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Relieved Hakkinen Looking for More Wins

Mika Hakkinen secured his first win for nearly a year by taking the chequered flag at the British Grand Prix, and the Finnish driver was naturally relieved.

Mika Hakkinen secured his first win for nearly a year by taking the chequered flag at the British Grand Prix, and the Finnish driver was naturally relieved.

Hakkinen last won a Grand Prix in Belgium last August, but after Sunday's win at Silverstone he was a different character from that which had struggled to score points earlier this season and the Finn admitted he was looking for more wins in the remaining part of the year.

"It feels really good - really great - especially after everything that's happened," said Hakkinen, who despite winning in Britain is now mathematically out of the title race after Michael Schumacher picked up six points for finishing second in his Ferrari.

Hakkinen said that his team's recent tests at Silverstone paid dividends as he was able to push to the limit with a two-stop strategy, while Schumacher adopted a one-stop ploy.

"Hopefully there will be more wins," added Hakkinen. "Before this Grand Prix we had a good test and were able to get a good balance on the car, plus the tyres suited my driving style a lot so I was able to attack the corner with less understeer - that might explain why I was quick here."

Hakkinen may now be forced to obey team orders for his teammate David Coulthard, who is McLaren's only chance of winning the title this year, despite a disappointing race in front of his home crowd. Coulthard was involved in a first corner clash with the Jordan of Jarno Trulli and was forced to retire on the third lap as his rear suspension failed, probably as a result of the clash with Trulli.

"I am very disappointed in my own race but for the team it was a great result, I think it could have been a McLaren one-two however," Coulthard said. "It's obviously very disappointing but for the team point of view we are very happy and encouraged because we were more competitive than Ferrari.

"We set-up the tactics to get a win. It's a good win for the team, I think it's well deserved for Mika and his team and I just wanted to be the first guy to congratulate him. I had fantastic support here today, I'm disappointed I could just not deliver but at least a British team won today and maybe that is some consolation."

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