Spanish GP: McLaren race notes

West McLaren Mercedes driver David Coulthard finished third in today's Spanish Grand Prix whilst team mate Kimi Raikkonen retired following a rear wing failure on lap four. David moved to fourth in the FIA Drivers' World Championship with nine points and Kimi is eighth with four points. The West McLaren Mercedes team is third in the Constructors' Championship with 13 points.

DAVID COULTHARD

When you start a race from seventh position you realise that it's difficult to get on the podium so I'm really pleased with third place. I had a good battle with Jenson Button and was able to overtake him after the first pitstop to take third. On the lap before I had noticed that Jenson suffered from understeer in the last corner so I positioned the car as close as possible, got in his slipstream and was able to outbrake him. After that I was on my own pushing as hard as I could and slowly getting closer to Montoya, but despite his problematic pitstop I was unable to catch him."

KIMI RAIKKONEN

I don't know why but all of a sudden my rear wing failed on the straight on lap four when I was in fourth position and that was the end of my race. I know the team will investigate what caused the problem. It's one of those things that happen very rarely so I don't worry too much about it."

RON DENNIS

"Whilst all the top teams suffered problems today, we are still frustrated by the structural failure on Kimi's rear wing. Within less than a minute we were able to interrogate our database and confirm that the wing assembly on David's car was effectively new which supported by our extensive test mileage convinced us that there was no risk to David. On the up side David drove a good race and assisted by an effective strategy he ultimately earned the team a third place. It's useful to have the points, but our sights are still firmly fixed on closing the gap to our main competition.'

NORBERT HAUG

A good drive by David and a well-performed strategy by the team. Third place was the best we could do today and everybody in the team has done a good job. Having said that we all know that we need to improve our performance."

David Coulthard: Chassis 03
Kimi Raikkonen: Chassis 04
T-car (David): Chassis 05

-mclaren-