July 31, 2005

McLaren-Mercedes driver Kimi Räikkönen won the Hungarian Grand Prix at Budapest. After 70 laps he took the chequered flag 35.5sec ahead of Michael Schumacher's Ferrari. It was his fourth victory of the season and the sixth of his career. Juan Pablo Montoya retired on lap 41 with a driveshaft failure while leading the race. Kimi retains second place in the championship with 61 points, closing the gap to Fernando Alonso (Renault/87 points) to 26 points. The Spaniard finished 11th today. With their fifth victory of the season Team McLaren Mercedes is second in the Constructors' rankings on 105 points behind Renault with 117.

The start: Kimi Räikkönen, who had qualified fourth, advanced to second place ahead of Juan Pablo. Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) finished the first lap in the lead 1.9s ahead of Kimi who reduced the gap to 1sec over the next three laps.

The race: Kimi came in for his first refuelling stop from second place on lap 11 (8.5sec) and resumed fifth. After Michael Schumacher's first stop on lap 15 Juan Pablo took the lead. He pitted on lap 22 (9.9sec) and resumed in third place behind Schumacher and Kimi. The Finn shadowed the German with less than one second's gap until the end of lap 36 when Michael Schumacher came in for his second stop. Now Kimi was in the lead ahead of his team-mate. He came into the pits for his second stop on lap 37 (5.7sec) and accelerated back into the race in second place, behind Juan Pablo and ahead of Schumacher. Kimi posted the fastest lap of the race on lap 40 in 1m 21.219s. One lap later Juan Pablo slowed down following a driveshaft failure. He came into the pits and retired. Kimi took the lead and opened the gap over Schumacher continuously. On the 48th lap he made his third and final refuelling stop (7.1sec) and maintained his lead. After 70 laps he crossed the line 35.5sec ahead of Schumacher.

COMMENTS

Kimi Räikkönen: “This is a great result for the entire team who have worked really hard these past weeks. At the first part of the race I was stuck behind Michael Schumacher, and it was impossible to pass him. However the team changed my strategy for the second pitstop and this meant that I could get in front of him and build a comfortable lead. The car felt really good throughout the race and the Michelin tyres were perfect right up until the last lap. It is a shame that Juan Pablo retired as we would have definitely had a one-two victory today.”

Juan Pablo Montoya: ”I think that it was a driveshaft that broke, which is just one of those things that happen when you are pushing everything to the limit like we are at the moment. Everyone back at base has been working really hard and it is just disappointing not to finish. I did what I had to do during the race. I knew Kimi was three stopping so there was no need to be in his way considering he was on a different strategy to me. However I feel that this was a race that I definitely could have won and a one-two for the team would have been a great reward to us all.”

Ron Dennis, Team Principal: “A dominant and disciplined performance from the team as a whole, with a driveshaft failure spoiling a perfect one-two finish. Of course we are running the cars on the limit and sometimes beyond, but we will continue as before to attempt to win each and every one of the remaining races. We will not sacrifice pace for reliability, but nevertheless we will increase our efforts to address this weakness. Our apologies to Juan Pablo, and our congratulations to Kimi, the championship is back within our sights, even if the challenge is still significant.”

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “A nice and clear victory for Kimi and the whole team. Kimi did a fantastic job and our strategy was a good one. A one-two victory was on the cards but for Juan Pablo's driveshaft failure on lap 41 this was not the case, until then he drove a perfect race and could have won, I am sorry for him. We most definitely need to further improve our reliability in order to score the maximum possible points. Our potential is there so we are now looking forward to the next race which is the inaugural Turkish Grand Prix. Before, there will be a short and well deserved break for the race team members and their families when everybody can recharge their batteries for the last six races of season.”