Post race conference

Sunday 11 April, 1999
Post-race press conference

1. MIKA HAKKINEN (McLaren-Mercedes),race time: 1hour 36minutes
:03.785seconds;
2. MICHAEL SCHUMACHER (Ferrari), 4.9 seconds behind;
3. HEINZ-HARALD FRENTZEN (Jordan-Mugen-Honda), 25.9 seconds behind

Q.There was a dramatic moment on the fourth laps when your car hesitated
and Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher went past. What happened?

Mika Hakkinen: 'At that moment I thought the race was over for me. I was
coming round the third corner, selecting the gears as normal
and driving flat out. Everything looked good and the gap to Rubens was
opening out. But when I selected a higher gear,
instead of it going through, there was no gear at all. Obviously I thought
the game was over, but the team told me to
continue - and suddenly the gears came back. I was able to continue, but by
then I had already lost those two places.

Q. You then found yourself following Michael, and when he came in for his
pit stop you put in two very fast laps. How much speed did you have in
hand?

Mika Hakkinen: 'Let's put it this way: I could have gone much quicker. But
I had traffic all the time, it was really unfortunate. I was really going
for it, and enjoying driving flat out, but I lost a lot of time in the
traffic. Without that, I could probably have gone one second a lap quicker.
Otherwise, of course, you always have something in hand during a race like
this.

Q. Michael, are you happy or disappointed to be second today?

Michael Schumacher: 'It could have been worse. I could have been third or
fourth. No, to be honest, already in the warm-up we seemed to
be more competitive, and I proved that in the race. Although Mika was
behind me, it was obvious that Mika was faster. But overtaking is very
difficult in F1 and he never got the chance. We planned our pit stop the
best way we could to keep him behind us, but he was able to put in some
fast laps and rejoin the circuit in front of me. There was nothing we could
do about that. Afterwards, I kept up the pressure as much as I could (to
see if anything would break on the McLaren), but he obviously wasn't really
flat out. Still, I wanted to see what would happen by the end. Personally I
can live with this gap [in performance], because I know what we can expect
in terms of car development for future races. The one second gap [to
McLaren] in qualifying was unacceptable, but we can live with this
[difference in race performance], it's going to be a long season and we
have time to develop the car. We are sure to see some more close fighting
in the future.

Q. You mention the step forward in performance that you found last night.
What did you do to it?

Michael Schumacher: You would like to know that, I guess! Sorry ...

Q. Heinz-Harald, what a season so far for you: two races for Jordan, two
podiums, equal second place in the championship, but a dramatic moment on
the last lap when your car just stopped. What happened?

Heinz-Harald Frentzen: I still don't really know what happened on that last
lap. All of a sudden I lost fuel pressure. I was really surprised
when the engine started cutting out and the team didn't tell me that I was
short of fuel. The problem seems to be that we had
no fuel left, but all I know was the fuel pressure warning sign coming up.
By that time I was pushing like hell. I didn't want to
be lapped by Mika. Also, I had had a very strong mid-race situation because
I had spent a long time out there trying to fight
back for places on old tyres. I had quite a lot of big 'offs.' Fortunately
I stopped at the right moment and it was enough to
keep my third place.

Q. Did you know you were still third? You looked very disappointed on TV
...

Heinz-Harald Frentzen: 'My first impression was that I was probably not
third anymore, but of course there was nobody behind me still on the
same lap who could have taken over the position. So I got the message that
I was still third, and I am very happy about it
for my team. They gave me a reliable car and I feel great. Thank you very
much'.

Q. Mika, with three weeks to go before the next race and your first victory
safely in hand, what is the
programme for McLaren before Imola?

Mika Hakkinen: The programme is to make the car faster. That means some
test and development. I am looking forward to it.