Friday March 15th, 2002

Finn Kimi Raikkonen remained cautious after topping the timesheets in today's practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The young Finn, preparing for only his second race as a McLaren driver after a debut season with Sauber, roared around the Sepang circuit in sweltering heat and a highly impressive 1:37.399.

Teammate David Coulthard, whose hopes of a competitive time in the opening session went up in smoke when his car caught fire in the first session, was second quickest in 1:38.038 as the Michelin-shod team turned the tables on rivals Ferrari.

Raikkonen's time, after a morning session dominated by the teams with Bridgestone tyres, left Michelin the early winners in the battle between the sport's two suppliers, but the Finn did not get carried away and admitted Saturday's performance is what counts.

"I don't think there is anything special that has improved our performance since Melbourne but of course having dry weather allows us to work on the car but as always let's wait and see where we are tomorrow," said Raikkonen after the session.

"It's nice to be fastest but it's too early to say how we will do tomorrow. Obviously I hope we can show the same level of competitiveness, but at least we know we are on the pace."

"As a day of preparation today wasn't ideal," added Coulthard after being more than six tenths of a second slower than his teammate. "I was unable to do much running in the first session as the car developed an electrical problem, which caused a fire.

"In the circumstances to set the second fastest time is encouraging but as always it's Friday and what is important is where we end up tomorrow."

Published at 08:56:10 GMT