German GP Friday McLaren notes

The West McLaren Mercedes team went through a normal Friday practice in today's two sessions in preparation for Sunday's Mobil 1 German Grand Prix. Mika was third fastest with a time of 1:44.120 and did 27 laps, while David set the fifth quickest time with 1:44.379 and did two laps more than Mika. Both Mika and David set their fastest times in the first session when the track was still dirty but dry.

Mika Hakkinen
'The sessions were made interesting by the changing weather. Like most drivers I prefer to drive the car in the dry, but today I felt comfortable in both conditions and we seemed pretty competitive no matter what. We have a lot of supporters here in Germany and its good to see the silver and black caps all around the track.'

David Coulthard:
'We went through a lot of work today and even though there have been no changes made to the track the surface is never the same as the year before. I'm happy with the progress we made with the car.'

Ron Dennis:
'A reasonable constructive day where we experienced no mechanical problems. Our performance in the afternoon, in both the wet and dry conditions, seem to indicate that we made a good step forward from this morning. Taking into account the weather and the normal influence of tyres and fuel loads we seem to be in good shape for the weekend.'

Norbert Haug:
'Today's practice took place in difficult conditions with the track changing from dirty but dry to wet and then dry again. Under these circumstances its difficult to predict who will be best prepared for the race.'