27/08/2006
NEWS STORY
Team McLaren Mercedes driver Pedro de la Rosa finished today's Turkish Grand Prix in fifth position. Team mate Kimi Raikkonen's race ended after the first of 58 laps following an incident at the start and a subsequent off at Turn 4. Pedro had his only pitstop on lap 31 (11.1 seconds) Kimi is fifth in the Drivers' Championship with 49 points whilst Pedro is 11th with 14 points. Team McLaren Mercedes remains third with 89 points. To prepare for the last race of the European Formula 1 season the team will test at Monza this coming week with Kimi and Pedro.
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 Raikkonen: "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 re-joined 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: "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: "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."
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