Team McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen finished today’s Hungarian Grand Prix at Budapest in first place, scoring his sixth career victory and the fifth for the team this season. The Finn shot up from fourth on the grid to battle with the Ferrari of Michael Schuamcher for two thirds of the event, eventually crossing the line thirty five seconds ahead of the reigning world champion. What made today’s win even more glorious to the Finn was the fact that his championship rival, Fernando Alonso, failed to score any points….

“This is a great result for the entire team who have worked really hard these past weeks,” he said. “At the first part of the race I was stuck behind Michael Schumacher, and it was impossible to pass him. However the team changed my strategy for the second pitstop and this meant that I could get in front of him and build a comfortable lead. The car felt really good throughout the race and the Michelin tyres were perfect right up until the last lap. It is a shame that Juan Pablo retired as we would have definitely had a one-two victory today.”

Meanwhile, teammate Juan Pablo retired from first place on lap 41 with a broken drive shaft. Up until this point the Colombian was in command of the race and as he was on a different strategy to Kimi, the possibility of a three way battle for the win was denied.

”I think that it was a driveshaft that broke, which is just one of those things that happen when you are pushing everything to the limit like we are at the moment. Everyone back at base has been working really hard and it is just disappointing not to finish,” he said. “I did what I had to do during the race. I knew Kimi was three stopping so there was no need to be in his way considering he was on a different strategy to me. However I feel that this was a race that I definitely could have won and a one-two for the team would have been a great reward to us all.”

“A dominant and disciplined performance from the team as a whole, with a driveshaft failure spoiling a perfect one-two finish. Of course we are running the cars on the limit and sometimes beyond, but we will continue as before to attempt to win each and every one of the remaining races,” added Ron Dennis. “We will not sacrifice pace for reliability, but nevertheless we will increase our efforts to address this weakness. Our apologies to Juan Pablo, and our congratulations to Kimi, the championship is back within our sights, even if the challenge is still significant.”

“A nice and clear victory for Kimi and the whole team. Kimi did a fantastic job and our strategy was a good one. A one-two victory was on the cards but for Juan Pablo’s driveshaft failure on lap 41 this was not the case, until then he drove a perfect race and could have won, I am sorry for him,” said Norbert Haug. “We most definitely need to further improve our reliability in order to score the maximum possible points. Our potential is there so we are now looking forward to the next race which is the inaugural Turkish Grand Prix. Before, there will be a short and well deserved break for the race team members and their families when everybody can recharge their batteries for the last six races of season.”

Source: McLaren