San Marino GP McLaren race notes

WARSTEINER SAN MARINO GRAND PRIX 1999 - RACE DAY

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

The West McLaren Mercedes team started the San Marino Grand Prix in good form having dominated the weekend's practice and qualifying sessions. However an unfortunate mistake from Mika resulted in his retirement whilst David battled with backmarker in an effort to clinch victory but was frustrated and finished in second position.

MIKA HAKKINEN 'Not a very good day for me today. I made a good start and was leading the rest of the field when I made a mistake. It's as simple as that. It was a driver error and meant that I went out of the race on lap 17 without any points. But I am now looking forward to Monaco and what I can achieve there.'

DAVID COULTHARD 'Of course I am happy to come away with some points from this race. But, I clearly had the performance to win today however, the back markers were particularly unhelpful in my case and I lost a lot of time in the traffic which was the difference between winning and coming second.'

RON DENNIS 'It is very unusual for either of our drivers to make mistakes. But Mika made one today - better today than at the end of last year. David's chance to win the race was taken away by the behaviour of several backmarkers and I am disappointed in the lack of sporting behaviour from their team managers.'

NORBERT HAUG 'The speed was there, Mika pushed to the limit and made a little mistake which I certainly will not criticise. David had victory in his hands today as well but was stuck in a lot of slow cars which he could not overtake quickly enough. So, Michael and Ferrari deserve this victory today - well done to them.'