Italian GP: McLaren Friday qualifying notes

West McLaren Mercedes drivers Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard ended fifth and 14th in the first qualifying session of the 2003 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Kimi set a time of 1:21.966 whilst David did a 1:23.154 lap.

Kimi Raikkonen:

"I wanted to look after the car, but it wasn't as good a lap as it could've been and not as fast as this morning's, but we should be OK for tomorrow. Fifth place is not too bad, everything seems to be working well and I'm looking forward to the rest of the weekend."

David Coulthard:

"We had a productive morning session, but on my qualifying lap I made a mistake at the second chicane. The rear axle locked as a result of the automatic downshift cutting in and I had to drop my speed, which lost me a lot of time. Overall I think we are in reasonable shape and if we have a trouble free session tomorrow we should qualify well."

Ron Dennis:

"Our drivers' comments sum up well the result of today's not so important qualifying session. The most vital part of the day was this morning's session, which confirmed to us that we should be competitive on Sunday. All the teams have worked hard and as a result I think we can look forward to a great race."

Norbert Haug:

"Today's performance in the morning was OK, but our performance in qualifying was not. I think we will be more competitive tomorrow and on Sunday."

David Coulthard: MP4-17D 08
Kimi Raikkonen: MP4-17D 09
T-car (Kimi): MP4-17D 07
Spare: MP4-17D 06

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