Bahrain GP: McLaren Friday practice notes

Team McLaren Mercedes drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya finished the first two free practice sessions of the 2006 Formula One season with the 12th and 13th fastest times of the afternoon respectively.

Kimi completed 16 laps with a fastest time of 1m33.577 and Juan completed 21 laps with a fastest time of 1m33.726. Kimi suffered an electrical problem with 20 minutes to go in the second session.

Kimi Raikkonen:

"We didn't do too much in the first session, and then this afternoon we were carrying out Michelin tyre comparisons. Unfortunately I stopped on track due to a suspected electrical problem towards the end of the last session, which meant that we did not manage to complete our programme, so we will have to wait and see where we are tomorrow."

Juan Pablo Montoya:

"The normal Friday tyre evaluation work. I am still not satisfied with the outcome of the first practice day, so we will have to continue our work in tomorrow's free practice session to improve our package in order to be in with a chance of a good qualifying result. The race should be a different story."

Ron Dennis:

"We prioritised on track time which saw us evaluating tyres on a less than perfect circuit. Anyone running new tyres in the afternoon improved on lap times, which supplemented by different fuel loads made for a very mixed and confusing order. We suffered an electrical problem on Kimi's car which disrupted the end of his second practice. We are now looking forward to tomorrow's new format qualifying."

Norbert Haug:

"We went through our race set up programme. Kimi experienced an electrical problem after 40 minutes into the second free practice. Our lap times looked consistent. Tomorrow's qualifying with a new format will be interesting and give us a first indication of where we really stand compared to our competition."

Chassis allocation
Kimi Raikkonen: MP4-21 02
Juan Pablo Montoya: MP4-21 03
T-car: MP4-21 01

-mclaren-