Formula 1
Belgian GP Saturday McLaren Notes
The West McLaren Mercedes team made the most of a disrupted practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix with Mika Hakkinen qualifying on Pole, his 10th this season, with a 1'50"329. Team mate David Coulthard was only just behind him with a fastest ...
Edited: Apr 15, 2002, 11:45 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The West McLaren Mercedes team made the most of a disrupted practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix with Mika Hakkinen qualifying on Pole, his 10th this season, with a 1'50"329. Team mate David Coulthard was only just behind him with a fastest lap of 1'50"484.
Mika HAKKINEN It was, as ever, a great team effort which helped me to achieve my tenth pole of the season. This is not an easy circuit and you have to find the balance not only of the car, but also of knowing where to push and where to compromise on a lap, in order to put in a quick time. The accidents that we witnessed during qualifying looked pretty serious shunts on the TV but I am very glad that both BAR drivers are fine.
David COULTHARD I enjoyed the session as the car was going well and we were constantly making improvements. However, whatever I did, Mika seemed to improve upon. I made further changes to the set up for my last run which I think would have seen me improve on my time, but I made a small mistake and that cost me the quicker lap. The start will be very important tomorrow as the first corner is notorious for incidents but ultimately the race will come down to strategy and pit stops.
Ron DENNIS A trouble free qualifying session for us. The red flags of course caused disruption to the rhythm but that was the same for everyone and fortunately I don't think that made any considerable difference to the final outcome.
Norbert HAUG A very good session for us with Mika achieving his tenth pole position of the year. David was second, just one and a half tenths of a second behind. This was a great effort by the whole team. Having not had any problems so far in Spa I hope we continue tomorrow in the same way.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Belgian GP Stewart Friday Notes
Next article Italian GP Bridgestone Preview
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Mika Hakkinen
Who belongs on F1's Mount Rushmore? Pick your four greatest drivers
Formula 1
Formula 1
Who belongs on F1's Mount Rushmore? Pick your four greatest drivers
Mika Hakkinen reveals why McLaren rivalry with David Coulthard never boiled over
Formula 1
Formula 1
Dutch GP
Mika Hakkinen reveals why McLaren rivalry with David Coulthard never boiled over
Mika Hakkinen urges McLaren not to "rock the boat" with Max Verstappen move
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mika Hakkinen urges McLaren not to "rock the boat" with Max Verstappen move
More from
Mercedes
Kimi Antonelli hails "step forward" at United States GP as Mercedes chips away at upgrades
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
11 h
Kimi Antonelli hails "step forward" at United States GP as Mercedes chips away at upgrades
George Russell reveals he lost sleep over his own driving, not the F1 championship
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
23 h
George Russell reveals he lost sleep over his own driving, not the F1 championship
Latest news
Lamborghini World Finals | AM-LC Race 1: An unstoppable Lewandowski dominates to win Race 1
Lamborghini Super Trofeo
LBST Lamborghini Super Trofeo
World Finals - Monza 2026
2 h
Lamborghini World Finals | AM-LC Race 1: An unstoppable Lewandowski dominates to win Race 1
Why Cadillac F1 boss provoked fresh intrigue by dodging driver question
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
3 h
Why Cadillac F1 boss provoked fresh intrigue by dodging driver question
Lamborghini World Finals | PRO-PRO/AM Qualifying: Pole position for Lind, Bamber, Van der Drift and Marcelli
Lamborghini Super Trofeo
LBST Lamborghini Super Trofeo
World Finals - Monza 2026
3 h
Lamborghini World Finals | PRO-PRO/AM Qualifying: Pole position for Lind, Bamber, Van der Drift and Marcelli
Jorge Martin's endless ordeal since signing for Aprilia
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
4 h
Jorge Martin's endless ordeal since signing for Aprilia
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe