1 July: French Grand Prix - Friday Practice Report - McLaren Mercedes
Team McLaren Mercedes driver Pedro de la Rosa emerged fastest from both of today's practice sessions at the Magny Cours circuit
in France (1:14.778 and 1:14.460). Team mate Juan Pablo Montoya was second quickest in the afternoon with a time of 1:15.129. Kimi
Raikkonen suffered from an engine failure during the opening minutes of the second practice and his car will have an engine change
overnight.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA "We have done a lot of work today and played with the car quite a bit. I think we
have a good idea of where we want to go and it looks like I'm going to be pretty quick. However our opposition also looks strong, so
it should be an interesting weekend, but I'm really pleased with how the car is behaving. I have been quick during the past couple
of races and am really getting the hang of the car, so I'm looking forward to the rest of the weekend."
KIMI RAIKKONEN "We
were going through our planned programme in the morning session, but unfortunately during my first run early in the second practice
I had an engine failure. That is obviously going to affect my weekend quite a bit as I will have to move ten places down the
starting grid which will make things more challenging. However we will do the best we can and continue working as hard as
possible."
PEDRO DE LA ROSA "The car ran reliably today which allowed us to complete our planned
programme. We have a good idea about the direction of our Michelin tyre selection and it should be a strong weekend. There was a bit
of understeer this morning but we solved that for the afternoon session."
RON DENNIS "Juan Pablo and Pedro
completed their planned programme without any problems. Both drivers gathered a lot of data which will determine our strategy for
the rest of the weekend. Unfortunately Kimi's running was cut short with an engine failure which will make his race even more
challenging."
NORBERT HAUG "Kimi had an engine failure in the second free practice when he was on his
first flying lap. This engine specification ran various times reliably between 1200 and 1500 kms of testing on and off track. We
will fly the engine back and investigate the reason for the failure immediately. It should not be a general problem with this engine
specification after all our thorough testing programmes, but we will know more tomorrow."
