Welcome back ladies and gentlemen; I hope you all had a terrific July weekend.

While we were away, enjoying the exceptionally torrid temperatures that are now encapsulating the whole of the United States, the Team McLaren Mercedes F1 team was hard at work, taking part in the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours. As we told you earlier in the week, the team's lineup now consists of superstar Kimi Raikkonen, along with the team's former test driver Pedro de la Rosa, a switch that came after Juan Pablo Montoya's announcement he would be leaving the team immediately to pursue a career in NASCAR.

So how did the team fare with the new driver lineup? As always, if you have it TIVO'dk, read no further; otherwise, click through for the full recap.

In qualifying, it was another mediocre series of runs for both drivers.  Kimi earned the sixth starting spot on the grid, while Pedro started two spots back from the eight position.

From the onset of the race, the team adopted a three-stop refueling strategy. After Kimi and Pedro completed the opening lap in sixth and ninth places, respectively, Kimi made his first stop from sixth place at the end of lap 17 and resumed the race in seventh position.  Meanwhile, Pedro made his first stop from ninth position on the following lap, resuming the race in thirteenth.

On lap 32, Kimi made his second refueling stop of the day, resuming the race in seventh place just ahead of teammate de la Rosa. Three laps later, Pedro entered the pits for the second time, resuming the race in tenth position.

As the race progressed, Pedro managed to overtake Nick Heidfeld's BMW Sauber on lap 37, moving into ninth place. By lap 39, Pedro managed to improve to seventh position, until entering the pits for his third stop on lap 50. He resumed the race in seventh, a position he held through the end of the race. Meanwhile, Kimi managed to improve as well, moving up from seventh to close the gap between him and Fernando Alonso to 3.1 seconds. On lap 53, Kimi made his third stop of the day, resuming the race in fifth, a position he held through the end of the race.  In the end, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher captured the victory, followed by Renault's Fernando Alonso and Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

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It's not first, but it's a hell of a lot better than the team being forced to retire after an unfortunate accident involving both of the McLaren Mercedes' cars, i.e., like two weeks ago at Indianapolis.

For the full recap including team and driver interviews, keep scrolling for the official press release. Enjoy.






OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE


F1 Magny-Cours: Kimi Räikkönen Fifth, Pedro de la Rosa Seventh


Magny-Cours, Jul 16, 2006
The start: Kimi started the race from sixth place on the grid and completed the opening lap in that position. Pedro started from eighth place and came round ninth at the end of the first lap.

The race: For the refuelling stops the team adopted a three stop strategy for both cars. Kimi made his first stop from sixth place at the end of lap 17 (7.0sec) and returned to the race in seventh position. Pedro made his first stop from ninth place at the end of the following lap (6.5sec) and resumed in 13th place. On lap 27 Kimi overtook Jarno Trulli's Toyota to move into fourth place.

On lap 32 Kimi made his second refuelling stop in 11.4sec. The Finn resumed in seventh place just ahead of his team-mate. Pedro came into the pits for his second refuelling stop on lap 35 (6.7sec) and dropped to tenth when he rejoined the race.

Pedro overtook Nick Heidfeld's BMW Sauber on lap 37 to take ninth place. Until lap 39 Pedro improved to seventh and made his third stop on lap 50 in 7.4sec. He resumed in seventh place. During this stage, Kimi was significantly faster than Fernando Alonso (Renault) ahead of him and the Finn reduced the gap to 3.1sec. He made his third stop in 7.0sec on lap 53, resuming in fifth place which he held to the finish.

Pedro set the third fastest lap of the race in 1m17.625s; he and Kimi were the fastest drivers on Michelin tyres in the field.

Comments

Kimi Räikkönen: "A disappointing race as the car was handling really well. We were lacking the speed to win, but I lost a few tenths in the second pit-stop which cost me fourth place today, so we definitely could have done better today. The car is steadily improving and we have further developments at the next test so we now look forward to the next race at Hockenheim in two weeks time, where hopefully we will score better in front of Mercedes-Benz home crowd."

Pedro de la Rosa: "The car had the speed today and felt really good to drive. I feel I really could have scored more points if I had not lost position to Mark Webber at the start of the race. This meant that I lost a lot of time in the opening stint trying to pass him and when I eventually got passed during the pit stop I was behind a lot of traffic on different strategies. As a result following the first round of stops I was over 20 seconds behind Ralf Schumacher, so it was very difficult for me to improve on my position. I really enjoyed the race and I am pleased to have scored some points for the team and be one the fastest of the Michelin runners."

Ron Dennis, Team Principal: "We had a much more competitive pace today which indicates the continued improvement of the car. Unfortunately Bridgestone had an advantage and we will work hard with Michelin to reverse the situation at Hockenheim. We varied our race strategy in an attempt to improve the outcome of the race but to no avail. Both Kimi and Pedro drove well and as always we look forward to getting better results at the next grand prix."

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "Our grid positions were decisive for the outcome of our race, the pace was better than in qualifying. So it was very difficult to improve on sixth and eighth despite the fact that our lap times were among the fastest of the Michelin runners. Kimi was the second placed Michelin car, but we want to do better. Pedro put in a good performance as well, however after the start he got stuck behind a slower car for the first third of the race. Once he could run free he was immediately one and a half seconds quicker than before. We are now looking forward to our home grand prix at Hockenheim in a fortnight and will work hard to further improve our performance."

Copyright © 2006, DaimlerChrysler AG