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Formula 1 News - March 2005
McLaren Mercedes

18 March: Malaysian Grand Prix - Friday Practice Report - McLaren Mercedes

Team McLaren Mercedes drivers Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen and Pedro de la Rosa finished today's practice sessions at the Sepang circuit in second, fourth and 13th places respectively. Kimi spun his car coming into turn eight at the start of the second session and as a result was only able to do a limited amount of laps. Juan Pablo's fastest time was 1:35.620 whilst Kimi did 1:35.719 and Pedro 1:37.033. The hot and humid conditions saw track temperatures soar to 56 degrees Celsius.

Juan Pablo Montoya "We have been working on the balance of the car trying different things to see what works for me, and we are going in the right direction. It was quite slippery out there due to the heat, but I didn't experience any problems. We definitely have the pace and now we need to make it work when it matters, which is on Sunday. As always in Malaysia it's very hot in the car, but we are prepared for this."

Kimi Raikkonen "My car felt good and our Michelin tyres seem to be working and wearing well. I didn't do as many laps as planned in the second session as I was a little too optimistic going into turn eight, spun into the gravel trap and was unable to continue. However we managed to get the car back to the garage and the guys did a great job to make sure that at least I got a run at the end."

Pedro de la Rosa "The majority of my work today has been to evaluate the Michelin tyres and we completed our programme as planned. We gained a lot of useful data for working out the right choice for tomorrow. I think we have a competitive package as a result of a good co-operation with Michelin at a track which is especially demanding for the tyres."

Ron Dennis "Apart from Kimi's off we completed today's planned programme. Our package seems to be working well here at Sepang, and we are looking forward to the rest of the weekend and what should be an exciting race in extremely hot conditions for the team, especially the drivers and the cars."

Norbert Haug "We ran our normal programme focusing on tyre evaluation and comparison under race conditions. In the second session Kimi could only run for two timed laps after his spin. Juan Pablo completed his programme and Pedro did a good job to sort out the tyres. The entire team has worked well in the extreme conditions. We expect the race to be one of the toughest."

2005 Malaysian Grand Prix - Main Page
2005 Malaysian Grand Prix - Team and Driver Friday Practice Reports Page

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