Hungarian GP Friday McLaren notes

HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX 1998 - FRIDAY

Chassis Numbers: Mika Hakkinen: MP4-13 / 05 David Coulthard: MP4-13 / 07 T. Car: MP4-13 / 04

The West McLaren Mercedes team made good progress today with set up analysis for Sunday's race. In addition the wet start to the day meant the team gained some useful knowledge with both wet and intermediate tyres with Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard being quickest in both the wet and dry sessions. David ended up with today's fastest time of 1:19.989 ahead of Mika's 1:20.186.

MIKA HAKKINEN 'It was good to have the opportunity to practice in both wet and dry conditions and it was no surprise that the new surface here in Hungary was very slippery in the rain this morning. We managed to complete some very good set up work on the car and we are enthusiastic about tomorrow.'

DAVID COULTHARD 'It was an interesting day, having both wet and dry sessions. We are working on the set up to rectify some oversteer characteristics, but I am happy with my performance today and I am looking forward to tomorrow.'

RON DENNIS 'I am quite satisfied with the progress we made today. As usual the Hungaroring is constantly changing and to finish the day with both cars ahead on well used tyres is encouraging.'

NORBERT HAUG 'We had two constructive sessions in the wet and in the dry with David and Mika finding a good set up for the race in either condition. Qualifying on the front row in Hungary is vital to achieving a win in the race. So we have to concentrate on the qualifying set up for tomorrow which will hopefully give us the same result as in today's free practice.'