McLaren again got both its cars into the points at the end 🀅of a grand prix, but that wasn't enough for Kimi Raikkonen, who firmly beli🀅eved that he should have gained more than three points for sixth place.

The Finn made a good start to the 73-lap affair at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and was able to slot in ahead of some quicker opponents, but more problems with the unloved MP4-19 caused him to slip back through the field even as some of his rivals fell by the wa🔯yside.

"I'm a bit disappoiℱnted as I strongly believe I could have finished on the podium," Raikkonen insisted, "We have taken a step forward with the car, and were able to run reasonably competitively, but it was not to be.

"We had a strong race strategy in place, the 🧸car was 🐲handling well, and I was able to really attack. However, I was forced to make two unscheduled stops as the team had to top up the pneumatic air system on the engine and, in the end, that cost me quite a few positions."

Team boss Ron Dennis agreed that a top three spot behind the all-conquering Ferraris was likel༺y had it not been for ꦬthe engine problem.

"Both Kimi and David [Coulthard] were on stronไg strategies in an incident-filled race and were able to run competitively," he confirmed, "There is n♛o doubt that Kimi could have finished on the podium had his race not been badly hampered by a faulty engine air compressor, but at least we managed to score five points, which is a small consolation."

Mercedes motorsport chief Norbert Haug made lit🐬tle comment about the fact that another engine problem had hit the team's chances of a good result, although he had no option but to acknowledge the s🃏ource of the disappointment.

"Kimi could have managed a better result if he hadn't suffered♉ problems with the pneumatic system," he confirmed.

The second car, in 🌺which Coulthard battled manfully with Mark Webber before the Australian's retirement, was also delayed, this time by debris caused by one of the many accidents on track.

"In the early stages I picked up some debris, which damaged my deflector and upset the balance of the car," the Scot reported, "This made it difficult to handle for the rest of the grand prix and, to👍wards the end of the race, I had to make another stop as a piece of polystyrene had lodged itself underneath the car. I'm just looking forward to the next race at Magn🤪y-Cours."

The French Grand Prix, round ten of the 2004 season could see the competition debut of the revised MP4-19B, which R🌼aikkonen𒐪 tested impressively at Silverstone before the American flyaway races.