30/09/2006
NEWS STORY
Team McLaren Mercedes drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Pedro de la Rosa will start tomorrow's Chinese Grand Prix from fifth and seventh place respectively after setting times of 1m45.754 and 1m45.877. Rain affected both this morning's practice session and qualifying.
Kimi Raikkonen: "It was a bit of a lottery in qualifying as it was really wet and slippery on track. However we did what we could and fifth is not too bad considering that I had traffic in the final corner which cost me a few tenths. The interesting thing will be to see what the weather will do tomorrow. I lost my mirror during the final qualifying session but didn't notice it, and it had no effect. Now we will see what happens in the race."
Pedro de la Rosa: "A very eventful qualifying where I was constantly battling to stay on track, and had a lot of near spins. At the start of my flying lap when my Michelin tyres were at their hottest and had the most grip I was blocked by a car exiting the pitlane. I had to run wide to avoid a collision, and it was about three corners before I was able to get past by which point my tyres had cooled off. However in general I'm happy with the performance of our car and the Michelin tyres which is why we were consistent timing wise throughout qualifying, which is always encouraging."
Ron Dennis: "The wet weather and a bit of on-track Shanghai traffic affected today's qualifying. However from grid positions five and seven anything is possible. The car and our Michelin tyres are working well, and we look forward to tomorrow.
Norbert Haug: "These were extremely difficult conditions today which saw many drivers being caught out. With grid positions on row three and four we have a decent basis for tomorrow's race."
To check out our Shanghai qualifying gallery, click here