West McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen will start tomorrow's Italian Grand Prix at Monza from seventh position whilst team mate David Coulthard is in tenth place for the last European race of the 2004 season. Kimi set a fastest time of 1:20.877 whilst David completed his qualifying lap for the 53-lap race in 1:21.049.

Kimi Raikkonen: "It was an OK lap. I think I was a bit too quick coming into the last corner and possibly lost some time, but otherwise it was good. Rubens is a lot faster than everybody else, but apart from him we are all pretty close. It will be interesting to see what happens in the race when it becomes clear what strategy other teams have chosen. In addition the weather might play a role as some say it could rain."

David Coulthard: "A very close qualifying session where a few tenths of a second made a big difference to where you are on the grid. My lap was a tidy one. However, I did lose a small amount of time in Ascari, but because we are so close this cost me some positions. We believe that our strategy will allow us a strong race."

Ron Dennis: "A very close qualifying session with the varying fuel loads and strategies distorting the grid. We are looking forward to the race where it will quickly become apparent as to whether we have chosen the right strategy or not."

Norbert Haug: "Everything is really close apart from Rubens' pole time, and we should have a better performance in the race than our grid positions indicate."