FRENCH GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING
Magny Cours, France, Saturday 15th July 2006
Kimi Raikkonen, MP4-21 02
Pedro de la Rosa, MP4-21 07
T-car (Kimi), MP4-21 06
Team McLaren Mercedes driver Kimi Raikkonen will be starting
tomorrow's French Grand Prix from sixth on the grid having
set a time of 1:16.281 in the final qualifying session. Pedro
de la Rosa's time of 1:16.632 means that he will be starting
from eighth place. Today's qualifying saw a slightly revised
format with the third session lasting only 15 minutes, whilst
laps started before the chequered flag in the first two sessions
now count towards the result.
Qualifying Session One: Qualifying Session Two: Qualifying
Session Three:
Kimi: 6 laps, 1:16.154 (4th) 3 laps, 1:15.742 (5th) 11 laps,
1:16.281 (6th)
Pedro: 5 laps, 1:16.679 (10th) 6 laps, 1:15.902 (8th) 12 laps,
1:16.632 (8th)
KIMI RAIKKONEN
"I am pretty happy with the performance of the car, we
could be a little faster and there are a few things that could
improve. However, with our Michelin tyre choice I expect a
stable race performance, and a podium result is what I am
aiming for. Otherwise I had an uneventful qualifying."
PEDRO DE LA ROSA
"That was quite interesting from my point of view, especially
towards the end when it gets very busy on track. I could have
been a bit quicker, but I had a lot of traffic coming out
of the pit-lane as I started my last lap on fresh tyres, and
I lost nearly four tenths on the high speed turn three. With
this qualifying system, which is new to me, you can not afford
to have the slightest problem to qualify at the top. We made
some changes to the car and as a result it is handling a lot
better than yesterday, so I am looking forward to the race
and hopefully scoring some points for the team."
RON DENNIS
"Not a bad qualifying for us and, as is often the case
for everyone we encountered a lot of traffic. The grid positions
reflect the tyre competition. This will be an important factor
in the race, and we expect that our selected Michelins will
enable us to be strong tomorrow."
NORBERT HAUG
"Our grid positions on the third and fourth row are not
ideal, but let's see the strategies tomorrow. Pedro on his
debut did a good job for the team. Our speed should be good
enough for a podium place."
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