Monaco GP: McLaren Thursday qualifying notes

West McLaren Mercedes driver David Coulthard set a time of 1:17.059 during today's one-lap qualifying prior to Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix. David's time was the fifth fastest of the day. Team mate Kimi Raikkonen's time of 1:17.926 put him 11th.

David Coulthard:

"A rather unspectacular qualifying lap as there is no need to push 100 per cent today as you don't want to take any unnecessary risks. However, I could have gone a bit faster but I lost approximately half a second in the last sector. We can still improve the balance of the car, so let's wait and see what happens."

Kimi Raikkonen:

"Eleventh is obviously not brilliant but I would be more worried if I was in the same position after Saturday's qualifying. We still have some way to go with the set-up of the car and I'm confident that we can find further improvements."

Ron Dennis, Team principal:

"Both drivers took a cautious approach to qualifying as a result of them not being particularly happy with the balance of the car during this morning's practice session. Kimi's lap was particularly bad as the team took a calculated risk with a set-up change to the car, which proved wrong. As always it's Saturday's qualifying which is important."

Norbert Haug, Mercedes motorsport director:

"The first qualifying session hasn't been our speciality so far this year. What counts more will be Saturday's session and above all Sunday's race."

David Coulthard: MP4-17D 06
Kimi Raikkonen: MP4-17D 09
T-car: MP4-17D 05
T-car: MP4-17D 07
Spare: MP4-17D 08

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