French GP: McLaren Friday qualifying notes

Team McLaren Mercedes drivers David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen finished today's first qualifying at the Mobil 1 French Grand Prix in 14th and 17th positions after setting times of 1:28.937 and 1:29.120 respectively. The track was drying throughout the session and Kimi and David were amongst the early runners.

David Coulthard:

"Obviously the conditions were tricky today with rain during practice and then the track drying during the qualifying session which is reflected in the times. I was running on the full wets like the others before me, so really we have had no dry running today. During practice we were familiarising ourselves with the revisions to the track. I look forward to tomorrow where hopefully the weather will be better."

Kimi Raikkonen:

"We did all of our running today in the wet but still managed to do some set-up work. The result of today's qualifying really just depended on when you had your run. As both David and I had our laps early on, when the track was wet, I'm not concerned. We will see what happens tomorrow where hopefully the sun will shine."

Ron Dennis, team principal:

"There is nothing new in the abnormalities that can come out of a practice or qualifying session which is affected by variable weather conditions. However unlike previous years we now have the single lap qualifying where these variables can have a dramatic impact, which was the case today. With tomorrow's qualifying determining the grid and taking into consideration the competitiveness of the current World Championship I hope that the weather doesn't intervene and subsequently affect the outcome of the race."

Norbert Haug, Mercedes motorsport director:

"Kimi and David were among the first seven drivers out who had to cope with the tricky and wet track. Let's hope for dry weather throughout tomorrow's qualifying or at least for a dry beginning to the session, just the other way around for a change..."

David Coulthard: MP4-17D 08
Kimi Raikkonen: MP4-17D 09
T-car (David): MP4-17D 06
Spare: MP4-17D 05

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