Team mate David Coulthard came home seventh. The 60-lap race was won by Michael Schumacher with his Ferrari team mate Rubens Barrichello claiming third.
Kimi explained after the race that: "although we didn't win today it was an exciting grand prix, and second is a great result for the entire team. All the hard work that went into the development of the MP4-19B has paid off. The outcome of today's race is very motivating for the team after the bad first half of the season."
Kimi started McLaren's home grand prix from pole position after setting a time of 1:18.233 in Saturday's qualifying session. The Finn made a good start to take the lead and spent the first couple of laps opening up a gap to the remainder of the field whilst David retained his sixth grid position.
The first round of pitstops started on lap eight and Kimi came in for his first stop on lap 11. However after re-joining the race, Kimi became stuck behind slower cars and lost a considerable amount of time. As a result when Michael Schumacher, who was on a two-stop strategy, rejoined the race after his first stop the German had opened up enough of a gap to retain the lead he claimed as he was able to stay out longer than his nearest competitors.
Both Kimi and David were on three-stop strategies but took advantage of the Safety Car period, which was caused by Jarno Trulli's accident, for their third and final stops. This strategy once again allowed Kimi to close up to Michael and challenge the German for the lead. However Kimi was struggling with the rear balance on his final set of tyres and as a result wasn't able to pass Michael. At the end Kimi crossed the finishing line 2.13 seconds behind Michael with David in seventh.
David explained that whilst he was happy for Kimi and the team, he had been struggling with the balance of his car and didn't feel comfortable especially in the slow corners which was why the Scotsman was unable to make further progress.
Team McLaren Mercedes Team Principal Ron Dennis said "Our underlying performance strengthens our belief that we have made a significant step forward. Kimi's qualifying and our general race pace are not so far behind where it needs to be in order to win. In the end our weekend is a great boost for the entire team who have worked so hard to achieve the difficult targets that we had."
Kimi is now seventh in the Drivers' Championship with 18 points and David eighth with 14 points. Team McLaren Mercedes holds fifth position in the Constructors' rankings.
In preparation for the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim in two weeks time, the Team McLaren Mercedes team will carry out simultaneous tests at Silverstone with Kimi and David and at the Jerez track in Spain with Third driver Alexander Wurz and test driver Pedro de la Rosa.
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