Monaco GP: McLaren Thursday notes

West McLaren Mercedes driver David Coulthard emerged third fastest after today's two Free Practice sessions for the Monaco Grand Prix. He set a time of 1:19.597 and completed 37 laps. Six laps into the first session team mate Kimi Raikkonen hit the tyre barrier at La Rascasse damaging the chassis and was unable to do any more running. His fastest time was 1:22.904 classifying him 19th.

DAVID COULTHARD

"We focused our work on improving the balance throughout both sessions and made some progress, but we still have a little understeer which we have to get rid off. The grip level was surprisingly high considering it was the first day of running. It's difficult to see where you are compared to everybody else as all the teams are running with different fuel levels. On my last set of new tyres I did a messy lap but was still able to pick up 1.5 seconds, so I'm confident that considering the amount of fuel we were running I could have extracted a faster time today."

KIMI RAIKKONEN

"I was on a fast lap when I lost control of the car at La Rascasse. The impact damaged the chassis and I was unable to do any more running today. We will be using my T-car for the rest of the weekend. Fortunately the team brought five cars but my aim is only to use two!!"

RON DENNIS

"Encouraging performance from our tyre Partner Michelin. Hopefully it will continue throughout the rest of the weekend. Kimi's accident was unfortunate, but the rest of the day's running was uneventful."

NORBERT HAUG

"We learnt a lot today and found a good basis for the race. Unfortunately Kimi hit the tyre barrier after six laps but he will back in action on Saturday."

David Coulthard  Chassis 03

Kimi Raikkonen  Chassis 04

Session 1- Ambient temperature: 19C
Session 1 -Track temperature: 20C
T-car (David) Chassis 05

Session 2 - Ambient temperature: 17C - 20C
Session 2 -Track temperature: 19C - 20C
T-car (Kimi) Chassis 06

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