British GP Saturday McLaren notes

Mika Hakkinen Chassis 01
David Coulthard Chassis 02
T-car Chassis 03

The West McLaren Mercedes team will start Sunday’s British Grand Prix from the second row. Mika qualified in third place with a time of 1:25.741 while David will line up in fourth after setting a time of 1:26.088.

MIKA HAKKINEN
‘I was not completely happy with the car’s behaviour during today’s qualifying as it had a tendency towards understeer. The team subsequently found a set-up error, which caused the problem. Off course starting the race from the second row will make things more difficult. Having said that without the yellow flags caused by Trulli’s spin I still probably would have got pole. Tomorrow the weather will play a role in the outcome but we have done a lot of running in both wet and dry conditions at Silverstone and I believe we have a good set-up no matter what.’

DAVID COULTHARD
‘With the circuit getting drier all the time it will always come down to where you are on the track on the last lap. Its just impossible to guess what traffic will be like. Considering that on my last run I was slowed down by a Jordan and then running behind a Williams, fourth place isn’t so bad. ’

RON DENNIS
‘Clearly both drivers were hampered with the inevitable problems that are the result of qualifying on a drying circuit, David being slowed by traffic and Mika having to lift for the yellow flags after Bridge. In the circumstances second row is not so bad but we had got rather used to pole position. As is normally the case the race should be somewhat more interesting as a result of this somewhat unusual grid.’

NORBERT HAUG
‘This qualifying was a little bit of a lottery and the outcome was not as good as it should have been. Anyway both cars on the second row of the grid is a good base for tomorrow’s race.’