20/06/2004
NEWS STORY
Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard finished today's 73-lap United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in sixth and seventh positions respectively, scoring five points for the West McLaren Mercedes team. Both drivers were on two- stop strategies but were forced to make unscheduled pit stops; Kimi two and David one. Kimi and David both came in on lap 11 whilst the safety car was out following Ralf Schumacher's accident with Kimi's stop lasting 7.8 seconds and David's 14.6 seconds as he had to queue up behind Kimi. Kimi made his remaining stops on laps 29 (7 seconds), 34 (15 seconds) and 59 (11.8 seconds) whilst David came in on laps 47 (9.2 seconds) and 54 (10.1 seconds)
Kimi Raikkonen: "I did score some points today, but I'm still a bit disappointed as I strongly believe I could have finished on the podium. We have taken a step forward with the MP4-19 and were able to run reasonably competitively, but it was not to be. We had a strong race strategy, the car was handling well, and I was able to really attack. However I was forced to make two unscheduled stops as the team had to top up the pneumatic air system on the engine with additional air, which at the end cost me quite a few positions."
David Coulthard: "It was a difficult Sunday for me, but at least both Kimi and I managed to finish the race and score some points. In the early stages I picked up some debris, which damaged my deflector and upset the balance of the car, which made it difficult to handle for the rest of the Grand Prix. Towards the end of the race I had to make another stop as a piece of polystyrene had lodged itself underneath my car, which the mechanics had to remove. I now look forward to the next race at Magny Cours in two weeks time."
Ron Dennis: "An eventful day for everybody at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Both Kimi and David were on strong strategies in an incident-filled race and were able to run competitively. There is no doubt that Kimi could have finished on the podium had his race not been badly hampered by a faulty engine air compressor, which forced him to make two unscheduled stops. David had to make an additional stop after a piece of polystyrene debris
lodged itself underneath the car. At least we managed to score five points, which is a small consolation in a race where we would have been truly competitive."
Norbert Haug: "At least we scored five points, although Kimi could have managed a better result if he hadn't suffered problems with the pneumatic system forcing him into the pits two additional times, which made a total four. Unfortunately David's race was hampered by a polystyrene piece, which had to be removed during an unscheduled third pitstop."