Formula One news

Quiet Friday for McLaren

McLaren Mercedes drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Kimi Raikkonen finished today's second practice session in 12th and 21st positions respectively after setting times of 1m38.022 and 1m39.179. It started to rain slightly halfway through the second session. In the opening practice Pedro didn't take to the track whilst Kimi spun during his one scheduled run. In total Pedro completed nine laps and Kimi eight. As usual on a Friday both drivers focused on Michelin tyre choice and initial set-up work.

"A quiet start to practice today," said Raikkonen. "The rain halfway through the second session did affect our programme slightly as we planned to run towards the end of that practice. However we obtained some initial useful data and will continue our work in tomorrow's practice after which we have to make our Michelin tyre choice. I had a small spin on my first run in the morning's session, but these things happen - it was just a bit slippery."

De la Rosa added, "We went through our programme with the Michelin tyres to gain some data to help us make the correct tyre choice. We decided to postpone our running until the second session, which was then affected a little bit by the rain which made it more challenging to evaluate the data. However we are confident that we will make the right tyre choice for the rest of the weekend. I like this track which I know from being the third driver on Fridays last year, and I look forward to the rest of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend."

Team boss Ron Dennis concluded, "We intended to do the minimum amount of running as usual on a Friday to conserve our engines and the Michelin tyres. We waited a little too long for the track surface to clean up, which resulted in both drivers being hampered by the damp track conditions caused by a sprinkle of rain. However, we experienced no problems and will continue our work in tomorrow's practice session."

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