Hungarian GP McLaren race notes

Hungaroring, Sunday 19th August, 2001

David Coulthard   Chassis 06

Mika Hakkinen    Chassis 07

West McLaren Mercedes driver David Coulthard finished today's Hungarian Grand Prix in third place whilst Mika Hakkinen took fifth. Mika established a new lap record for the Hungaroring with a time of 1:16.723 on lap 51. David had his two pitstops on laps 32 and 54, whilst Mika made three stops on laps 39, 56 and 71. Today's result means that Michael Schumacher and Ferrari have won the World Championships.

DAVID COULTHARD
'Obviously I'm disappointed that it's all over but congratulations to Michael and Ferrari. I feel that I have improved a lot this season and performed at a high level but we have been unable to finish races consistently, which has cost me valuable points. In today's race I was unable to get past Michael at the start and Rubens got past me as well. I believe it was a consequence of being on the dirty side of the track. The start is so crucial here in Hungary as its virtually impossible to overtake on the circuit, which I think, was obvious to everybody watching today's race. During my first stint I was able to stay close to Rubens and I knew there might be a chance that I could get past him in the pitstop which I did. However there was a problem with the nozzle in my second pitstop and I lost a bit of time which meant that Rubens took second. Today's result doesn't mean that I'm less motivated as I still want to win races this year.'

MIKA HAKKINEN
'During the first 29 laps of the race, I was stuck behind Trulli who was about 1.5 seconds slower per lap than me. It was only after his first pit stop that I could start to make inroads on Ralf Schumacher who by then was about 30 seconds ahead. My first and second pit stops were excellent but we changed the strategy so I only took a little fuel load in the second stop to see whether it would be possible to overtake Ralf Schumacher - unfortunately this didn't work because overtaking at this track is impossible if the driver ahead of you doesn't make a mistake. Then I had to come in for my additional fuel stop and that was it. The speed of my car was very good and the lap record is a small consolation for my efforts. Now I'm looking ahead to the next race at Spa-Franchorchamps.'

RON DENNIS
'The drivers' comments describe our race well. We tried hard but I'm sure the best we could have achieved was second for David and fifth for Mika. A small problem during David's second pit stop saw his second place slip away. At the end of the day, this is of little consequence as we are here to win which is what we want to do in the remaining races this season. At this stage its too early to look back on the season, as there are still races to win. However the fact is that Michael and his team have won and their consistent performance this season has to be acknowledged ? well done to both Michael and his team.'

NORBERT HAUG
'Congratulations to Michael Schumacher and Ferrari on winning the World Championships. We were as quick today and we want to finish the rest of the season on that level but with the results in the reverse order.'

-McLaren-