Malaysian GP: McLaren Saturday qualifying notes

West McLaren Mercedes drivers David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen will start tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix from fourth and seventh on the grid after setting times of 1:37.454 and 1:37.858 respectively.

David Coulthard:

"It's hard with these one lap runs to be completely satisfied with your performance particularly in these hot conditions. I made no big mistakes but I understeered a little at turn nine and the corner onto the back straight, so I was a little bit slower with the acceleration than I expected. As a result we could have been quicker but probably not as fast as the Renaults. However we hope that their strategy will see them pit earlier than us, and I think we can have a good race tomorrow."

Kimi Raikkonen:

"My lap today wasn't a disaster, but it wasn't brilliant either. I locked the rear of the car under braking at the hairpin, which lost me some time, but fortunately I kept the car on the circuit. We will see what happens tomorrow, as there is a different starting grid. As there is not a lot of testing time during a Grand Prix weekend anymore, we will see how everybody copes with the race distance and hopefully the people at the front are running on low fuel levels."

Ron Dennis, team principal:

"An interesting qualifying that has given us grid positions which represent the varying fuel loads. It should be another fascinating race."

Norberg Haug, Mercedes motorsport director:

"An interesting starting grid. Although we possibly could have done better today, we should be well prepared for the race tomorrow."

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

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