Formula 1

Malaysian GP: McLaren friday practice notes

Team McLaren Mercedes drivers Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen and Pedro de la Rosa finished today's practice sessions at the Sepang circuit in second, fourth and 13th places respectively. Kimi spun his car coming into turn eight at the start of ...

Edited: Mar 19, 2005, 5:08 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Team McLaren Mercedes drivers Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen and Pedro de la Rosa finished today's practice sessions at the Sepang circuit in second, fourth and 13th places respectively. Kimi spun his car coming into turn eight at the start of the second session and as a result was only able to do a limited amount of laps.

Juan Pablo's fastest time was 1:35.620 whilst Kimi did 1:35.719 and Pedro 1:37.033. The hot and humid conditions saw track temperatures soar to 56 degrees Celsius.

Juan Pablo Montoya:

"We have been working on the balance of the car trying different things to see what works for me, and we are going in the right direction. It was quite slippery out there due to the heat, but I didn't experience any problems. We definitely have the pace and now we need to make it work when it matters, which is on Sunday. As always in Malaysia it's very hot in the car, but we are prepared for this."

Kimi Raikkonen:

"My car felt good and our Michelin tyres seem to be working and wearing well. I didn't do as many laps as planned in the second session as I was a little too optimistic going into turn eight, spun into the gravel trap and was unable to continue. However we managed to get the car back to the garage and the guys did a great job to make sure that at least I got a run at the end."

Pedro de la Rosa:

"The majority of my work today has been to evaluate the Michelin tyres and we completed our programme as planned. We gained a lot of useful data for working out the right choice for tomorrow. I think we have a competitive package as a result of a good co-operation with Michelin at a track which is especially demanding for the tyres."

Ron Dennis:

"Apart from Kimi's off we completed today's planned programme. Our package seems to be working well here at Sepang, and we are looking forward to the rest of the weekend and what should be an exciting race in extremely hot conditions for the team, especially the drivers and the cars."

Norbert Haug:

"We ran our normal programme focusing on tyre evaluation and comparison under race conditions. In the second session Kimi could only run for two timed laps after his spin. Juan Pablo completed his programme and Pedro did a good job to sort out the tyres. The entire team has worked well in the extreme conditions. We expect the race to be one of the toughest."

Chassis allocation:
Kimi Raikkonen, MP4-20 04
Juan Pablo Montoya, MP4-20 03
Pedro de la Rosa, MP4-20 01
Spare, MP4-20 02

-mclaren-

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Malaysian GP: BAR Friday practice notes

Next article Doornbos outperforms teammates

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

"Slippery as hell" – Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar explain the "extreme" challenge of Mexico

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

7 min

"Slippery as hell" – Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar explain the "extreme" challenge of Mexico

Pato O'Ward questions promoters in Mexico after IndyCar Barcelona race confirmation

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 17 min

Pato O'Ward questions promoters in Mexico after IndyCar Barcelona race confirmation

Sergio Perez praises Colton Herta impact - but has no say over 2027 Cadillac F1 team-mate choice

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

1 h

Sergio Perez praises Colton Herta impact - but has no say over 2027 Cadillac F1 team-mate choice

Why “ignorance is a superpower” for Kimi Antonelli, according to Daniel Ricciardo

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

2 h

Why “ignorance is a superpower” for Kimi Antonelli, according to Daniel Ricciardo

Feature

Discover prime content

What’s the state of play at F1’s smallest team?

Formula 1

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What’s the state of play at F1’s smallest team?

Is history really repeating itself? What Christian Horner’s Adrian Newey claim says about Aston Martin and Red Bull

Formula 1

By Ronald Vording

Is history really repeating itself? What Christian Horner’s Adrian Newey claim says about Aston Martin and Red Bull

The one aspect of the 2026 US GP that should be a blueprint for F1 2027

Formula 1

United States GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

The one aspect of the 2026 US GP that should be a blueprint for F1 2027

A strategic masterclass: How Kimi Antonelli put himself on the cusp of F1 title at the US GP

Formula 1

United States GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

A strategic masterclass: How Kimi Antonelli put himself on the cusp of F1 title at the US GP

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts