Spanish GP Saturday McLaren notes

Mika Hakkinen Chassis 04
David Coulthard Chassis 05
T-car Chassis 01

The West McLaren Mercedes team driver’s Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard will start tomorrow’s Spanish Grand Prix from second and fourth respectively. Mika set a time of 1:21.052, which is less than a 10th of a second from the pole position time. David’s time was 1:21.422.

MIKA HAKKINEN
‘We have gone through a lot of work today and I’m a lot happier with the car than I was yesterday. I set my fastest time on the final run in the closing minutes of the session where the air was cooler. However I don’t think that influenced my time because I felt I drove a better lap. This is a very technical circuit and it’s a challenge to get it right. I’m on the front row so I’m confident for tomorrow’s race but it will be difficult because the track is physically very demanding.’

DAVID COULTHARD
‘My grid position is not a true reflection of what we were capable of today. I’m quite sure that I could have made the front row but I experienced a problem with the fuel pick up on my first qualifying lap after posting quickest time in the first sector, and I was forced to abandon it. Rather than going in the spare car, which was set-up for Mika, we decided to run with a slightly heavier than normal fuel load to contain the problem. However we will see what happens in the race tomorrow and don’t forget I won the British Grand Prix where I also qualified fourth.’

RON DENNIS
‘Not a completely smooth qualifying session with both drivers struggling to optimise their cars. In the circumstances the grid positions are not so bad and as always we will now concentrate on the race.’

NORBERT HAUG
‘Mika almost made it in the closing seconds of the qualifying session when he set a time which was less than a tenth of a second from pole. David was handicapped by the additional weight from the fuel he had to take on when the pick-up problem occurred. His starting position is the same as at the last race, which he won. Second and fourth is a still a good base for the race tomorrow.’