Team McLaren Mercedes F1 Race Recap: Silverstone

Posted by www.eMercedesBenz.com on June 12, 2006 at 10:30 AM CST

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen; I hope you all had a fantastic  
weekend.  To kick things off this bright summer morning, we have a  
quick recap of the F1 race that transpired over the weekend at  
Silverstone.  As usual, if you have it TIVO'd, read no further;  
otherwise, read on for the full scoop.

The weekend started out well for the McLaren Mercedes team at the  
British Grand Prix.  In qualifying, Juan Pablo Montoya captured the  
eighth starting position, while teammate Kimi Raikkonen managed to  
earn the third position on the grid.

As the race began, both driver's maintained their starting positions  
through the end of the first lap, but the race was quickly halted by  
the safety car after a collision between Ralf Schumacher of Toyota  
and Mark Webber of Williams occurred.

When the safety car was withdrawn, a second battle for first place  
ensued, with Renault's Fernando Alonso, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher  
and Kimi all battling in the top three positions.  Meanwhile, Montoya  
improved his position to seventh position, where he trailed BMW  
Sauber's Nick Heidfeld by less than a second.

On lap 19, Kimi entered the pits for the first time, resuming the  
race in fourth position. One lap later, Montoya made his first pit  
stop, resuming the race in tenth. At the end of the first round of  
refueling stops, Kimi had worked his way up into second, while  
Montoya was now holding sixth place.

On lap 42, Kimi entered the pits for the second time, dropping behind  
Michael Schumacher into third position when he resumed the race.  
Montoya entered the pits three laps later and resumed the race in  
eighth, but after the pit stops of two other drivers, Montoya  
regained the sixth position.  After 60 laps, both Kimi and Montoya  
finished the race holding their respective positions of third and  
sixth place.

---

And there you have it kids.  Yet another race in which Team McLaren  
Mercedes performed well, yet they couldn't match the performance of  
Renault or Ferrari.

To learn more, keep scrolling for the full recap complete with team  
and driver interviews.


OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE


F1 Silverstone: Kimi Räikkönen Third


Silverstone, Jun 11, 2006
The start: Kimi qualified third on the grid, Juan Pablo eighth. At  
the end of the opening lap both retained their places, but the safety  
car was deployed until the end of lap three after a collision between  
Ralf Schumacher (Toyota) and Mark Webber (Williams).

The race: When the safety car was withdrawn there was an initial  
close fight at the front of the field between Alonso, Kimi and  
Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) occupying the first three places. Juan  
Pablo had improved to seventh place and thereafter found himself  
stuck behind Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) whom he shadowed less than a  
second behind although he could not overtake.

Kimi made his first scheduled refuelling stop at the end of lap 19 in  
8.6sec and went back into the race in fourth place. Juan Pablo made  
his first stop at the end of the following lap (10.2sec) and resumed  
in tenth place. At the end of the first round of refuelling stops  
Kimi was running second and Juan Pablo sixth.

On lap 42 Kimi came in for his second stop (8.0sec) and dropped  
behind Michael Schumacher on his return to the race. Juan Pablo  
pitted on lap 45 for the second time (6.6sec) and dropped back to  
eighth, but regained his sixth position on lap 48 when two cars ahead  
of him came in for their refuelling stops. After 60 laps Kimi and  
Juan Pablo took the chequered flag in third and sixth positions.

Comments

Kimi Räikkönen: "I made a good start off the line and was able to  
maintain my second place. However I was not fast enough on the  
straights to pass Alonso. After the Safety Car came back in I could  
close the gap a bit, but that was it really. I suffered from  
oversteer towards the end of the race which allowed Fisichella to  
close up. However I wasn't too worried as I knew it would be almost  
impossible for him to actually overtake. We were not as quick as  
Alonso and Schumacher and third place was the maximum possible, but I  
think the good news is that this weekend has shown we are moving in  
the right direction and are getting more and more competitive."

Juan Pablo Montoya: "A big shame that Villeneuve lost control and hit  
the side of my car as we were coming into the first corner at the  
start, as our car and strategy would have seen us have a much  
stronger race. The impact created a big hole in the sidepod and  
consequently I struggled a bit with the balance throughout the race.  
Apart from that the race was relatively quiet as there was not much I  
could do. I was able to conserve my engine which is positive coming  
into Canada where we aim to continue our progress."

Ron Dennis, Team Principal: "As we have shown both in Monaco and here  
at Silverstone we have closed some of the gap to our principal  
competitor Renault and our efforts to win will continue at the Paul  
Ricard test this coming week. Kimi and Juan Pablo's post race  
comments summarise our weekend well, and the entire team is looking  
forward to the next race in Canada."

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "A solid  
achievement by Kimi, Juan Pablo and the team. The performance was  
better today than in Barcelona which shows that we are heading in the  
right direction. We will push further – that’s promised.”

For more Mercedes-Benz news and information, visit  
www.eMercedesBenz.com.