Hakkinen still confident

McLaren's Mika Hakkinen is still confident of success this season, despite admitting he is less happy with his car and progress than he has been in the past.

Asked on if he felt his team could improve any more this year and how happy he was with progress made thus far, he said, "definitely a bit less happy than in the past. But, I still feel confident for the rest of the season. There are still plenty of races to go."

He added that he has a great team behind him, full of technical staff who are able to find that extra tenth of a second that could mean the difference between first and second for the remaining nine races of this season.

"We have some strongly committed people on the team. Great people who can make the car go even faster in the rest of the season."

Mika Hakkinen has won only one race so far in 2000: The Spanish Grand Prix back in May. He currently sits third in the Drivers' Championship, some twenty-four points behind Ferrari's Michael Schumacher.