July 16, 2006

McLaren Mercedes driver Pedro de la Rosa has finished second in the Hungarian Grand Prix at Budapest. After 70 laps, he crossed the finishing line 30.8sec behind winner Jenson Button (Honda). It is Pedro’s first Formula One podium finish in his fourth Grand Prix for McLaren Mercedes and his third of the season. Kimi Räikkönen retired on the 26th lap after a collision. Team McLaren Mercedes is holding third place in the Constructors’ Championship with 85 points. Kimi is fifth in the drivers' world championship on 49 points. Juan Pablo Montoya is seventh on 26 points and Pedro de la Rosa 12th on 10 points. Fernando Alonso (Renault) leads the table with 100 points.

The start: The start took place in wet conditions after heavy rain. Kimi started the race from his tenth Formula One pole position, the second within eighth days, and accelerated into an immediate lead ahead of Rubens Barrichello (Honda). Pedro de la Rosa had qualified fourth and improved to third. When Barrichello pitted for a tyre change on lap five Pedro took second place.

The race: At the end of the 16th lap Pedro made his first refuelling stop in 11.8sec and resumed the race in sixth place. Kimi came in one lap later (11.0sec) and resumed second ahead of Pedro. On lap 26 Kimi was involved in an accident when he ran into the back of Vitantonio Liuzzi's Toro Rosso who had backed off. Kimi retired with a damaged car. Pedro made his second pit stop on the same lap in 11.00sec and the race was then neutralised when the safety car was deployed until lap 31. At the restart, the Spaniard was running in third position. On lap 51, Pedro made his third stop in 7.9sec and changed to dry tyres after which he ran fourth behind Michael Schumacher's Ferrari. On lap 56, Pedro moved up to third and then overtook Schumacher on lap 66. After 70 laps, Pedro finished the race in second place.

Comments

Pedro de la Rosa: "I am extremely happy to score my first Formula 1 podium today, and it is great to score eight points for the team, who have all worked so hard for this. It was a very interesting race with the wet conditions, so I just tried to keep my head down, push all the way and stay out of trouble, as I knew if I got to the end we had the speed to be on the podium. The Michelin tyres worked really well today in all the conditions, especially the dry tyres at the end. We backed off a little in the middle section as we were very heavy on fuel and we wanted to conserve this and go as long as possible, but in the end the track conditions changed and we pitted earlier to change the tyres. This really is a great feeling and it is down to all the team that we were able to achieve this today."

Kimi Räikkönen: "I could do nothing to avoid the collision with Liuzzi. He really slowed down on the racing line and there was just nowhere for me to go except into the back of him. The start of the race was really good for me with my first set of Michelin tyres working really well but after the first stop I was really struggling with grip on the front, and as a result Fernando Alonso was able to build on his lead. It is never great to end a race like that especially when there was every opportunity to win it, but we just have to move forward and I really appreciate the gesture of Liuzzi coming to apologise. Well done Pedro for a strong performance."

Ron Dennis, Team Principal: "I should firstly likely to congratulate Pedro on a tremendous, measured and effective drive today scoring a great second place. The team and I are personally delighted for him and it is a much deserved result and demonstrates the racing quality of a great driver. Whilst the race I am sure was exciting to watch it was tinged by some disappointment that we should lose Kimi in such a way. Understandably we feel that a race win that should have been eluded us today."

Norbert Haug, Vice Presidnet Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "A first class performance by Pedro mastering tricky conditions throughout the race. His second place is well deserved and he kept his cool in every circumstance. It is a pity that Kimi dropped out after having a misunderstanding followed by a crash with Vitantonio Liuzzi who backed off to let Kimi through. We will now during the summer break continue to work hard to further improve our package and we want to demonstrate our upwards trend at the next Grand Prix.”