Formula 1
Italian GP McLaren Saturday notes
ITALIAN GRAND PRIX 1998 -- QUALIFYING Chassis Numbers Mika Hakkinen: MP4-13/04 David Coulthard: MP4-13/06 T-Car: MP4-13/02 T-Car: MP4-13/03 Drying track conditions meant today's qualifying took place in the last 20 minutes of the session, ...
Edited: May 8, 2001, 12:19 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
ITALIAN GRAND PRIX 1998 -- QUALIFYING
Chassis Numbers Mika Hakkinen: MP4-13/04 David Coulthard: MP4-13/06 T-Car: MP4-13/02 T-Car: MP4-13/03
Drying track conditions meant today's qualifying took place in the last 20 minutes of the session, as the majority of the teams including West McLaren Mercedes waited for circumstances to improve before venturing onto the circuit. As a result the top grid positions changed constantly up until the final seconds of qualifying, which saw Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard finish third and fourth for tomorrow's race with fastest laps of 1: 25.679 and 1:25.987.
MIKA HAKKINEN 'I think we were subject to the difficult circumstances today -- along with everyone else. The very difficult track conditions meant that I was not fully confident in the car when I went out and it took me a short while before I was ready to go flat out. However, although it is disappointing not to be on the front row of the grid, tomorrow's race is another story. We have a very good car and I am looking forward to the race.'
DAVID COULTHARD 'Of course it is disappointing to be fourth on the grid especially when we know that we have a quick car round here. Basically today's grid positions depended on coping well with the traffic and I wasn't able to do that. But I still think we are in a strong position for the race tomorrow.'
RON DENNIS 'Whilst neither car was optimum for the conditions the only thing that kept us off the front row was traffic. The outcome could have been better but it certainly could have been worse.'
NORBERT HAUG 'The objective today was to be out on the circuit in the very last moments without coming upon traffic. Unfortunately Mika and David didn't find clear laps. But we have won races from worse grid positions, for example here at Monza last year with David starting from sixth.'
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Barcelona Tyrrell Briefing on X-Wings
Next article Spanish GP Race Story
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Mika Hakkinen
Who belongs on F1's Mount Rushmore? Pick your four greatest drivers
Formula 1
Formula 1
Who belongs on F1's Mount Rushmore? Pick your four greatest drivers
Mika Hakkinen reveals why McLaren rivalry with David Coulthard never boiled over
Formula 1
Formula 1
Dutch GP
Mika Hakkinen reveals why McLaren rivalry with David Coulthard never boiled over
Mika Hakkinen urges McLaren not to "rock the boat" with Max Verstappen move
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mika Hakkinen urges McLaren not to "rock the boat" with Max Verstappen move
More from
Mercedes
Christian Horner admits that F1 rivalry with Toto Wolff became "theatre"
Formula 1
Formula 1 22 h
Christian Horner admits that F1 rivalry with Toto Wolff became "theatre"
‘I’ll put a pillow under his butt’ – How Toto Wolff wants to solve Kimi Antonelli’s track limits problem
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
‘I’ll put a pillow under his butt’ – How Toto Wolff wants to solve Kimi Antonelli’s track limits problem
Latest news
Max Verstappen on GTWC Europe debut: “We’re here to win”
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 7 h
Max Verstappen on GTWC Europe debut: “We’re here to win”
How to watch NASCAR at Phoenix II: Weekend schedule, start time, entry list, TV
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
7 h
How to watch NASCAR at Phoenix II: Weekend schedule, start time, entry list, TV
Ryan Ellis signs multi-year NASCAR O'Reilly deal with Alpha Prime Racing
NASCAR O'Reilly
NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly
Phoenix II
8 h
Ryan Ellis signs multi-year NASCAR O'Reilly deal with Alpha Prime Racing
Ayao Komatsu: Rafael Camara chosen for F1 2027 seat on speed, not Ferrari links
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
14 h
Ayao Komatsu: Rafael Camara chosen for F1 2027 seat on speed, not Ferrari links
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe