Hungarian F1 Grand Prix: Raikkonen and Schumacher keep the season alive

Montoya pitted on lap 41 to retire with broken transmission, which promoted Ralf to third place, and Trulli to fourth. Fifth was Button and then came the two Williamses, with Heidfeld ahead of teammate Mark Webber, the pair having got ahead of Sato.

After their third stops, Ralf caught brother Michael in the closing stages, but the Ferrari driver was confident he could stay ahead and did so. Further back, Sato came under pressure from Giancarlo Fisichella who had two off-course excursions, but he had to make a late pit stop, allowed the Japanese driver to score his first points of the season. Barrichello never recovered from his early pit stop, and finished tenth.

Kimi Räikkönen, McLaren-Mercedes, first place: “This is a great result for the entire team who have worked really hard these past weeks. 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.”

Ron Dennis, McLaren-Mercedes Team Principal: “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. 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.”

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “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. 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.”

Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, second place: “I am happy with this result, which is a good reward for all the work the team has put in over the last few months. I was pretty happy with my pace in the early stages and there was not much between mine and Kimi’s, especially when you consider he was running lighter. But then the pace from the tyres got slower, even though they were still consistent. After that, it was really the pit stops that decided it. If I could have come in at the same time or later than Kimi, then maybe, given how hard it is to overtake here, I might have been able to win. In the closing stages, Ralf got closer, but by then, I was just looking after my tyres and I only went as quick as I needed to keep him behind me. We have made a step in the right direction. It is clear where we have to improve and we will keep on working, but we now seem to have improved our qualifying and early pace.”

Jean Todt, Ferrari: “With Michael, we got the best result we could, after he drove a great race. In the early stages, Michael pushed with a frenetic pace, confirming the performance level he showed yesterday, especially as he was not giving away much to the other drivers in terms of fuel load. It’s a shame that our pace over the longer distance is still not good enough to fight for the win right to the end. From around halfway, Michael had to deal with the same problem – a gradual loss of grip – that he experienced in Hockenheim. Rubens’ race was compromised after the start when he collided with Trulli and had to pit to change the damaged nose on his F2005. Now we have to work out, along with our technical partners, first and foremost Bridgestone and Shell, how we can maintain the pace we have in the early stages throughout the entire race, while keeping the level of qualifying performance which we showed on Saturday.”

Ross Brawn, Ferrari: “With Michael, we had a pretty good race and I don’t think there is much more we could have done. In the first part of the race, we pushed as hard as we could, but once we knew it would not be enough, from then on we changed our approach and simply managed the situation to ensure we did not become vulnerable later in the race. The tyres held up quite well. We had a good strategy today and I don’t know how we could have beaten Kimi because he was so quick. But we have made progress and if we can continue to do so then maybe we can have a strong end to the season. Of course, it was disappointing that Rubens got caught out at the beginning. On a track like this, pitting for a front wing and compromising the strategy makes life very difficult.”

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