Raikkonen Celebrates 'Deserved' Second Win

McLaren's championship leader Kimi Raikkonen celebrated his second consecutive victory at a wreckage-strewn and chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix cut short by crashes.

The 700th Grand Prix in Formula One history started late and behind the safety car and ended in chaos and confusion 18 laps before the scheduled finish. Cars and wreckage were strewn across the rain swept Interlagos track as the red flags came out in a race that World Champions Ferrari and Michael Schumacher failed to finish.

McLaren have now won the first three races of the season, and Raikkonen two in a row. The 23-year-old Finn, whose victory in Malaysia was his first in Formula One, leads the championship with 26 points toteam mate David Coulthard's 15.

"What a race," said Raikkonen. "I think with some of the bad luck I have experienced in the past it was time that I was lucky. The team did a great job and deserved to win. When the race started for real, it was still difficult to see where you were going because of all the spray.

"I stayed out when the Safety Car came out again whilst the majority of the field came in for their pitstops. When I rejoined, I was able to overtake a couple of cars to take second but as the circuit started to get drier, my rain tyres were not working as well which allowed Giancarlo to close in. He overtook me when I went wide.

"I was coming into the pits for my final stop when the race was red flagged. Today's result is great for me and the team, but its too early to think about the Championship."

Coulthard finished fourth after leading at the start of the race.

"I'm obviously a little disappointed as I felt I was having a good race and was in control," said Coulthard. "It was the right decision to start behind the Safety Car as you could see from the many accidents once the race was on. I'm happy with my performance today as I was leading most of the race under the most difficult conditions you can imagine."