot came in on lap 14[8.47sec] and 41 [9.97sec]. He finally finished 11th.

Kimi Räikkönen: "I was close to winning but just not close enough. It was a good race and I enjoyed it, but I would have liked to finish on the top step. I started the race on Michelin intermediates and was able to take the lead after a few corners. However, after my first stop I just didn't have the speed to keep up with Juan Pablo. We were side-by-side down the pitlane, and I did what I could to keep him behind me - perhaps in hindsight I could have been a bit more aggressive coming into the corner. 2004 has been a tough season for the entire team, but everybody has worked so hard to turn things around, and to finish 2004 on the podium is a good reward for all. I now look forward to next season where hopefully Juan Pablo and myself will be able to challenge for wins and the Championship from the beginning. Thanks to David, he has been a great partner."

David Coulthard: "A disappointing outcome of the weekend and a difficult race. I lost a lot of places in the first couple of corners with cars pushing, touching and wheels banging. It took me a few laps to feel comfortable with the dry Michelin tyres as it was quite slippery out there. Once everything had settled down I was too far back to really make an impact. I want to thank the boys both at the track and back at base for all the efforts and hard work during the past nine years. It's an emotional moment to say goodbye to the team after all this time, and the memories I will be taking with me will be of my 12 victories, 51 podiums and 412 points that we have achieved while working together."

Ron Dennis, Team Principal: "An exciting race to end the 2004 season. Due to the changing weather conditions we were not able to gain full advantage of our strategy. It's been a tough season but it shows the depth and strength of the entire team that we were able turn things around and challenge for victories. We now look forward to 2005 where we want to start the season in a strong position with Kimi and Juan Pablo. David has done a tremendous job for the team in the past nine years and all his hard work and efforts are appreciated by everybody, and we wish him all the best."

Norbert Haug, Vice-President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "Kimi drove a great race particularly considering his fuel load in the early stages. He was faster in the end, but there was no possibility to overtake. An exciting race with top performances by Juan Pablo and Kimi in tricky conditions. Unfortunately we couldn't deploy our strategy due to the weather conditions at the start of the race. It's good to see that we have been able to fight back after a difficult start to the season and reach the performance level required to challenge for race wins. Thanks to everybody in the team for their hard work. I want to thank David for his 150 Grands Prix with us in which he achieved 51 podium finishes. Congratulations to BMW-Williams."