Grand Prix of Japan
Suzuka

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday 1 November 1998
Post race winners' press conference: 1. Mika Hakkinen (McLaren-Mercedes),
1hr 27:22.535s; 2. Eddie Irvine (Ferrari), 6.5 seconds behind; 3. David
Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes), 27.7 seconds behind

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q. Congratulations, Mika, on winning the race and the title. How does it
feel to be world champion?

MH: I don't know how to start telling you my feelings. Since I started to
race in 1991 it has been a fight every year as I tried to maximise my
results, personally and for my team. Since I joined this team in 1993, and
now with West-McLaren-Mercedes, I have been able to continue the effort to
win races. But it has taken a long time. Now that it has happened, and
looking back over all that time to see what we have achieved, we can be
happy about it. Without those hours of hard work by the people in the
factory, by the designers and the people in marketing, together with the
partners of the team, we would still not have become winners. But the hard
work has brought us here to where we are: we have won the championship.

Q. At the second attempt, immediately after Michael Schumacher had stalled
his engine and caused the start to be aborted, you appeared to roll forward
past your own mark. Were you at all concerned that you, too, would be sent
to the back of the grid?

MH: No, not at all. When the red lights come on, you know you have to go
for it when they go out. Well, they didn't go off, of course, and the
yellow light started flashing. I was so hyped up that I still went for it.
But I knew immediately that the start procedure had been stopped, and that
it was OK.

Q. When Michael stalled at the second attempt to leave the grid, did that
leave you feeling that the pressure had been released?

MH: Yes, it did!

Q. With Michael having to make his third start from the back of the grid,
how easy was it to control the race from the front?

MH: It was easier than some of the races have been this year. I have been
in much more difficult situations than at this Grand Prix, but obviously I
was aware this morning of the pressure that was falling on me. It was
disturbing my performance a little bit, which I would say is very normal.
But then I seemed to calm down quite a lot and it was quite easy to control
the situation. The team played a big part in it by keeping me supplied with
information, letting me know exactly what was going on, for example between
David and Eddie. But there is always one problem when you are leading
easily like that -- and it happened to me with about ten laps to go --
which is the tendency for your mind to start thinking about things other
than driving. I almost started whistling inside the car ...

What made it more difficult was knowing that Michael was out of the race
and having to concentrate. But Ron [Dennis] came on the radio a couple of
times to remind me to stay cool. It worked ...

Q. Eddie, that was a very fine race to second place. What are your feelings about it?

EI: It was strange to have Michael starting from the back of the grid,
because suddenly I realised that it was down to me. I knew I had to get
stuck in -- it was almost like flicking a switch -- and I made a fantastic
start. Then I pushed like hell to get Mika. But although I could hang with
him, the margin would come and go. Then my tyres took a little dive at the
end of the first stint, which allowed him to get away from me again. After
my first pit stop I started to get back at him again, until my tyres
[performance] dropped down again and once again he started to get away at
the end of the stint. It is a shame I wasn't able to put him under more
pressure, to try and maybe get my first win.

Q. Did it change your race tactics to have Michael starting behind you from
the back of the grid?

EI: It didn't change them, it destroyed them! For the past two or three
days we have been discussing the possibilities if Mika had been there, or
Michael here, with me or David somewhere else. There must have been at
least 16 permutations to consider. Eventually it was a question of Michael
having to get up to at least 2nd position, which isn't exactly easy when
you're starting from the back of the grid. When Mika got off into the lead
it became a straight race, to see which of us was going to win.

Q. David, at the start Heinz-Harald Frentzen appeared to have got through
while you appeared to be trying to head off Eddie. Is that what happened?

DC: Yes. On my green flag lap starts I seemed to be a bit low on the rpm.
Normally that wouldn't have been a problem, but because the start was
aborted my engineer was able to warn me to keep the revs up. That made me
think before the eventual start proper, when I gave it too many rpm and
spun the wheels. I was so preoccupied in trying to make sure Eddie didn't
get the jump on me that it allowed Heinz to go round the outside. I then
spent a pretty dull first stint stuck behind Heinz. In dirty air here it is
so difficult to make any headway -- and I needed to be sure of finishing
the race in case anything happened to Mika's car, for the sake of the
constructors' title -- that it meant I was probably not as aggressive in
trying to pass them as I could have been. Nonetheless, it was a pretty
uneventful race to third place for me.

Q. Mika, your manager Keke Rosberg was Finland's first world champion
driver, back in 1982. You must have been glad of his support here ...

MH: I am sure Keke is happy. He is here, commentating for Finnish
television, and we spoke before the race. At some of the races he has been
to this year he was terribly nervous. But he wasn't nervous at all here,
which was a good sign!

--- Msged/386 4.20 beta 4