Japanese GP Friday McLaren notes

Chassis Numbers: MP4/14-04 Mika Hakkinen MP4/14-06 David Coulthard MP4/14-02 T-Car MH MP4/14-05 T-Car DC

The West McLaren Mercedes Team worked consistently through practice preparing the cars for the race on Sunday. Mika Hakkinen put in the fastest time of the day on a a 1:41.746 with David Coulthard just behind him on a 1:41.894. This was prior to an accident which saw David spinning of the track and damaging the car, putting him out for the remainder of the second session.

MIKA HAKKINEN 'Both sessions went well today, we worked through our race programme to find a good set up and seem to have found a reasonable balance. That said, you can always go quicker and we will be looking to do that tomorrow in qualifying.'

DAVID COULTHARD 'A productive morning until the point of impact! As you would expect I was pushing very hard on one corner, I went a bit wide and put one wheel on the curb which saw the car spin quicker than I could catch it. There is a fair amount of damage to the car, but I know that the team will work hard, as always, to fix it before tomorrow so, I am looking forward to a competitive qualifying session.

RON DENNIS 'Apart from David's accident it was an uneventful day. The cars are working quite well and everyone is concentrating on the job in hand.'

NORBERT HAUG 'A good start to the weekend as the team found a good baseline to improve on. David was very competitive before he lost his car but he will be alright tomorrow.'