German GP Saturday McLaren notes

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

West McLaren Mercedes driver Mika Hakkinen, put in his fastest lap of the weekend with a 1:42.950, giving him his eighth pole of the season and making it McLaren's 100th pole position. David Coulthard suffered a tyre problem during qualifying which saw him use the T.Car for one run before reverting to his race car for the rest of the session. He qualified third for tomorrow's race with a fastest time of 1:43.288

MIKA HAKKINEN 'It was a good qualifying session and I enjoyed it. However, I think I could have done better. Things on my second to last run were going exceptionally well until the second to last corner, when I arrived there I found a lot of dust on the circuit and I lost three tenths of a second at that point. But I am still on pole and that is the most important thing.'

DAVID COULTHARD 'I was on the in-lap of my first run and just between the first and second chicanes when the tread came off the tyre which was a rather attention grabbing moment because when the tread flies off it makes the tyre act in a funny way. I thought I had broken the suspension but that was not the case, it did however, cause some damage to the car and as a result I used the T car for my second run. My mechanics did a great job in fixing the car and I was able to use it for the remainder of the session. '

RON DENNIS 'A very close qualifying session. Neither of the drivers had optimum laps and David's performance was significantly hampered by a tyre related problem. This saw him take the T car for one of his qualifying runs. A normal and very traditional end of practice with city centre style congestion, but we are now looking forward to the race.'

NORBERT HAUG 'A very close qualifying. Mika finally made it his eighth pole this year. David has a good base by being third, closer to his team mate than he was last year.