9 July: British Grand Prix - Qualifying Report - McLaren Mercedes
Team McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen's time of 1:19.932 meant that the Finn emerged second fastest from today's qualifying
session at Silverstone. However he will have to move down 10 places on the starting grid as the team changed the engine on his car
following an oil pump drive failure during this morning's second practice session. Team mate Juan Pablo Montoya's time of 1:20.382
puts him fourth fastest but he will start from third following Kimi's penalty.
KIMI RAIKKONEN "It's frustrating
having to change engines and incur the 10 place penalty again, but we showed in France last weekend what is possible. There is
nothing I can do but get on with things, push as hard as possible and hope our strategists got things right. The lap was OK, but I
ran a bit wide in one of the quick corners. Also, as the engine failure happened early in the second session, I was unable to run
with new tyres then which made things more challenging during my flying lap. In racing anything can happen and we will do our best
and hope for an exciting Grand Prix tomorrow."
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA "It was an OK lap time. I could have
been one or two tenths quicker, but was a bit careful coming into the first corner because of the wind and all of a sudden lost a
lot of grip when I turned in at Becketts. However the rest of the lap was pretty good and I pushed like crazy. Qualifying is
important here at Silverstone and whilst it's a disadvantage to be out early, I still managed to get on the second row and I hope it
will be a strong race for me."
RON DENNIS "The grid positions merely reflect our race strategy which, of
course, in the end is what determines the outcome of the race. Both Kimi and Juan Pablo did exceptionally good jobs which, as in
France, will only become apparent as the race unfolds."
NORBERT HAUG "A very good lap of Kimi's. After we
had to change his engine following the oil pump drive failure Kimi made the best out of the situation qualifying with the second
best time, 27 thousands of a second behind Fernando Alonso's pole time. Juan Pablo also did a good job being fourth fastest after
having to go out for his qualifying lap as the fifth car today when the track conditions were by far not at their best. Sorry for
Kimi and his team, the mechanics had to work extremely hard to make his qualifying lap possible. I hope they will get their reward
tomorrow. Of course, changing the engine on two consecutive weekends is not what we had planned. I'm sure that everybody at
Mercedes-Ilmor will work extremely hard and precise to avoid such failures in the future."
