It was a frustrating day for the McLaren team at Magny-Cours, with Kimi Raikkonen finishing off the podium and David Coulthard losing time after a fuel rig problem.
It was a frustrating day for the McLaren team at Magny-Cours, with Kimi Raikkonen finishing off the podium and David Coulthard losing time after a fuel rig problem.
“I’m not satisfied with finishing fourth as I was third for most of the race. However I lost so much time stuck in traffic behind cars, which seemed to be ignoring the blue flags that Michael was able to get past me after his final pitstop,” said Raikkonen.
“In addition I had no brakes during the last few laps as I lost the rear disk and you can’t drive fast without brakes, so not a brilliant day.
“However on the bright side Michael only managed to extend his lead by one point but the Championship is getting closer with Ralf Schumacher closing on me. It should be an exciting race at Silverstone in two weeks time.”
Coulthard finished fifth after problems during his third pit stop. “I made a good start and was fighting with Michael throughout turn one and two but couldn’t really get past. When the race settled Kimi and I were able to run at the same pace but were not fast enough to challenge for the lead,” said the Scot.
“Unfortunately there were a couple of problems during my third pitstop. Initially the fuel nozzle didn’t attach correctly and we had to use the second one and then struggled when we had to remove it. Fortunately nobody was injured in the incident but I lost a possible third place.”
Team principal Ron Dennis said all was not lost as McLaren was in third place in the constructors’ championship with 85 points. “This year we have a fantastically competitive world championship and I’m sure that all the contenders will fight to the end, we certainly will.”
But he was annoyed at the lack of blue flags, which he believes cost the team. “Perhaps it’s understandable that when the first five cars are quite strung out it’s a little more difficult for the marshalls to understand exactly which drivers are in what position. Even so it was extremely frustrating for both David and Kimi to lose so much time when overtaking backmarkers.”