Australian GP Friday McLaren notes

2000 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX - FREE PRACTICE

The West McLaren Mercedes team started the 2000 Formula One season with David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen setting the second and fourth fastest time respectively in today's Free Practice for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix. David's best time was 1:32.144 and he completed 32 laps while Mika set a best time of 1:32.702 and did 24 laps. David's time was just 14 thousands of a second off the fastest time of the day.

MIKA HAKKINEN "Today's performance is a good start to the season. I'm very happy with the balance of the car and the work we have done today. We experienced no technical problems in either session, which meant we could concentrate 100 per cent on finding the right set-up for the rest of the weekend."

DAVID COULTHARD "It's been a busy day. We have gone through a normal Free Practice programme and worked on finding the ultimate set-up for the circuit and the conditions. I had a bit of a spin when I lost the rear but no damage was done."

RON DENNIS "The afternoon session for David was more productive than for Mika. Both cars ran reliably throughout the day but neither was at its optimum and therefore in the circumstances the lap times are not so bad."

NORBERT HAUG "As expected the competition up front is extremely close. Mika was on his quickest lap when he spun in the last corner towards the end of the session."