European GP McLaren qualifying notes

The West McLaren Mercedes team will start Sunday’s Warsteiner European Grand Prix from the third row on the grid after David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen set times of 1:15.717 and 1:15.776 respectively.

DAVID COULTHARD
"We were unable to get the best out of the new tyres today and struggled to find a good balance. I had a lot of understeer, which affected my lap times. I think the season so far has illustrated that we tend to be quicker in the race than in qualifying. However it will be a challenge tomorrow as there are several cars between Michael and me."

MIKA HAKKINEN
"I'm obviously a bit disappointed as fifth and sixth are not ideal starting positions, but the race is not until tomorrow. We are not suffering from a specific problem and David and I have almost identical lap times. However I'm just not able to get the power down in the low speed corners without losing the rear so we have some work to do before the race."

RON DENNIS
"Nobody in the team feel satisfied with our grid positions but the determination to do well in tomorrow's race is undiminished. As is often the case in Formula One it's a combination of problems that see us being off the pace today. Obviously the team will be working hard tonight to improve the situation."

NORBERT HAUG
"We were too slow and have not achieved the starting positions we would have liked. We now have to focus on the race and see how we can improve for tomorrow."

- McLaren