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Formula One: Hakkinen takes points lead for first time this season after dominating victory

14 August 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

BUDAPEST, Hungary-- Mika Hakkinen dominated the Hungarian Grand Prix, and his victory gave him the lead in the Formula One World Championship for the first time this season over Michael Schumacher, who has led the points standings since the first Grand Prix of the season. Schumacher finished second in Hungary, with Hakkinens teammate, David Coulthard, finished third.

After 12 of 17 races, Hakkinen now has 64 points while Schumacher has 62. Coulthard is next in the standings with 58 followed by Rubens Barrichello with 49.

The West McLaren-Mercedes team now leads the Constructors Championship by one point over Ferrari, 112-111.

As for the championship, Hakkinen said he would wait until the end of the season to see what happens.

"All the way through the season people seem to have been talking so many different things," he said. "They have been saying who is going to win it or who is going to lose it, who has the motivation or who has lost the motivation. These discussions go on all the way through the season. "I have been keeping my head all the time and concentrating on my work in order to try to win the races. Thats what I am going to do for the rest of the season. I am not going to think about who might win it or lose it, because that will be decided at the end of the season when the points have been counted up."

Hakkinen took the lead in his McLaren-Mercedes after squeezing by pole sitter Schumachers Ferrari in the first turn. Behind them, Coulthards McLaren-Mercedes and Ralf Schumachers Williams-BMW battled wheel to wheel through the first several corners before Coulthard came out in front. That set the pattern for the race. Hakkinen pulled away and went on to win. Schumacher finished second, just 0.538 of a second ahead of Coulthard, who complained of being held up in traffic. Ralf Schumacher lost fourth place to Rubens Barrichellos Ferrari during the pit stops, ending up fifth.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen rounded out the top six in his Benson & Hedges Jordan-Mugen-Honda.

It is virtually impossible to overtake around the tight and twisting 14-turn Hungaroring, so qualifying well and starting well are crucial to getting a good result.

"I again made a fantastic start," said Hakkinen, who started from the No. 3 spot on the grid, "and I was able to overtake Michael and David before the first corner, even though it was very close with Michael in the first corner. But I must say again that thats what racing should be, and we came round that corner in one piece.

"That also explains a little bit how when things like that sometimes happen in the first corner, you need two drivers (who understand each other). And that was the case when both drivers do the right thing."

Michael Schumacher couldnt keep up with Hakkinen but kept Coulthard at bay. "On this type of circuit you can take it fairly easy," Schumacher said. "I mean you dont have to push to the limit to keep the guy behind you. So that s all I was doing, staying concentrated not to drive on the limit because my tires would wear out toward the end, and that makes it easy to run wide in a corner and to have let him go through.

"That was the concentration I did, because I knew there was nothing I could do to get to the front. So I just drove a safe race."

Coulthard said the Minardi drivers held him up, and officials gave Marc Gene a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for ignoring the blue passing flags.

Despite the high ambient temperature of 100 degrees (35 C) and the track temperatures in the 132-degree (51 C) range, only three cars had retired by mid-race, and 16 of the 22 starters made it to the finish.

Hakkinen averaged 108.096 mph (173.964 km/h) to finish the 77-lap, 190.185-mile (306.075-km) race in one hour, 45 minutes and 33.869 seconds. His margin of victory was 7.916 seconds.

QUOTEBOOK:

MIKA HAKKINEN (West McLaren-Mercedes, winner): "It is incredible, because the last Grand Prix, Rubens (Barrichello) said how he had a really good feeling the night before the race, how he thought was going to do really well. Well, you know, last night I was brushing my teeth before I went to bed, and I had a similar feeling. I was positive about this Grand Prix, and I knew that this Grand Prix is all about the start. It has a lot of similarities with Monaco: Once you get the lead it is very difficult for the people running in second or third to overtake. So again I put more of my concentration on the start."

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER (Ferrari, second): "Today we were not fast enough to win the race. Not only did I lose the start against Mika (Hakkinen), which was a tight battle, but when you see his pace you (have to accept) that if he hadn t overtaken me at the start, he would probably have done it later during the pit stops, because he was simply the fastest man on the circuit today. Thats why I am not too unhappy to have (been held back) in second position, because even that was a tight battle with David (Coulthard). But we managed to time our pit stops for the right moment, and had the right gap at the right moment, so we were able to drive home in second position."

DAVID COULTHARD (West McLaren-Mercedes, third): "Of my three stints, I wasn t quick enough in the first one. For some bizarre reason, I had a very unusual balance, and I was aiming to find out if there had been a problem of pressuring the first set of tires. Certainly the second and third sets were much more as I had expected them to be. (But as a consequence of that) I was falling away at quite a (serious rate in the first part of the race), and thereafter I was quite competitive. I have finished third, so I wont make excuses, but I did lose a lot of time behind the four Minardis that there seemed to be out there. Michael (Schumacher) caught the traffic well, in that he caught them all in and around Turn 5, while I never got the chance to overtake them until we came out of Turn 10. That meant there was always one second lost in that sector. If you look at the gap when I came out of the pits after my last stop, it was probably (only a matter) of 0.3 seconds difference between me being able to get into the first corner (in front of him instead of behind him). That sometimes makes a difference. But I started third and finished third. Thats all I deserve, really."

RUBENS BARRICHELLO (Ferrari, fourth): "I lost my chance of a better result when I didnt qualify well. After that, it was impossible to overtake Ralf Schumacher, so I paid the price for that. The pit crew did a fantastic job to put me ahead of him. I was too far behind the others, and although I tried to catch them, I could not."

RALF SCHUMACHER (Williams-BMW, fifth): "I am pleased, even if I lost one position to (Rubens) Barrichello because I was delayed in my first pit stop due to a problem with a wheel which didnt engage immediately. I must say our car was good on this track, which helped me throughout all of this very demanding race."

HEINZ-HARALD FRENTZEN (Benson & Hedges Jordan-Mugen-Honda, sixth): "This was without doubt one of the toughest races physically, so it was good to come away having earned something."

JACQUES VILLENUEVE (Lucky Strike BAR-Honda, 12th): "We knew we were not going to be competitive here. For once I had a bad start with too much wheel spin. I was on the outside of (Pedro) de la Rosa at the first chicane, and he braked very late. I did as well, but hit the back of his car. After the first pit stop to change the nose cone, the car was really quick, but by this point I had lost too much time."

Text provided by Paul Kelly

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