Pole position press conference

2. Eddie Irvine (Ferrari)3. David Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes)

Q. Mika, congratulations, this makes five pole positions in a row for you.
What's your reaction?
Mika Hakkinen (laughs): It would be good if we could be getting a point for
pole position. That would help a lot.

Q. You only did one really fast run today.
MH: That's all you need, at the end of the day. But again it was a very
difficult, very challenging qualifying session, like they have all been so
far this season. The times are very close and the cars are very
competitive. So qualifying is down to getting the lap right, getting on to
the circuit at the right time and getting the set-up right. That's what
it's all about. It was our engineers, working together, with David and with
the whole team, who managed to get the best out of the car. And I was able
to take the pole.

Q. Does the balance feel good?
MH: It's definitely improving. I think we have done good work since
yesterday in improving the balance. But there is still some more to come,
and more work to be done on the car, to achieve the balance in the chassis
that David and I would prefer to have. We have to maximise it this weekend.


Q. Has there been a moment during the two days when you felt it wasn't
going well for you?
MH: At the press conference here on Thursday, one of the questions that was
asked was about this being a McLaren circuit and us being able to go flat
out. But I said 'hold on, it isn't as simple as that'. I didn't believe we
should think that way - and I was right. The competition and the lap times
are very close. OK, I am on pole position, but the gaps to the second and
third places are extremely small, so it cannot be that straightforward. In
fact it has been very difficult.

Q. So you were never confident?
MH: Inside yourself, of course you have confidence in the team but I am
never confident enough to be able to say, yes, I am going to be quickest.
But we were quickest ... and it was very positive.

Q. Eddie, we saw you sitting on the pit wall when Mika went quickest. You
seem to be philosophical not to have kept pole position.
Eddie Irvine: Yes, I was. If anyone had told me before the weekend that I
would be starting this race from second place on the grid, I don't think I
would have believed it. I am very pleased because for some strange reason
the car has been much better this weekend than it was during testing here,
when it was a complete disaster. Everywhere we have been this year the car
had been really well balanced, but when we came here for the final test
last week I was a long way off the pace. I just couldn't drive the car fast
then. But when we came here yesterday the car felt good straightaway. Today
pole position was a definite possibility, but I couldn't get the car good
both at the start and the finish of the lap, it could only be one or the
other. Then on my best lap I made a mistake in the middle. Pole position
was there for the taking for me, and there was the potential for me to go a
little quicker. But I cannot complain.

Q. Where does this leave you as far as your team mate Michael Schumacher is
concerned?
EI: Ahead of him. I hope to be able to beat these two guys away from the
start. If I don't beat Mika I will just take him off at the first corner!
No ... hopefully I can beat them off the line, then just pull away and win
the race.

MH: Eddie, you're going to have to catch me first ...

Q. We heard yesterday how tricky the cross winds can be here ...
EI: The wind is tricky every day, at every circuit, especially here. But
you saw it for the first time in Australia, where the wind was behind the
tails of all the cars at a certain corner and almost everybody went off the
road. This year's cars are hyper-sensitive to the wind now, because of the
tyres.

Q. How tricky was it in qualifying today with much less wind?
EI: As I said, I don't understand it. My car hasn't been affected so much
by the wind this weekend. I have an idea why, but I am not about to tell
you ...

Q. David, this morning you lost part of the session when the suspension
broke on your car. What exactly happened?
DC: I don't know why it broke in that corner, but the team is taking a
close look at the data and the part itself to try to understand why it
broke. But there is certainly no concern that we have a problem with that
particular part, it seems to have been an isolated failure which could have
been caused by any number of things.

Q. Was it a very unpleasant moment?
DC: Not really. It's only nasty when you hit something. A spin itself,
though confusing at the time, is no big problem. And yesterday it happened
in time to let me stop and get back into the pit lane. Usually that sort of
thing happens to me after the pit lane entrance ...

Q. There was one moment out there this afternoon when you were going faster
in the first two sectors on your second lap than ever before, but you came
into the pits instead of continuing. Why didn't you complete the lap?
DC: First of all, I was only intending to do one timed lap on that
particular run. And you don't carry extra fuel just for the fun of it ...

Q. Eddie, everyone's had a lot of work to do today, and presumably you have
taken the opportunity to evaluate the soft and medium Bridgestone tyre. How
many pit stops will each involve?
EI: Either tyre will be good for one stop.