Malaysian GP: McLaren Friday qualifying notes

West McLaren Mercedes drivers Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard finished the first qualifying session for the 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix in fourth and fifth places respectively. Kimi set a time of 1:36.038 and David did 1:36 297.

Kimi Raikkonen:

"Today was not too bad. I lost a bit of track time this morning after I went wide during practice so the set up of the car is still not perfect. During my qualifying lap I made a small mistake in the last corner and lost some time. However I'm not too concerned as tomorrow is when it really counts and hopefully then I can put together a perfect lap."

David Coulthard:

"My qualifying lap today was definitely better than the one in Melbourne but still a bit conservative as I didn't want to make a mistake. As I'm leading the Championship I was the first one out of the pits today and its obviously a disadvantage as the track is dirty at the beginning and tends to get cleaned up throughout the session. We still have some work to do as my lap time was slower than this morning's when I had more fuel."

Ron Dennis, team principal:

"A relatively satisfying session with both drivers concentrating on finishing their lap and not risk too much as qualifying for the starting grid is tomorrow."

Norbert Haug, Mercedes motorsport director:

"A reasonable basis for tomorrow. As predicted Michael Schumacher and Ferrari are still the benchmark."

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

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