McLaren Duo Optimistic of Strong Race

Championship contender Kimi Raikkonen was pleased with his qualifying performance and is confident he will have a good French Grand Prix tomorrow.

"I think we did the best we could, and hopefully it will pay off tomorrow," said Raikkonen, who posted the fourth fastest time of the day. "I struggled a bit with understeer in the third sector, which cost me some time but apart from that I'm quite pleased with our starting positions.

"The Michelins have been working well and the hotter the weather gets, the better as far as I'm concerned. We will see what happens in the race, but I think we are in strong positions to score important Championship points."

McLaren driver Raikkonen finished right behind Championship leader Michael Schumacher, who is currently seven points ahead of the Finn. Raikkonen's teammate David Coulthard was also happy with his performance today after finishing in fifth position.

"A better qualifying for me than in previous races so in that respect I'm pleased," said Coulthard. "I was driving defensively to try and keep the lap tidy. Now I already look back and know that I could be a couple of tenths quicker if I had pushed more.

"The car responded well, and I was able to get through turn 13 quickly where we have struggled somewhat so far. I'm confident that we can have a strong race."