Belgian GP Friday McLaren notes

The West McLaren Mercedes team is looking forward to this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix after topping the time sheets in today's free practice. David Coulthard was quickest with a time of 1:53.398, which he set in the first session and he did a total of 14 laps. Mika Hakkinen's time of 1:53.919 puts him in second place and he completed 17 laps.

David Coulthard:
'We went through our planned programme and achieved a good balance. In the second session one of my tyres received a small cut, which was, why I didn't do a lot of flat out laps. We did a few practice starts and I believe we are in good shape for the weekend.'

Mika Hakkinen:
'I'm very happy with the work we have done, but it's still early days. We tried a number of different set-ups to find the right balance and continuously improved the car. Getting the optimum out of the car is always a challenge at Spa because you have to make some compromises with the set-up.'

Ron Dennis:
'A good productive day. David's quickest time was set when the team was still in the process of optimising the car, and it therefore bodes well for tomorrow. Mika didn't do many timed laps but still managed a respectable time. Both conserved their tyres well. David and his engineers' decision not to move to a second set of tyres following him picking up a puncture was a disciplined approach.'

Norbert Haug:
'David was fastest in the morning and Mika in the afternoon. Both drivers and their teams did a good job in finding the right set-up for the race, but I would not read too much into the time gap between us and the competition. I'm expecting a close fight for pole tomorrow and in Sunday's race as well.'