European GP: McLaren Friday qualifying notes

Team McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen emerged fastest from today's first qualifying session at the Nürburgring. The Finn set a time of 1:29.989 whilst team mate David Coulthard's time of 1:30.903 puts him sixth.

Kimi Raikkonen:

"The car has been perfect all day and we improved it even more for qualifying so I'm very pleased. The whole lap was pretty good and I made no mistakes. There is no doubt that the MP4-17D is quick, but it's a matter of making all the parts work together and for me not to make any mistakes and then we are there. I look forward to the rest of the weekend."

David Coulthard:

"Obviously you always go into every session wanting to be fastest, but the important qualifying is tomorrow. The goal for today really is to be in the same group as our main opposition. There is nothing particular to say about the run, as my plan was to do a safe lap without pushing too hard."

Ron Dennis, team principal:

"A disciplined performance from both drivers, the engineers and the team as a whole which not only gave us the on-track performance but perhaps more importantly resulted in a good balance for the rest of the weekend which may have the added challenge of variable weather conditions."

Norbert Haug, Mercedes motorsport director:

"A strong performance by Kimi and the entire team. We haven't been Friday qualifying specialists so far this year, which makes the fact that Kimi was fastest today and the only one who achieved a time under 1 minute and 30 seconds very pleasing."

David Coulthard: MP4-17D 07
Kimi Raikkonen: MP4-17D 09
T-car (Kimi): MP4-17D 06

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