Kimi gets down to some rock and roll on Rally Mexico

Remember Speedy Gonzales? He was well-known as "the fastest mouse in all of Mexico". Shouting "Andale, andale, arriba, arriba!" from underneath his trademark sombrero, he managed to outwit all of his rivals (usually cats) through speed, cunning and judicious use of chilli sauce.

Red Bull driver Kimi Raikkonen also showed plenty of speed and cunning throughout the opening day of the Rally Mexico, setting an eighth, a seventh, and a fifth fastest time today: his highest-ever overall stage result in his short World Rally Championship career. For a long time, it was looking very good.

It went wrong on the final proper stage of the day though, when the Red Bull driver rolled into retirement virtually within sight of the finish line. After making great progress throughout the day, Kimi learned a tough lesson from the school of hard knocks. With his Citroen C4 too badly damaged to continue, Kimi’s Rally Mexico is over.

The 2007 Formula 1 World Champion said: "It was very unlucky: the car just slid wide at the end of the stage in a slippery braking area, so we clipped the side of the road and rolled a few times. I had hoped for some good things from this rally, but it was only my seventh event and I am still learning. It’s normal that when you are learning anything you can get caught out by something unexpected and this is what happened to me today. My biggest disappointment is that we’re not able to continue, as I wanted to have as much time in the car as I could. I had a really good feeling earlier and I wanted to push to see what we could do. I’m sure we will come back stronger at our next event, and while today was disappointing, I’m really enjoying my rally adventure with Red Bull."

Kaj Lindstrom, who has been Kimi’s co-driver since the Finn started rallying last year said: "It was a shame that we ended our rally how we did as Kimi was making excellent progress, both with the driving and the pace notes. When we went off we were in a braking area for a left and then a right hand corner with lots of dust and sand. Kimi had been driving perfectly to the notes and it’s the sort of thing that could happen to anyone. Up until then things had been going really well, and I’m confident that we’ll be on track again at our next event. It’s all part of the game."

Kimi Raikkonen, Kaj Lindstrom and the Red Bull Citroen will be back in action at the Rally Jordan from March 31-April 3.