NUERBURGRING, 29 May 2004 — Formula One ‘Iceman’ Kimi Raikkonen raised struggling McLaren’s spirits with the fastest time in practice tomorrow’s European Grand Prix.
The 23-year-old Finn has scored just one point in six races but his lap of one minute 29.355 seconds in yesterday’s second one-hour session was a boost for engine partners Mercedes in front of their home crowd.
Raikkonen, last year’s championship runner-up, holds the Nuerburgring’s race lap record and also took the first pole position of his Formula One career in the Eifel mountains last year with a time of 1:31.523. His lead in that race was ended when his engine blew and he has finished only twice so far in 2004 after being plagued by further failures. Former champions McLaren are sixth in the standings.
“We completed our planned program and experienced no problems, which is encouraging,” said Raikkonen. “The car seems to behave well here.”
Briton Jenson Button, who celebrated his fourth podium of the year when he finished second in last Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix, was second fastest for BAR in the afternoon session. But Button’s time was still slower than the morning’s fastest lap of 1:29.447 set by BAR’s British test and reserve driver Anthony Davidson.
Ralf Schumacher, last year’s winner for Williams at the Nuerburgring, and Raikkonen’s Scottish teammate David Coulthard followed on the timesheets in a second session dominated by teams with Michelin tires.
While Ferrari’s six times world champion Michael Schumacher was second quickest in the morning, the German struggled with an hydraulic problem in the afternoon. “We had a little bit of a messy day,” said Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn. “We didn’t really get the program done that we wanted to do...it will make the tire choice more difficult.”
Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, Schumacher’s Ferrari teammate, was sixth and the only other driver on Bridgestone tires in the top 10. Schumacher, who equaled Formula One’s best start to a season by winning the first five races, crashed in Monaco last Sunday after a collision with Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya’s Williams in the tunnel behind the safety car.
Davidson’s performance will have done his profile no harm, with Button adding his voice to those calling for him to get a race drive next year. “Anthony deserves a race seat, he’s proved he’s quick and I think in a race situation he would be good,” said Button, a former karting rival. “He wouldn’t change as some drivers do when they get into a race situation.”
Italian Giancarlo Fisichella lost 10 places on the grid before he had completed a lap as his Sauber needed a replacement engine, triggering the penalty. Champions Ferrari, who have won three of the last four European Grands Prix, started the day with a minute’s silence after the death of Umberto Agnelli, chairman of the team’s Fiat parent company.
