Raikkonen Pleased with First Finish of 2004

McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen was pleased after finally managing to finish his first Grand Prix of the season at Imola on Sunday.

The Finn, runner-up to Michael Schumacher in last year's Championship, had retired from the first three Grands Prix in Australia, Malaysia, and Bahrain with mechanical problems.

Raikkonen had a difficult weekend in Italy too, having to start from the back of the grid following an engine problem on Saturday. However, he managed to fight his way back into the points, finishing in eighth position.

"I'm pleased to finish my first race of the season and get one point, but obviously we want to be fighting for the lead and not eighth place," said the Finn. "I started the race from last, so I had to fight hard to make up some positions.

"The track is very narrow, so it's quite difficult to overtake and when you are so far back you inevitably get stuck. I know that the team will continue to work hard on improving our package and making further progress both with pace and reliability."

Raikkonen is now 39 points behind Ferrari driver Schumacher, who scored his fourth consecutive win of the season.

Raikkonen's teammate David Coulthard endured a disappointing race, losing his front wing at the start when he crashed into the back of Fernando Alonso's Renault. The Scot finished 12th.

"When you start in the middle of the field you have to take risks coming into the first corner in order to make progress," he said. "On this occasion I took too much of a risk and ended up damaging the nose of the car and going off the track.

"I was able to make it back into the pits where the team replaced the nose and changed me from a three to a two stop strategy in order to try and make up positions. I fought hard but 12th was the best we could do."