Japanese GP: McLaren Friday practice notes

West McLaren Mercedes drivers Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard finished today's second practice session for the penultimate round of the 2004 Formula One Championship at Suzuka in third and fifth places respectively. Kimi set a fastest time of 1:46.749 whilst David did 1:48.033. Both practice sessions took place in extremely wet conditions with the rain increasing in the last quarter of the second session.

Kimi Raikkonen:

"Obviously very tricky and constantly changing conditions today. The circuit had lots of water on it, which made it very difficult to do any real set-up work. Nevertheless it is a start and at least it's encouraging that I'm the fastest Michelin runner. Now we wait to see how the weather will develop tomorrow and how the predicted typhoon will affect the rest of the weekend's running."

David Coulthard:

"We worked on set-up for wet weather today as there is a good chance that the rainy conditions will remain tomorrow. I had a late start to the first practice session as the team decided to change my clutch as a precaution since some data showed that it might have developed a problem. We didn't want to take that risk in the rain. However it didn't really affect my programme as we gathered enough data in the second session."

Ron Dennis:

"Obviously a very difficult session with the rain's intensity varying the levels of aquaplaning that Kimi and David experienced. Both cars ran well and occupy the top two positions for Michelin runners."

Norbert Haug:

"Probably one of the wettest Friday's practices that Formula One has seen. The conditions were extremely difficult, and we only went out for a few laps so the times don't mean so much under these circumstances. Nevertheless Kimi and David performed well, and we now have to hope that the weather will be better on Sunday in order to have a proper race."

David Coulthard: MP4-19B 03
Kimi Raikkonen: MP4-19B 01
T-car (Kimi): MP4-19B 02

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