German GP McLaren race notes

Chassis Numbers: Mika Hakkinen: MP4 -14 / 05 David Coulthard: MP4 -14 / 07 T.Car: MP4 -14 / 02

The West McLaren Mercedes team suffered an extreme contrast to the 1998 Mobil 1 German Grand Prix results. Mika Hakkinen retired following a tyre failure on lap 25 having previously led for 23 laps. David finished fifth after two unscheduled stops.

MIKA HAKKINEN 'Of course I am very disappointed not to finish this Grand Prix but that is motor racing. The start was good and I had pulled out a reasonable lead before my pit stop but there was a problem engaging the fuel nozzle, which lost me time. My new left hand rear tyre failed one and half laps later, throwing me into a spin and out of the race.'

DAVID COULTHARD 'I had no intention of overtaking Mika Salo at the point where we collided, but he braked quite early in front of me and I went to the inside to avoid hitting him. However we touched and I lost part of my front wing which meant that I had to pit for another nose. This dropped me down the order and I was trying to overtake Panis and as we went into the chicane. I wanted to avoid another incident so I cut across the inside of the chicane for which I was surprised to receive a ten second stop go penalty.'

RON DENNIS 'A difficult day for the team. Mika had a commanding lead which was eliminated by a jammed refuelling nozzle during the pit stop. He had the speed to catch and possibly pass the Ferraris but suffered an instantaneous rear tyre delamination, which spun him into the barriers. Fortunately he suffered no injuries. David's race was no less uneventful. He pitted early as the result of loosing part of his front wing through contact with Salo under braking. We then changed to a two stop strategy but his race was further hampered by a penalty imposed whilst trying to catch the leaders. With six races remaining we will use the strength and depth of the team in order to achieve our goals. There is still a long way to go and this has never been a sport for the faint hearted.'

NORBERT HAUG 'Mika drove a superb race without putting a foot wrong before loosing time during his pit stop. He was still close to the leaders in third place when a tyre failed at high speed sending him out of the race. We are very happy that he was unharmed. David's highly eventful race saw him require two additional unscheduled pitstops, however, he set fastest lap in his climb to fifth place. I am happy about our technical packages, so everything is still possible in the championship.'