French GP: McLaren Saturday qualifying notes

Team McLaren Mercedes driver David Coulthard will start tomorrow's Mobil 1 French Grand Prix from third position after setting a fastest time of 1:13.987. Team mate Kimi Raikkonen completed his lap in 1:14.346 and will be starting from ninth on the grid. Tomorrow's Mobil 1 French Grand Prix will see the race debut of the MP4-19B.

David Coulthard:

"I am pleased with the result; it shows that we have made progress with the car and I am happy that the hard work of the whole team is leading us in the right direction. We still have to wait for the race tomorrow to see how we compare with the fuel strategies of the opposition, but we have improved significantly."

Kimi Raikkonen:

"Unfortunately I pushed too hard at the first corner and got a bit of understeer, which cost me some time. I tried hard to compensate for this on the rest of the lap, which resulted in a few minor mistakes costing me even more time. I think it's obvious to everybody that the car shows potential, and I feel very confident when driving it. I'm sure the car's competitiveness will become clear tomorrow."

Ron Dennis:

"David's excellent grid position is a good reward for a lot of effort from the whole team. Both our chassis and engine performance have taken a positive step forward which hopefully will manifest itself in better results for the rest of the season. Kimi's enthusiasm got the better of him, but I'm sure both drivers will have the potential for a good race result tomorrow."

Norbert Haug:

"A good step forward today with a strong performance by David. We now know that the "B" in the revised car's name means "better". This is a good starting base for further improvements during the rest of the year. Unfortunately Kimi lost some time especially in the first sector otherwise he could have been closer to the front. "

David Coulthard: MP4-19B 02
Kimi Raikkonen: MP4-19B 01
T-car (Kimi): MP4-19A 01
Spare: MP4-19A 04

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