Italian GP: McLaren Friday notes

West McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest after today's two free practice sessions for the Italian Grand Prix, the last European race of the 2002 season. Kimi set a time of 1:23.016 and completed 35 laps. David Coulthard went off the track in the opening minutes of the second session and was unable to take part in the remainder. He was classified 16th with a best time of 1:25.044 and completed 19 laps.

KIMI RAIKKONEN

"Two uneventful sessions for me where we worked to find an ideal set up and as I didn't do the test here last week I reacquainted myself with the Monza track. We made a lot of progress and obviously I plan to be as fast as possible tomorrow, but whether I can keep third place we will have to wait and see."

DAVID COULTHARD

"At the start of the second session the rear of the car locked up at the second Lesmo, and I'm not sure whether it was a problem with the brakes or the gearbox, but we will investigate further. It's a little frustrating not to have completed more laps, especially in view of tyre evaluation, but with the information we gained from the test last week we should be OK."

RON DENNIS

"A relatively normal Friday session which as usual saw the team concentrate on race set-up and tyre selection. David's off was the only problem of the day."

NORBERT HAUG

"Kimi did a lot of laps to set up the car and compare tyres and he continuously improved. It's a pity that David couldn't do more laps. Qualifying will be tough and as always Friday's lap times are difficult to compare, so let's concentrate on tomorrow."

David Coulthard: Chassis 08
Kimi Raikkonen: Chassis 07
T-car (David): Chassis 03
Spare: Chassis 09

-mclaren-