German GP: McLaren Saturday notes

Team McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen will start Sunday's Mobil1 German Grand Prix from fifth place after setting a time of 1:15.639. David Coulthard qualified ninth with a time of 1:15.909.

KIMI RAIKKONEN

"After this morning's session, we knew that fifth was probably the best we could do, so I'm not too disappointed. A one second miscalculation saw me unable to take my last run as the chequered flag came out just as I was about to start, but fortunately I didn't lose a position. The gap to the front is larger than last race, but we are confident that we will be able to get closer to Ferrari and Williams tomorrow and achieve a good result in the race."

DAVID COULTHARD

"A disappointing qualifying session as I was unable to improve with each run. My second run was my best as I went wide on my third attempt due to oversteer and was too cautious at the end. There wasn't a major imbalance with the car, but we just weren't able to adapt the set-up to make the tyres work at their best. I believe we will be quicker in the race but from ninth on the grid things will not be easy."

RON DENNIS

"David's grid position reflects the difficulties of getting the best lap time out of a slightly uncompetitive package. Kimi's fifth place was the best we could have hoped for taking into consideration our qualifying weaknesses, which to some degree were influenced by our race tyre choice. Our race pace should be much stronger."

NORBERT HAUG

"We didn't do a good job in today's qualifying. Our focus is now on finding the right race set-up and we certainly will try to perform better tomorrow."

David Coulthard: Chassis 08
Kimi Raikkonen: Chassis 06
T-car (Kimi): Chassis 07

-mclaren-