Team McLaren Mercedes kicked off the Monaco race weekend today, and the first day of practice turned out to be an eventful one.

At the end of his first practice session, Kimi Raikkonen and his MP4-21 were forced to retire early due to what was initially thought to be a blown engine.  However, the actual cause for Kimi's retirement was a fire, which caused a small amount of repairable damage to the vehicle's wiring.  After making the necessary fixes, Kimi and his car were able to return to the track midway through the second practice session and complete his planned training program.

Here's what the team had to say about their first day of practice:


Juan Pablo Montoya

"A good start to the weekend for us. We seem to be quite competitive and have definitely made progress but its still early days and this is Monaco after all where anything can happen. I completed the planned programme, and the new parts we have introduced seem to have made a difference. The Michelin tyres are working well, so overall we are looking good. I love this track as it's such a challenge and I'm definitely looking forward to the rest of the weekend."

Kimi Räikkönen

"A bit of excitement for me at the end of the first practice. I went out with less than one minute to go to complete an installation lap and a practice start. However there was a small fire which caused some damage – a bit more than necessary as the Fire Marshalls were hesitant until I took the fire extinguisher myself. The team did a great job in making the necessary repairs and I was able to get some running in half way through the second session. I'm pleased with what we have achieved so far and we look competitive, but there is still along way to go."

Ron Dennis

"An eventful first day of practice due to Kimi's problem. However the team worked really hard and efficiently to rectify the damage caused by the small fire. This place is unique and consequently it's too early to draw any conclusions but we seem to have made progress."

Norbert Haug

"The team did a great job today getting Kimi's car repaired after a small fire had damaged the wiring loom on the last lap of the first session. The guys managed to send Kimi out half way through the second session. So we could complete his planned programme without any further problems. As usual on Fridays Juan Pablo and Kimi focused on working on the race set up and their lap times looked OK."

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