British GP Saturday McLaren notes

Chassis Numbers: Mika Hakkinen: MP4-14 / 05 David Coulthard: MP4-14 / 06 T.Car: MP4 -14 /02

The West McLaren Mercedes team had a very positive qualifying session with Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard taking pole and third positions respectively with a 1:24.804 and a 1:25.594. Warmer weather conditions slowed the session, which saw the main protagonists establishing their fastest times early on. David however, bucked the trend as he improved his time on his final run.

MIKA HAKKINEN 'I am very pleased to be on pole for tomorrow's race. We had a good test here last week and tried a number of different set ups, which put us in a good position for qualifying. It was much warmer this afternoon which means that times were in fact a bit slower than this morning but that's not unusual. All in all, the car and the engine felt good and the team did a great job in preparing everything.'

DAVID COULTHARD 'Third on the grid is pretty good considering the fact that I am struggling with some back end balance, particularly under braking. I am not worried about it though as I know that I can work on this with my engineers and we will find a solution for the race. As always I am focused on winning and I am fully confident that I can achieve that result.'

RON DENNIS 'A relatively troublefree day but not perfect as David experienced a small imbalance in the car which he dealt with admirably. Mika was able to achieve pole utilising three sets of tyres which leaves us with a spare set, so overall we are reasonably comfortable with our position.'

NORBERT HAUG 'I am happy, especially for our McLaren Partners at their home Grand Prix, that Mika achieved pole position today. He did a great job and I think that in the quick corners of the first sector he set his mark. David, being third gives us a good base for tomorrow's race.'