Team McLaren Mercedes Kicks Off Monaco Race Weekend

Posted by www.eMercedesBenz.com on May 25, 2006 at 11:20 AM CST

Team McLaren Mercedes kicked off the Monaco race weekend today, and  
the first day of practice turned out to be an eventful one.

At the end of his first practice session, Kimi Raikkonen and his  
MP4-21 were forced to retire early due to what was initially thought  
to be a blown engine.  However, the actual cause for Kimi's  
retirement was a fire, which caused a small amount of repairable  
damage to the vehicle's wiring.  After making the necessary fixes,  
Kimi and his car were able to return to the track midway through the  
second practice session and complete his planned training program.

Here's what the team had to say about their first day of practice:


Juan Pablo Montoya

"A good start to the weekend for us. We seem to be quite competitive  
and have definitely made progress but its still early days and this  
is Monaco after all where anything can happen. I completed the  
planned programme, and the new parts we have introduced seem to have  
made a difference. The Michelin tyres are working well, so overall we  
are looking good. I love this track as it's such a challenge and I'm  
definitely looking forward to the rest of the weekend."

Kimi Räikkönen

"A bit of excitement for me at the end of the first practice. I went  
out with less than one minute to go to complete an installation lap  
and a practice start. However there was a small fire which caused  
some damage – a bit more than necessary as the Fire Marshalls were  
hesitant until I took the fire extinguisher myself. The team did a  
great job in making the necessary repairs and I was able to get some  
running in half way through the second session. I'm pleased with what  
we have achieved so far and we look competitive, but there is still  
along way to go."

Ron Dennis

"An eventful first day of practice due to Kimi's problem. However the  
team worked really hard and efficiently to rectify the damage caused  
by the small fire. This place is unique and consequently it's too  
early to draw any conclusions but we seem to have made progress."

Norbert Haug

"The team did a great job today getting Kimi's car repaired after a  
small fire had damaged the wiring loom on the last lap of the first  
session. The guys managed to send Kimi out half way through the  
second session. So we could complete his planned programme without  
any further problems. As usual on Fridays Juan Pablo and Kimi focused  
on working on the race set up and their lap times looked OK."


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