Australian GP: McLaren Saturday qualifying notes

Team McLaren Mercedes drivers Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard will start tomorrow's Australian Grand Prix from tenth and 12th positions after setting times of 1:26.297 and 1:27.294 respectively in today's second qualifying session.

Kimi Raikkonen
"Obviously today's qualifying is disappointing particular since the car doesn't feel too bad, but we were just slow. I didn't do a perfect lap but it was OK and we were still not quick enough. We obviously can't make any changes overnight so we will see what happens in the race tomorrow and hope we gain places by being on a different strategy."

David Coulthard
"Today's two qualifying sessions made it difficult to see where everybody will be in the race pace wise as some of the variations in times between the two runs were surprising. Obviously from our point of view we were struggling to get the anticipated performance out of the car. In my last run at the last corner I went wide and whilst it might have looked spectacular on the TV, I don't think I damaged the car too much as I went on the grass."

Ron Dennis
"Whilst David's small off didn't help the situation neither driver had the pace needed to be competitive. However our race strategy should give us better finishing places than we are currently occupying on the grid."

Norbert Haug
"Today's new qualifying format presented some surprises and it remains to be seen who was on which fuel load and strategy. David's short off at the last corner prevented him from achieving a better result. We need to improve our package and the whole team will."

David Coulthard MP4-19 03
Kimi Raikkonen MP4-19 04
T-car (David) MP4-19 01
Spare MP4-19 02

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