Malaysian GP: McLaren Friday practice notes

West McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen emerged fastest from today's two practice sessions at a hot and humid Sepang circuit. The Finn set a time of 1:34.395 and completed 17 laps. Team mate David Coulthard's time of 1:35.301 was ninth quickest and he did 13 laps.

Kimi Raikkonen:

"A productive practice session, and of course it's pleasing to be fastest, but it's still early days. We went through our tyre evaluation programme, and the car feels good and is handling well, but we will see what happens tomorrow. It's definitely too early to say how much we have improved since Melbourne, but I'm looking forward to the rest of the weekend."

David Coulthard:

"A reasonable practice today showing that we are in better shape than a few weeks ago. I had a small problem which caused me to struggle with the accelerator pedal, so I was unable to go for fast times. However, where we really are performance wise we will only find out tomorrow and Sunday."

Ron Dennis:

"David's practice was hampered by a small problem which significantly reduced the accelerator pedal's travel, which of course impacted on his laptimes. Kimi's day was troublefree, and so far we are pleased with the consistency and pace of our Michelin tyres. But it's still early days."

Norbert Haug:

"A reasonable start to the weekend with good and consistent times. Whether this continues throughout the weekend we will have to see."

David Coulthard: MP4-19 03
Kimi Raikkonen: MP4-19 04
T-car (Kimi): MP4-19 01

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