Formula 1

Japanese GP: McLaren Friday notes

West McLaren Mercedes drivers David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen finished today's first qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix in fourth and fifth places after setting times 1:30.482 and 1.30.558 respectively !@DAVID COULTHARD "I'm ...

Edited: Oct 11, 2003, 2:55 AM

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West McLaren Mercedes drivers David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen finished today's first qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix in fourth and fifth places after setting times 1:30.482 and 1.30.558 respectively

!@DAVID COULTHARD

"I'm reasonably happy with that lap and believe there is still more to come as the car is performing well. I was a bit cautious going into the hairpin and slowed the car too much, but what you lose on entry you sometimes gain on traction. The track layout means that it's important to get the right flow and a small mistake can upset your rhythm quite easily, but everything went well today. The chicane is very difficult as you need to find the line and ride the kerbs, so I think the drivers who took part in this morning's Free Practice had an advantage. I look forward to tomorrow's second qualifying and Sunday's race."

KIMI RAIKKONEN

"My lap today was OK, but there is still room for improvement especially in the first sector where I lost about four tenths of a second compared to the best sector time. The gap to the competition is less than it normally is in Friday qualifying, so we should be in reasonable shape for tomorrow and Sunday. I'm pleased with how the car feels especially in the second and third sectors, and I like the new chicane. At the end of the day we are here to do our best and that is what we will continue to do."

RON DENNIS

"A good solid day's work by both drivers and the team as a whole. As always we are more focused on tomorrow's qualifying and the race than the somewhat less important task of qualifying today. Hopefully the weather will remain stable for the balance of the weekend."

NORBERT HAUG

"Two tenths of a second behind the best time and one tenth behind Michael Schumacher mark a good beginning to the weekend."

David Coulthard - MP4-17D 06
Kimi Raikkonen - MP4-17D 09
T-car (Kimi) - MP4-17D 07
Spare - MP4-17D 08 <pre> Free Practice: David: Kimi: 11.00: 5 laps, best time 1:33.409 11.00: 4 laps, best time 1:34.059 11.17: 6 laps, best time 1:32.469 11.16: 5 laps, best time 1:34.058 11.38: 5 laps, best time 1:32.658 11.33: 6 laps, best time 1:31.588 11.54: 5 laps, best time 1:31.019 11.52: 6 laps, best time 1:31.303

Qualifying 1    David:                                  Kimi:
                1:30.482 (fourth)                       1:30.558 (fifth)

                Sector 1        Sector 2        Sector 3
David           30.978 (6th)    40.636 (3rd)    18.868 (2nd)
Kimi            31.119 (7th)    40.696 (5th)    18.743 (1st)

-mclaren-

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