Mercedes Benz

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Valencia, Spain, Aug 24, 2008

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen finished the European Grand Prix on the new Valencia street circuit in second and fourth positions respectively. After 57 laps (310.080 kms), Lewis came home 5.6sec behind winner Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Heikki was 39.7sec behind Massa. Both drivers were on two-stop strategies; Lewis pitted on laps 17 (8.9sec) and 39 (7.1sec) whilst Heikki came in on laps 20 (9.4sec) and 43 (9.6sec). Vodafone McLaren Mercedes scored 13 points, more than any other team today, and reduced the gap in the Constructors’ Championship behind leader Ferrari from 11 to eight points; after 12 out of 18 races, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has now 113 points, Ferrari 121. Lewis extended his overall lead in the drivers’ ranking from five to six points; he is first with 70 points ahead of Felipe Massa on 64 points. Heikki improved to fifth with 43 points.


The start: Lewis started second on the grid whilst Heikki had qualified fifth. Lewis was second after the opening lap whilst Heikki overtook Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) at the start and improved to fourth position.
The race, lap 10: Lewis drove in second place, 3.8sec behind Massa; Heikki was fourth, 1.3sec behind Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber).
Lap 15: Massa pitted and Lewis took the lead; Heikki improved to third.
Lap 17: Lewis came in for his first stop (8.9sec) and resumed in fifth place; Heikki was second. One lap later, the Finn took the lead when Kubica and Räikkönen pitted simultaneously.
Lap 20: Heikki completed his first pit stop (9.4sec) and rejoined the race fourth – behind Massa, Lewis and Kubica.
Lap 37: Second pit stop for Massa; Lewis took the lead.
Lap 39: Lewis pitted for the second time (7.1sec) and resumed in second place. One lap later, Heikki took third place when Kubica pitted again.
Lap 43: Heikki and Räikkönen came in for their respective second stops; Heikki was stationary for 9.6sec and resumed in fourth place.
Finish (lap 57): Lewis ended up second, 5.6sec behind Massa, whilst Heikki came home 39.7sec behind the winner and 2.3sec behind Kubica in third place.

Comments

Lewis Hamilton
"I can't complain with second place today. This was a strong weekend for us despite my having a few problems health-wise, but we pulled through. The track was pretty difficult to overtake on, but I maintained the gap – our lap times showed that our overall pace was good, which was encouraging. Heikki and I scored 13 points today, which is very positive for the team, so I’d describe it as a satisfactory weekend for us."

Heikki Kovalainen
“My start was good, and I was consequently able to overtake Kimi before the first corner. However, I’m not really happy with how the race went for me after that, because I had grip problems with the prime tyres in the first and second stints – whereas with the option tyres in the last stint I had much better grip and traction. As a result I could close the gap to Robert Kubica a little. At least I scored five points, but a podium would have been much nicer. Having said that, it’s good that the team scored a lot of points with Lewis’s second place and my fourth place.”

Ron Dennis
"We saw another extremely solid Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team performance today, the result of which was a very useful clutch of championship points, but in truth we lost the chance of outright victory yesterday in qualifying. In my view it's pretty clear that if Lewis had qualified with the same level of fuel as Felipe, he'd probably have been able to control the race from the front. But the nature of the circuit dictated that it was always going to be difficult for him to overtake today - and, that being the case, we opted fairly early on to take the championship-strategic option of settling for second place. Following on from his victory in Hungary, Heikki also drove very strongly and helped bolster our points total in the constructors' championship. He responded well to the pressure applied by Kimi and thoroughly deserved his fourth place."

Norbert Haug
"I am quite satisfied. Lewis leads the Drivers' World Championship, six points ahead of Felipe and 13 ahead of Kimi. No other team scored more points than we did today; we reduced the gap in the constructors' and extended the lead in the drivers’ rankings. Congratulations to Felipe and Ferrari on their strong race and victory. The first grand prix here in Valencia was a great premiere - thank you to the organisers and to Bernie; this grand prix most certainly set an example. The most positive element was that the boxes containing our spare parts were kept closed all weekend – we didn’t need to fit a single replacement part throughout a race weekend that everybody thought might be full of crashes. We will now continue to work hard in order to be well prepared for the final third of the season, which will begin with back-to-back races at Spa and Monza, two particularly challenging circuits that will put maximum stress on the engines."



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