06/05/2006
NEWS STORY
Team McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen will be starting tomorrow's European Grand Prix from fifth on the grid having set a time of 1:30.933. Juan Pablo Monyoya's time of 1:31.880 means that he will be starting from ninth place. The first session saw Kimi finish with the third quickest time of 1:31.263 whilst Juan Pablo was ninth with his lap of 1:31.774. In the second session Kimi and Juan Pablo finished in second and fifth places with times of 1:30.203 and 1:30.671 respectively.
Kimi Raikkonen: "I am happy with the result today as we were not entirely comfortable with the car in the Friday practice sessions, but today was much better, and I was able to push and get the best out of the car. Everyone has worked really hard and as a result the balance of the car has steadily improved. I am confident that we can definitely be competitive in the race tomorrow, but it is always hard to tell until we see how the strategies unfold."
Juan Pablo Montoya: "This was not a great lap for me as I was still struggling a little with the set up of the car. We had to change quite a bit to improve the handling of the car throughout the practice sessions which resulted in a compromise. However our race pace is generally strong and I think that we have demonstrated good speed in the first two sessions. It looks optimistic for tomorrow's race, as long as we get a clean start of the line, as overtaking at this circuit is possible."
Ron Dennis: "As the grip improved our tyre choice steadily came right, which was reflected in both drivers results in the first two qualifying sessions. Now we will have to see how our race strategy unfolds tomorrow."
Norbert Haug: "Certainly not the places on the grid we have aimed for, but the team and both drivers have worked very hard since yesterday and achieved good lap times in Qualifying One and Two. Tomorrow we will see whether our strategy will pay off."