West McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen took his second Formula One career win in today's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, the young Finn driving an outstanding race to record the fastest lap as well. The win was well deserved, especially considering the fact that his MP4-19B was suffering gear problems…
"I could not hope for a better result today. It has been a tough season this year, we have been close to a good result a couple of times already, and finally the good work of the entire team on track, in Woking, Brixworth and Stuttgart has been rewarded with a win,” he said. “The race itself was tough as I suffered a little damage to the floor of the car after the start when Felipe Massa hit me from behind, but that did not hamper my performance. Then from lap eight onwards I experienced problems with the downshift throughout the race, which affected the breaking at the hairpin, however despite all this we achieved an exceptional result."
Meanwhile, teammate David Coulthard came home seventh in the 44-lap race, the Scot;s day a lot more eventful than Kimi’s. David was forced to complete an additional pit stop on lap 39 to change the nose cone of his car after a collision with Christian Klien's Jaguar as well as suffering a puncture of his Michelin rear, making seventh place a brilliant result.
"It was a good result for the team today. From my side it was quite an eventful race having lost a tyre before going in for my first pitstop from third position,” he said. ‘I had a lot of work to do to get back in the points. I had managed to move up to be in eighth position when I lost my front wing, colliding with Klien. So all in all seventh place is a reasonable result from the day"
"A tremendous result for the team, the whole day speaks for itself. It was particularly satisfying when taking into account the safety car deployment on three occasions,” said a very emotional Ron Dennis. “Kimi's fastest lap on the penultimate lap of the race was absolutely sensational. David's puncture meant that he did not achieve the result he should have today, but seventh in the difficult circumstances was worth having."
"Congratulations to Kimi for a great race. Despite having a gear selection problem from the beginning he managed to achieve the fastest lap of today,” added Norbert Haug. “The whole team have worked so hard to make this win possible. It's a pity that David didn't have the chance to finish higher up following his tyre damage early on, but speedwise he definitely was a candidate for the podium. Well done to everyone in the team, and thank you for all your efforts in Woking, Brixworth and Stuttgart. Congratulations to Michael Schumacher and Ferrari for winning the World Championship."
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