As a result,
Kimi Raikkonen will be joined by Pedro de la Rosa, the Spaniard finally getting his chance to star alongside the Finn after making an entertaining one-off race debut with the squad at the 2005 Bahrain Grand Prix, scoring a fifth place and the fastest lap in the process.
The second Spaniard on the grid, de la Rosa has tested at the Magny-Cours circuit many times before, leaving him confident that he can put on a good show as he too bids for the vacant race seat in 2007.
"I'm of course extremely thrilled to have this opportunity to race the MP4-21 - a car in which I'm really comfortable. People don't always link it to Magny
Cours, but you can overtake here, you just need to make sure your set-up allows you to do so. The only real place to do it is by getting good speed along Golf, the stretch between Estoril and Adelaide.
"You need to take Estoril really well behind the car ahead, and this needs to be considered when you are working on set-up. If you get the right set-up you can then push the limits through the sweeping Estoril and have the speed you need in order to pass."
With a new team-mate in tow, Raikkonen's role as the number one driver has become even more defined and the Finn is determined to remain that way for the rest of the year. Still, he is confident on a circuit he has done well on in the past, including almost taking his first win in 2002.
"The team has been testing really hard last week, and we will be bringing new parts to the car for the French Grand Prix. The car felt good at Indy and with our strategy we would have secured a couple of solid points finishes. Magny Cours can be quite a challenging track to set-up for, because its characteristics change a lot, probably more so than at most other circuits.
"However I quite like driving here, it seems to suit my style and I hope we can have another good race this year. It is a slow track, with low speed corners, hairpins and no major straights, it is a total contrast to the previous three circuits we have raced at."
Ferrari - Michael Schumacher (#5), Felipe Massa (#6):
The United States Grand Prix was another unmitigated success story for
Ferrari, coming out of the shadow of
Renault to dominate the weekend.
