Monaco GP McLaren Saturday notes

Mika Hakkinen Chassis 04
T-car (Mika) Chassis 01
David Coulthard Chassis 05
T-car (David) Chassis 02

West McLaren Mercedes drivers David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen will start tomorrow’s Monaco Grand Prix from third and fifth position. David set a time of 1:19.888 while Mika’s quickest time was 1:20.241. Both drivers struggled with traffic and Mika had to abort a couple of his qualifying laps due to yellow flags.

MIKA HAKKINEN
‘Obviously I’m not where I want to be for the race. It just seemed that whenever I was on a flying lap I was caught in traffic or the yellow flags came out and I had to go back into the pits and try again. As a result we were not able to maximise our performance today. Monaco is one of those places where you can lose out very easily if you are not in the right place at the right time. However tomorrow is another day and I’m looking forward to a competitive race.’

DAVID COULTHARD
‘I must admit I was expecting to qualify on the front row after being quick in all the practice sessions. In hindsight, I was probably a bit too cautious on my first run to make sure that I got a decent time. We improved the car throughout qualifying and definitely had the potential to go even quicker. Unfortunately I got caught up in traffic or yellow flags on my subsequent runs but that is Monaco for you. However you don’t score points in qualifying only in the race.’

RON DENNIS
‘Considering the circumstances David did an excellent job to qualify third on the grid. However Mika had one of the most dramatic qualifying sessions that we have ever experienced at Monaco. All of his first three runs were in one way or another dramatically slowed by other people’s accidents. His last run was therefore executed with a degree more caution than is required to attack for pole and ultimately fifth place was therefore somewhat of a relief. At the end of the day as history shows you can win even this race from third or fifth on the grid. As always we are now concentrating on tomorrow’s race.’

NORBERT HAUG
‘Mika had to abandon three out of five qualifying runs following yellow flags from accidents, so considering the circumstances we have to be happy with fifth place. David was competitive in all the practice sessions and did a good job qualifying in third place. For the race we should be in good shape. As we experienced some bad luck today we now hope for a change in fortunes.’