May 8, 2006

Juan Pablo Montoya retired with engine failure six laps from the finish Team McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Räikkönen finished fourth in the European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. After 60 laps he came home just 0.4sec shy of a podium finish. The leading quartet, headed by winner Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) finished within 4.8sec. Juan Pablo retired with engine failure on lap 54. Team McLaren Mercedes is now third in the Constructors' rankings with 38 points with Renault leading on 62. Kimi is third in the Drivers' Championship table on 23 points, Juan Pablo is sixth with 15 points. Fernando Alonso leads the contest with 44 points.

The start: Kimi started from fifth place and completed the opening lap in this position. Juan Pablo qualified eighth but lost three places in the scrum going into the first corner to complete the first lap 11th. At the end of the opening lap the Safety Car was deployed until lap three as a result of Vitantonio Liuzzi (Toro Rosso) spinning to a halt on the circuit with a tyre failure.

The race : Kimi outbraked Jenson Button (Honda) to take fourth place on lap four going into the chicane. After the first pit stops of the drivers ahead - Alonso, Michael Schumacher and Massa - Kimi took the lead on lap 19 and held it until lap 23 when he came in for his first stop (7.9sec) and resumed fourth.

This sequence repeated itself during the second round of stops when Kimi pitted again on lap 44 (6.8sec) and again returned to the race in fourth position. During the last 16 laps Kimi reeled in Massa, closing the gap from 3 to 0.4sec. However the Finn could not find a way past and finished fourth.

Juan Pablo outbraked Giancarlo Fisichella (Renault) at the first corner on lap five to take tenth place. He then followed Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) by less than half a second and came into the pits for his first stop on lap 27 (9.2sec) and pitted for the second time on lap 48 (8.43sec) to resume in ninth place. On lap 54 he retired with an engine failure.

Comments

Kimi Räikkönen : "I was able to pass Rubens Barrichello at the start of the race but unfortunately Jenson Button was able to squeeze through at the first corner, then on the fourth lap I was able to overtake him before the chicane. Despite giving my all throughout the race it was not enough to get a podium. The overall performance of the car was not as I would have liked, however we are closer to the lead and there is a definite improvement from the last race. We now have to continue our hard work so that we can perform better at the next grand prix in Barcelona."

Juan Pablo Montoya : "Not a great afternoon for me really. I didn't get the best start and lost quite a few places in the scrum at the first corner. After that it seemed that I was always stuck in traffic at points in the race where I really needed clean air to make any inroads if I was to benefit from the heavier fuel load I was carrying compared to my nearest ompetition. Unfortunately I had an engine failure six laps from the end of the race, which prevented me from scoring the final point."

Ron Dennis, Team Principal : "Not an ideal result today, but there is still a long way to go in the Championship. We are very close with Renault and Ferrari, which was monstrated by Kimi setting the second fastest lap of the race, so there is every opportunity for us to win races. We didn't manage to close the gap enough, but we were not far off the pace which is encouraging. Juan Pablo had a bad start; significant trouble with traffic and ultimately suffered an engine failure. We will now look towards Barcelona which will be tough as it is back-to-back with this race, but we still intend to improve our competitiveness further."

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport : "It is unfortunate to miss the podium with fourth place. However, Kimi's gap throughout the race showed that we were closer to our competitors than at the last race, and were doing comparable lap times. Kimi gave his best but over the course of the race he couldn't get close enough to Felipe Massa to overtake him after either of his two pit-stops. Juan Pablo suffered an engine failure six laps from the end of a two race engine cycle. We took the risk of extreme stress in the final phase of the race as we wanted Juan Pablo to finish in the points. The cause of the engine problem will be investigated tonight as the engine will be immediately flown back."