Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Adrian Newey Q&A

It looked a bit dodgy at one stage, but in the end everything came right for Mika Hakkinen and McLaren as the double World Champion chased down and passed Michael Schumacher to win the Belgian GP. For the second race running the Finn left the stunned German in second place in an apparently healthy Ferrari. However, there was one area of concern. Once again David Coulthard found himself left out on the track when his team mate got first call on pitting, when the team clearly had the chance to service both cars on the same lap. Adam Cooper spoke to McLaren technical director Adrian Newey about the dramatic race

"We considered it but we thought it was too dangerous."

"It was the usual problem. In hindsight we certainly should have got David in one lap earlier. We left Mika out one lap later than Schumacher and the others because he has a big enough lead and there was no point in taking a gamble. That of course then knocked on to David having to stay out for another lap again."

"Yes, he asked to come in the lap that Mika was coming in. We could either queue them up, or leave him out."

"It was close, and maybe we should have done that."

"I don't know, he didn't say anything on the radio."

"One of the problems you have in a wet/dry race is where do you pitch the settings? We were probably set a bit too much to the wet, so he was very quick in the wet, but then in the first stint in the dry he wasn't so good. So we adjusted the car a bit in the second stop, and I think that helped. I'm not going into the details!"

"Not the same, but similar."

"I think he was probably towards the dry. He wasn't actually as quick as we thought he would be in the wet, but he obviously was quick in the first dry stint."

"Not really. We wanted it as hot as possible!"

"Yes..."

"Not really. It's another circuit. I haven't seen them so I can't comment on what the kerbs are like yet."

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Jean Alesi Q&A
Next article Ricardo Zonta Q&A

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe