For the 8th time this season Mika ...
Published on 15 August 1998 by Verstappen Info Page
For the 8th time this season Mika Hakkinen takes the pole for tomorrows Hungarian Grand Prix. And again the Mclaren team takes the first row on the starting grid. The only driver who could stay near the McLarens was Michael Schumacher, with 0.4 seconds third on the grid. He was a second faster than teammate Irvine who qualified fifth.
Copyright Bryn Williams/F1 Picturenet
We have seen in the past that the Hungaroring suits perfectly to Damon Hill. Also this year he qualified fourth with a second faster than Jordan teammate Ralf Schumacher in position 10. Jacques Villeneuve filled up the top six with his sixth start position.
The Stewart team took the 14th and 17th starting place in the grid with Barrichello 0.3 seconds faster than Jos Verstappen.
Jos Verstappen
Copyright Erasmus Press
For the third time this season Ricardo Rosset could not reach the 107% and will have to attend the Grand Prix as a visitor.
Tomorrow's Grand Prix will be one of the last chances for Michael Schumacher to stay in the position for the world title. We hope it will be an exciting race.
For a complete overview you can take a look at our season page.
After the race Jos said: "I have had a difficult day but I don't think we did too bad considering the circumstances. I only managed to get 8 laps during this morning's practice. In the first session I had an engine problem and in the second session I was behind Rosset, when he braked too early and I went into the back of him. As a result we were still trying to find the optimum set-up during qualifying which is not ideal. The car also suffered front wing damage while on the weigh bridge which didn't help matters. I think I could have done better but now I look forward to the race. It's going to be very hard because it's a very difficult circuit and it's bumpy."
Alain Jenkins, Technical director of Stewart-Ford: "...The new tyre changes the balance of the SF-2 quite a lot but plenty of work on set-up and some new suspension on Rubens' car seemed to be progressing in the right direction this morning..."
