Mika's comment at the arrival to Hungary: "'I like Hungary as its probably the closest I get to a home race because there are always a vast number of Finnish fans with flags and banners. Budapest is a really great city as well. I returned to testing last week after my holiday and spent Thursday and Friday at Valencia and I feel prepared for this weekends activities".

The Qualifying Session: 15 minutes went with no cars on the track, we saw Michael Schumacher in Ferrari's "booth" with his sunglasses on, looking very relaxed and comfortable. When someone finally opened the session, it was Mika Häkkinen! Later on he told us that they had just made a big change in the car's setup, and he needed to test it as early as possible, which is also the reason why his first time wasn't very good. For the next 20 minutes - and I apologize for that - I didn't follow the qualifying session closely because I was busy helping a friend calling to Germany, but obviously nothing much happened during this time. Schumacher went on the track and got the pole position immediately, Coulthard got the second place, 39 minutes after the session's start. Mika's second try didn't succeed, and neither did Schumi's. Barrichello won grid 5 and kept this position. Coulthard improved his own time later on, but didn't beat Schumacher, though. Mika too improved his own time a bit, but not enough to beat his Team Mate. With two minutes left of the session all 22 cars entered the track. Coulthard passed Schumi right outside the pit, which gives me a little (nasty) hope of what might happen in tomorrow's race when those two maniacs start almost side by side, but none of them improved. Neither did Mika, so Schumi starts from the pole position tomorrow, Coulthard next him, Mika from grid three, Ralf Schumacher from grid four, Barrichello from grid five and Frentzen from grid six. Mika Salo starts from an excellent 9th place. As Mika Häkkinen said after the session: "It's going to be very exciting what happens before the first corner tomorrow!" I noticed that Schumi and Coulthard did not find that very funny...?!? *crossing all fingers*

Mika's comment after the qualifying: "I went out early in qualifying because we had made a radical change to the car after this morning's practice and we wanted to evaluate whether it would be an improvement and have enough time to make further changes if it didn't work. I believe we could have done better today if we had managed to find the right balance. I'm confident for tomorrow because the car has felt good in race trim and we made further progress during qualifying".

The race: What we all, including Mika, thought was a once in a life time start of a race is in fact something that Mika just might make as his speciality. At today's race he once again had a dream of a start. His Team Mate David Coulthard didn't get off very well, and Mika came in between Schumi and David, and drove side by side with Schumi almost the whole long straight up until the first corner. Mika pushed like never before, and Schumi finally had to give in (like never before, ha ha) and give up his leading position to Mika! David and Ralf had their own battle behind them, which David won. After ten laps Mika had a five seconds lead already. Schumi went in for his first pit stop in lap 27, Häkkinen's pit stop went fine and after lap 33 he was still leading with Schumi behind him, followed by David Coulthard and Rubens Barrichello. Six laps later Häkkinen was leading with 17,2 seconds. Getting close to lap 50 they all went in for their second pit stop without any complications, and David almost made it back out on the track in front of Schumi! In lap 55 Häkkinen once again had a major gap to his rival, over 23 seconds and increasing his lead with one second per lap!!  Coulthard stayed behind Schumi's red butt for the rest of the race, trying to pass him several times, but with no luck. In the last few laps Mika took it easy, he gained a sweet unexpected easy victory here in Hungary. Schumi came in second and David Coulthard only half a second later, Barrichello came in fourth. To think that Mika still had engine problems just minutes before start... What a glorious glorious day!!!

Mika's comment after the race: "I knew that the start would be crucial, because it's almost impossible to overtake on this circuit. Normally the perfect start doesn't happen more than once a year and after my get away two weeks ago at Hockenheim I thought that my quota had been used up. Once I took the lead I was comfortable throughout the race and the entire team has done a fantastic job the whole weekend to optimise the car. I'm extremely happy to win and also to take the lead in the World Championship".

Last year: Mika took pole position, led ALL 77 laps (even AFTER both his pit stops), and won by 9,7 seconds... Needless to say more, huh?!?