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Ferrari and Räikkönen victorious at Silverstone
Kimi Räikkönen - Scuderia Ferrari
"It was a great race for me. After my mistake in qualifying yesterday I was very disappointed, but today
I was able to make up for it. If I had managed to start from pole though, things would have been much easier. The car worked very well both on the soft and harder tyres. We were strong all weekend and I
hope this trend continues over the coming races, but I know how difficult that will be. In the first stint, I tried to look after my tyres and save fuel. At one point I got very close to Lewis but I didn't want to
take any risks hoping he would pit before me. In the second part, I knew Alonso was on a different strategy and would stop before me. I had to stay in touch and then push at the decisive moment. I am
very happy. We have made up ground in the Drivers' championship and there is plenty of the season still to go. We must continue to push on the development of the car and we are working in the right direction."
McLaren Mercedes - Fernando Alonso second, Lewis Hamilton third: On lap 16, Lewis came in from the lead for his first stop (8.2sec), resuming a little too early, stopping one more time and loosing a
couple of seconds. He dropped to fifth whilst Fernando was second. The Spaniard took the lead after Raikkonen made his first stop on lap 18 (9.1sec). Fernando maintained first place also after his own
refuelling stop on lap 20 (6.1sec). Raikkonen was second now ahead of Lewis.
On lap 37, Fernando pitted for the second time (8.2sec) followed by Lewis one lap later (8.1sec).
Fernando was now second behind Raikkonen, Lewis was sixth. The Spaniard kept this position also after the Finn's second stop on lap 43 (6.6sec). After the pitstops of Robert Kubica, Nick Heidfeld (both BMW
Sauber) and Massa, Lewis improved to third.
After 59 laps, Fernando came second, Lewis finished in third place. In the first nine out of 17 races,
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has taken 15 out of 18 possible podium positions and is the only team to end up in the points with both drivers in every race so far.
Fernando Alonso - McLaren-Mercedes
"Second was the maximum we could really do today. We decided to change the strategy during the race to a shorter fuel stop for the middle stint, hoping we would be able to maintain the lead after the second
stop. Unfortunately we did not build enough of a gap to Ferrari during this period, and Kimi's six laps with less fuel were too much to overcome. It was a gamble but definitely the right thing to do. I had a few
problems with traffic, and we didn't quite have the pace of Ferrari, so it didn't pay off. The points are very important for the Championship, and we will work very hard at the test next week, in
Spa-Francorchamps, to regain our advantage."
Lewis Hamilton - McLaren-Mercedes
"We had an interesting race. I got a good start and tried to pull out a gap, but Kimi was extremely quick.
Unfortunately I made a mistake in the pitstop, which obviously lost me a few seconds of valuable time. I tried to push, but continued to struggle with the balance. I tried to drive round the issues and although
I was a bit more consistent towards the end the team choose to save the engine for the Nürburgring and backed off for a safe third. I think that the tyre choice played a big role in the race, and ultimately
starting with the harder tyre was not the best way to go as the softer tyre was clearly faster. However we have come away with more points. I have to say the fans have been tremendous this weekend, and
the race would have been harder without their support."
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