July 16, 2006

Team McLaren Mercedes driver Pedro de la Rosa finished the Turkish Grand Prix at Istanbul in fifth position. Having started from 11th place Pedro came home at the end of the 58-lap race 45.9 sec behind winner Felipe Massa (Ferrari). Kimi Räikkönen retired on lap two due to an accident, caused by damages to his car after an incident at the start. Team McLaren Mercedes hold third place in the Constructors’ World Championship with 89 points. Kimi is fifth in the Drivers' Championship on 49 points. Juan Pablo Montoya is seventh on 26 points and Pedro de la Rosa is 11th on 14 points. Fernando Alonso leads the table on 108 points.

The start: Kimi started the race from seventh position on the grid, Pedro from 11th. The Spaniard was in tenth position after the first lap. Kimi was hit in the first corner by Scott Speed (Toro Rosso) as he tried to avoid another accident. After he was spun to a halt, Kimi had to return slowly to the pits with a damaged left rear tyre. There the tyre was changed and his suspension checked in a stop, which lasted more than half a minute. He resumed 21st, but shortly after this slid off the road and crashed into the tyre barriers. During that slow lap back to the pits with a damaged tyre, damages to the bodywork had affected the aerodynamics of the car.

The race: For Pedro the team had planned only one stop and his car was heavy on fuel as a consequence. On lap five, he improved to ninth position. On lap 13. the safety car was deployed after Vitantonio Liuzzi (Toro Rosso) spun off the track and the first six drivers took this opportunity to refuel on lap 14. Pedro now moved to seventh. On lap 17, the race restarted and on lap 21, the Spaniard overtook Christian Klien (Red Bull Racing) to take sixth place and closed the gap to Nico Rosberg (Williams-Cosworth). On lap 25, Pedro overtook the slowing Williams driver and was then in fifth place. At the end of lap 30, Pedro came in for his sole refuelling stop (11.1sec) and resumed the race seventh. On lap 33, Pedro was sixth, then fifth two laps later and he held this position until the finish after 58 laps.

Comments

Pedro de la Rosa: "A good result coming from 11th position. There was mayhem at the first corner following Fisichella's spin and I just made it through despite lots of debris on the track. It was a tough race with the one-stop strategy as I had to look after my rear tyres and this made it challenging to be consistently quick. However my race pace was good and I could even overtake a couple of cars. With a higher grid position a better outcome of the race would have been possible."

Kimi Räikkönen: "It got very messy at the start. I tried to avoid a spinning Fisichella, but then Speed hit my left rear tyre causing a puncture. I drove for almost a whole lap with a damaged tyre in order to get back to the pits to see what could be done. The team changed my tyre, but I think the car must have incurred quite a lot of damage at this point. When I rejoined the race, I came into Turn 4, had no rear end grip, got sideways, ran out of road, hit the tyrewall and that was it. My back is a bit sore but nothing to worry about. I'm obviously disappointed that my race was over so quickly, but there was nothing we could do."

Ron Dennis, Team Principal: "Pedro drove a very good race, using our one-stop strategy to achieve a solid fifth position. Kimi's accident was the result of Fisichella's incident at the start which led to Speed hitting Kimi from behind, damaging his left rear tyre. The subsequent tyre failure damaged the bodywork, as Kimi was making his way back to the pits. This changed the aerodynamic characteristics of the car and on re-joining the race Kimi ran wide at Turn 4. The impact jolted his back, but our team doctor is optimistic that Kimi will be able to test as planned at Monza this week."

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "A good race of Pedro's starting 11th and finishing fifth. He stayed focussed and made the best out of the one-stop strategy and kept his cool. It's a pity for Kimi – the crash at the first corner was not his fault but if you start lower down the grid you are in danger of such incidents. We now will continue to work hard at next week's test in Monza in order to be in good shape for the Grand Prix in a fortnight."