05 March: Australian Grand Prix - Saturday Qualifying Report - McLaren Mercedes
Team McLaren Mercedes drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya finished today's first qualifying in 10th and 11th positions
after setting times of 1:44.997 and 1:45.325 respectively. The first part of the session took place in drying track conditions but
the rain recommenced at 13.35. As the starting order was decided by the result of the last race in the 2004 Championship, Kimi
started second to last whilst Juan Pablo commenced his flying lap as the last driver and the track conditions affected both drivers
qualifying laps. The difference between Giancarlo Fisichella's pole position time of 1:33.171 and Kimi and Juan Pablo's times is a
good indication of the conditions.
Kimi Raikkonen "Unfortunately my run was affected by the weather, and we are
all disappointed as we have been looking strong so far this weekend. The gap to the front is too large for us to achieve any major
improvement in the qualifying session tomorrow. However in the race anything can happen so we will see. At least we were the fastest
of the cars in the last part of the qualifying session".
Juan Pablo Montoya "That was a real shame for us
today, and I think the only guy who is really happy is Fisichella. I did my best but it was so slippery out there and the car went
sideways a couple of times. We will of course do our best tomorrow and despite probably having to start the race far down we should
have a good chance, and as today has shown anything can happen."
Ron Dennis "Obviously it's always
disappointing when things out of your control influence the outcome of a qualifying session, particularly as we have been looking
competitive so far this weekend. However we still have tomorrow's final qualifying session and race to look forward to where
hopefully the track conditions will remain constant."
Norbert Haug "Today's qualifying was a lottery.
However, Kimi and Juan Pablo made the best out of the difficult situation. They both performed extremely well. Tomorrow it's going
to be exciting and conditions in the second qualifying could be the other way around."
