McLaren Duo Optimistic of Stronger Saturday

Scot David Coulthard said he took things easy in today's first qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix in order to avoid problems at the tricky Monte Carlo circuit.

"A rather unspectacular qualifying lap as there is no need to push 100 per cent today as you don't want to take any unnecessary risks," said Coulthard, who posted the fifth quickest time of the session more than half a second behind Michael Schumacher.

"However, I could have gone a bit faster but I lost approximately half a second in the last sector. We can still improve the balance of the car, so let's wait and see what happens."

Championship leader Kimi Raikkonen languished in 11th position after a set-up change to his car prior to his flying lap proved wrong. The Finn, who could only lose his lead to World Champion Schumacher, stayed confident of moving forward on Saturday.

"Eleventh is obviously not brilliant but I would be more worried if I was in the same position after Saturday's qualifying," said Raikkonen. "We still have some way to go with the set-up of the car and I'm confident that we can find further improvements."