Hakkinen Thanks Team for Pole Position

World champion Mika Hakkinen claimed pole position for Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix with a determined effort in qualifying on Saturday and said his team's hard work and a holiday helped lift his performance.

The McLaren driver, who captured the 25th pole of his career and his first since the San Marino Grand Prix in April, had been allowed a short rest at home in Monaco after a disappointing outing in the French Grand Prix two weeks ago.

"This is a great thing to happen after my break, as qualifying has been a disappointment for me in the last few races and finally we have got it right," said the 31-year-old.

"After Magny Cours, I was in a situation where I needed some time off.

"I discussed a few car changes with the engineers, and they made some changes for this race. They also gave me the chance to get myself relaxed and focused. I came to this race and the car felt much better straight away, I feel especially good and this is the end result."

Not Challenged

Hakkinen, who won the Austrian race in 1998, moved to the top of the time sheets just 17 minutes into the qualifying session and his time was not challenged. He later managed to improve his best lap to 1:10.410.

It was the 108th pole for the McLaren team, moving them into equal second place (with Williams) behind Ferrari in the all-time record table.

Hakkinen ended the session 0.385 of a second ahead of his teammate Briton David Coulthard. Their performances secured the third all McLaren front row of the season.

Despite the memories of last year's race, when Hakkinen and Coulthard collided at the second corner, the Finn was not worried about the possibility of a repeat.

"I feel very confident for the race, and now it is just a question of setting the car up right. I hope that everything goes 100 percent right and we will get around the first two corners a little bit differently to last year."

Coulthard blamed a mistake on the final lap of qualifying for his inability to get on terms with Hakkinen, but seemed unconcerned about being outpaced as he believed Sunday's 71-lap race would be action-packed.

"I think I could have been a bit closer and in the race I think Mika and I will be evenly matched," said the 29-year-old. "I'm just going to take the opportunities when they come."

Confident

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, who managed to outpace his Ferrari team mate German Michael Schumacher, was equally confident about his chances. He said he believed a good car set-up had helped him maintain an advantage.

"I like this track and I have found some good settings," said the third-fastest driver. "But I think my car had the potential to get on the front row. The race is going to be very close."

World championship leader Schumacher could not get on terms with the pace of the McLarens and ended the day with the fourth fastest time, just ahead of Italian Jarno Trulli in the Jordan.

Although the session was interrupted by light drizzle at times, the drivers were not greatly affected by the weather.

But several drivers did spin off the track as they pushed their cars to the limit, including British American Racing team mates Brazilian Ricardo Zonta and Canadian Jacques Villeneuve who were sixth and seventh fastest.

Rain showers are expected to hit Sunday's Grand Prix.