Mika's comment at the arrival to France: "Magny Cours is a circuit we know well. It has a mix of low-speed hairpins, medium speed corners and fast chicanes and there are good overtaking opportunities particularly into the Adelaide hairpin".

The qualifying session: Mazzacane opened the session but Barrichello quickly took a temporarily pole position by driving almost 3 seconds faster than Mazzacane. The other Finnish pilot, Mika Salo, took a 10th position, while De La Rosa first beat Barrichello's time, just to be beaten by Barrichello again seconds later. Almost 20 minutes after the session's start Mika Häkkinen came on the track for the first time but he had to pass a slower car during his fast lap, lost some time and had to settle with a second place so far. Michael Schumacher came on the track three minutes later and qualified for an amazing pole position with -0,598 sec. Later Häkkinen and Coulthard came on the track at the same time, Mika again behind a slower car and Coulthard in the secondary extra car from Team McLaren, which had Mika's name written all over it, apparently because of problems with his own car. David took a second place, Mika improve his own time and lost to David with only +0,003 sec! With 22 minutes left of the session Schumi gave it a second try but didn't improve. David Coulthard returned to the track but had to go back to the pit due to more car problems. Häkkinen also tried once more but didn't improve either. When Coulthard came back he DID do better than Schumi in the beginning of the lap, but suddenly he started to spin around on the track and obviously lost a possible good lap time and a possible pole position. With only two and a half minutes left of the session Coulthard, Schumi, Barrichello and, a little later, Häkkinen all gave it a last try, David improved - but not enough - and lost to Schumi with only +0,102 sec, and Barrichello improved enough to start from a better grid position tomorrow, he'll start from the third grid, Häkkinen from fourth, Schumi's younger brother from grid five and Irvine, driving for Jaguar, from grid six. Mika Salo starts from grid 12. *sigh*

Mika's comment after the qualifying session: "On the one hand I could say that it was a very disappointing session for me today, but on the other hand it is better than last year when I qualified 14th . But to be serious I have to sit down with the engineers and find out what the problem is and find a solution. I am confident that we will find a solution and I am optimistic for the race".

The race: Barrichello managed to overtake David Coutlhard in the beginning and for the next 20 laps the situation didn't change for the leading cars, Schumi, Barrichello, Coulthard and Häkkinen, but finally in lap 21 Coulthard passed Barrichello, and soon after the cars started to go in for their first pit stop. Häkkinen's first stop in lap 22, which took 7,5 seconds, then Schumi in the following lap which took 8,8 seconds. Mika Salo had to be pushed out of the pit again in lap 24, LOL! Coulthard also went to the pit in lap 24 which took 7,3 seconds and though Barrichello's pit stop only lasted 6,6 seconds he still didn't manage to return to the track in front of Mika Häkkinen! Coulthard took the fastest lap time four laps later (and had at the same time catched up with Michael Schumacher), during the first part of the track Häkkinen was always the fastest. Coulthard tried to pass Schumi in lap 34 and the two CRAZY nut cases of course TOUCHED each other with the front tyres when none of them were willing to back off, and David expressed his frustration by showing Schumi his middlefinger before he finally had to give in. Mika was constantly in Coulthard's butt too, only one second behind Schumi, following the situation in front of him. Coutlhard gave it one more try five laps later and succeeded, though the two maniacs AGAIN had to touch each other. This time Schumi had to give up. In lap 43 both Häkkinen and Schumi went to their second pit stop but Schumi still came back on the track in front of Mika. In the following lap Barrichello had his second pit stop too, but it last 16,8 seconds! Two laps later Coulthard went in and came back out still leading the race, and while David ran away from the others, Mika stayed closely behind Schumi's red butt lap after lap. Then the amazing thing happened; Schumi's Ferrari suddenly had some engine problems, and while Schumi tried to maintain the control of the car, Mika passed him right away, and shortly after this Schumi retired completely!!! {{{And there was much joy}}} David finished the French Grand Prix first, Mika came in second 14 seconds later, Barrichello third 32 seconds later... What a wonderful day. Though both Schumi and Mika keep only each other as their worst enemy, we might have to consider David Coulthard as a potential World Champion 2000 too..?! What a scary and unrealistic thought... Well, anyway, David had a great day today. Sometimes it's useful to Mika to have a crash-loving-Team-Mate... As long as he crashes with Ferrari and not with Mika, that is  ;-)

Mika's comment after the race: "I am really happy about today's result. It was fantastic for David, fantastic for the team and fantastic for me. We worked on my set up over night and the car's balance was much more to my liking in the warm up. I made a really good start but I got to the first corner and there were already two cars there! This meant I had to slot into fourth place at the first corner. As the race went on I knew I had the pace to pass Michael, and I was just waiting for the right opportunity which finally presented itself on lap 59. I really appreciate the efforts that my engineers and mechanics went to to make my car so competitive today".

Last year: Because of yellow flags Mika didn't get the opportunity to improve his grid position 14, but he drove one of the races of his life, passing eight cars in just five laps, passed Schumi in 6^th lap, and finished SECOND.

The team is delighted to announce that David Coulthard has been re-signed for West McLaren Mercedes. David and Mika Hakkinen will continue as team-mates which means their partnership now represents the longest driver pairing in the same team in the history of the Formula One World Championship. The team has always set great store in the longevity of the relationships they have with their drivers. The partnership between David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen will move into its sixth season in 2001 which also represents Mika's ninth and David's sixth season with McLaren. 

David Coulthard: "Continuity is a huge advantage in this highly competitive field and to be moving into my sixth season with the team is, I believe, extremely beneficial for my future. To know and understand the people you are working with, means that you can focus on the fundamental task of winning races. Naturally I am pleased to be staying with a championship winning team and I am concentrating on making the next championship victory my own".