McLaren apologise to Raikkonen

A driveshaft failure cost a possible victory to Kimi Raikkonen at Imola.

McLaren boss Ron Dennis apologised to Kimi Raikkonen on Sunday after a driveshaft failure cost the flying young Finn a possible victory in the San Marino Grand Prix.

HT Image

"Kimi was doing a fantastic job and had already pulled out a healthy lead over (Renault's) Fernando (Alonso) until a CV joint failed in the driveshaft," said Dennis.

"Apologies again to Kimi."

Raikkonen had earlier secured McLaren's first pole position since the British Grand Prix of last July and looked a good bet for the Mercedes-powered team's first win of the 2005 Formula One championship.

"Obviously I am disappointed as I had a great start and was really building on my lead," said the Finn, who threw his steering wheel across the team garage in disgust when he stepped out of the car.

"At least we know that the car has the pace in both qualifying as well as the race and with some improvements due for Spain in two weeks I am looking forward to a good race there," he added.

Raikkonen's misfortune was McLaren's first race retirement of the year. The team are third in the constructors' standings with 24 points.

Austrian Alexander Wurz, standing in for McLaren's injured Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, finished fourth.