McLaren show their strength in qualifying
©

Saturday March 7, 1998

Summary


Winter testing gave us a little taste of what to expect during the first Grand Prix. It showed that McLaren was going fast and strong. Today they proved their strength. Both McLarens are on the first row of the grid - with Hakkinen leading the way.

Johnny Herbert clocked an excellent fifth time.

Notes


The Times

  1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.

Hakkinen (McLaren-Mercedes) B
Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes) B
M. Schumacher (Ferrari) G
Villeneuve (Williams-Mecachrome) G
Herbert (Sauber-Petronas) G
Frentzen (Williams-Mecachrome) G
Fisichella (Benetton-Mecachrome) B
Irvine (Ferrari) G
R. Schumacher (Jordan-Mugen) G
Hill (Jordan-Mugen) B
Wurz (Benetton-Mecachrome) B
Alesi (Sauber-Petronas) G
Takagi (Tyrrell-Ford) G
Barrichello (Stewart-Ford) B
Trulli (Prost-Peugeot) B
Panis (Prost-Peugeot) B
Salo (Arrows) G
Tuero (Minardi-Ford) B
Magnussen (Stewart-Ford) B
Rosset (Tyrrell-Ford)B
Diniz (Arrows) B
Nakano (Minardi-Ford) B

107% rule

B: Bridgestone G: Goodyear

1m 30.010s
1m 30.053s
1m 30.767s
1m 30.919s
1m 31.384s
1m 31.397s
1m 31.733s
1m 31.767s
1m 32.392s
1m 32.399s
1m 32.726s
1m 33.240s
1m 33.291s
1m 33.383s
1m 33.739s
1m 33.851s
1m 33.927s
1m 34.646s
1m 34.906s
1m 35.119s
1m 35.140s
1m 35.301s

1m 36.310s

The Quotes


Hakkinen:" "Winning my first Grand Prix last year gave me an awful amount of confidence. It helped me relax and just concentrate on this season. It is a great way to start the season and to see the faces of the McLaren mechanics at the end was really good."

Coulthard: "I was confident I could beat him but I am reasonably happy with second."

M. Schumacher: "I expected to be in the top three and I am happy as we have improved the car a lot over the winter. Even though I am happy with the car it is not yet at the level we intended to be. We could see that McLaren were very quick in testing so we expected them to be ahead of us. Hot temperatures tomorrow should not be a problem, even for the tyres. We know we are still a bit behind but Goodyear has made a lot of progress since January and we will have a new tyre for Brazil. We have made some compromises on the car to assure reliability so I will not be disappointed if I do not win tomorrow, but we should be able to make in on the podium. We might be behind McLaren but we are ahead of the rest and even on grooved tyres our time is quicker than last year."

Hill on blocking M. Schumacher : "Schumacher did not get past until I reached the apex of the corner. I cannot vanish."

Irvine: "Once again I had an engine problem. Without that I could have been a bit quicker. We can solve the problem for the race, so I am not to worried. It is not a big issue. As I did not run on a low fuel load yesterday it took me a while to adapt to the car and find its limits. At least I am in the top half of the grid. For tomorrow it will be a case of relying on the reliability we have seen in testing."


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