Formula 1
French GP McLaren Post Race Quotes
MOBIL 1 FRENCH GRAND PRIX - SUNDAY RACEDAY Chassis Numbers: David Coulthard: MP4-13 / 03 Mika Hakkinen: MP4-13 / 06 T. Car: MP4-13 / 04 The West McLaren Mercedes team had a frustrating race as a re-fuelling problem on ...
Edited: May 8, 2001, 12:19 PM
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MOBIL 1 FRENCH GRAND PRIX - SUNDAY RACEDAY Chassis Numbers: David Coulthard: MP4-13 / 03 Mika Hakkinen: MP4-13 / 06 T. Car: MP4-13 / 04 The West McLaren Mercedes team had a frustrating race as a re-fuelling problem on David's car dropped him from a potential podium place to finish sixth. Mika meanwhile had a disappointing second start in which he lost two places from his pole position and whilst he challenged hard throughout the race he was unable to reclaim his lead and finished third. MIKA HAKKINEN 'My second start was a disaster and I lost several positions by the first corner. I have enough experience of this track to know that when you are behind someone who is slower than you it is nearly impossible to overtake, unless you take a risk. I did try to overtake Eddie but it was not to be, so I decided to finish with as many points as I could.' DAVID COULTHARD 'I am obviously very disappointed. I thought that I was making a good second start but it clearly wasn't good enough as I was passed by two cars which is something that has never happened before. There was a re-fuelling problem on my first stop as the fuel rig would not engage on the car and they had to take it off, reset it and start again, all of which takes time. Things then went from bad to worse and I ended up having four pit stops. All in all not a very good day but at least I scored a point finishing in sixth.' RON DENNIS 'Any chance of winning the race was effectively removed by the aborted first start. Our true pace was masked by our inability to pass Irvine's Ferrari, a changed race strategy might have worked, save for the difficulties that both drivers encountered in passing traffic. Sometimes the playing field doesn't seem level, this is one of those time.' NORBERT HAUG 'After the second start, which went badly for both our drivers in contrast to the first one, a lot went wrong. Mika was stuck behind Irvine and his attack on the Ferrari was not successful and ended in a spin. Rather than risking a crash with Irvine, Mika decided to concentrate on scoring the maximum possible number of points. David experienced a re-fuelling rig problem which necessitated two additional pit stops. We Definitely did not make good use of our performance potential today.'
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