Lap record small consolation, says Mika

The Finn gambled on a low fuel load late in the race to try and get past championship rival Williams-BMW's leading driver Ralf Schumacher, but it failed to pay off.

In the end, he had to be content with a place behind Schumacher Jr and a distant fifth, 70 seconds behind his big brother.

"During the first 29 laps of the race, I was stuck behind Trulli, who was about 1.5 seconds slower per lap than me," said Hakkinen. "It was only after his first pit stop that I could start to make inroads on Ralf Schumacher, who by then was about 30 seconds ahead.

"My first and second pit stops were excellent. But we changed the strategy, so I only took a little fuel load in the second stop to see whether it would be possible to overtake Ralf Schumacher - unfortunately this didn't work.

"Overtaking at this track is impossible if the driver ahead of you doesn't make a mistake.

"Then I had to come in for my additional fuel stop and that was it," he added. "The speed of my car was very good and the lap record is a small consolation for my efforts."

Even so he had blistered around in 1m16.723s - more than seven-tenths faster than race winner Michael Schumacher. David Coulthard in the other McLaren set the second fastest time - one third of a second slower.