Raikkonen content with qualifying effort

The Finn, who is two points behind leader Michael Schumacher, believes his McLaren has the potential to make up places in Sunday's race.

"A pretty good qualifying lap," he said. "[That] is the best time we have done so far this weekend, and the gap to the front is less than before, so I'm very pleased. Of course we would like to be on the front row, but everything is possible from the second line.

"I think we will be more competitive in the race as the car is working well, and we have a good strategy, so we will see what happens tomorrow - I'm sure it will be a great race."

His team-mate David Coulthard, who was hampered by being the seventh car on track today after yesterday's qualifying woes, was nonplussed with his eighth spot today.

"A reasonable lap where I set almost the same time as in the warm up," he said. "I was a bit cautious and there was no drama. I expected the track to get faster and faster as the session went on and it did. However I hope for a good start and with our strategy we should be able to maximise the situation in the race tomorrow."