Hakkinen Hopes to Close the Gap in the Race

Finn Mika Hakkinen was confident of closing the gap to the Ferrari team at Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix after a disappointing performance in today's qualifying.

Two-time World Champion Hakkinen, in his last race before taking a break from racing, set the fifth quickest time of the day with his McLaren, more than a second behind pole-sitter Michael Schumacher. However, the McLaren driver is hoping that he will be able to close the gap in tomorrow's race.

"Obviously I would have preferred to be higher up the grid and that the gap to Michael was not so big," Hakkinen said. "We were confident after this morning's practice, but it just seemed the other teams made a massive step forward and we didn't.

"However, as always the race is a different story and I don't expect there to be such a large gap. I'm confident that the engineers will find the right set-up and tactic and that we will be competitive tomorrow so I can start my break in a positive way."

Hakkinen's teammate David Coulthard, still fighting for second place in the Championship behind Schumacher, admitted he was not expecting such a big gap between McLaren and Ferrari. The Scot, who needs to finish in fourth place to secure the runner-up spot, was only seventh fastest.

"We knew before qualifying that certain factors might play the result into the competitions' hands, but I don't think we expected such a large gap," admitted Coulthard. "I'm not particularly concerned about second place in the Championship as long as I go out tomorrow and do my best.

"I have always struggled at Suzuka but I'm close to Mika and we will see what happens in the race, where I will be as motivated as ever."