2nd spot on grid enough for McLaren

   Copyright c 1998 Nando Media
   Copyright c 1998 Reuters

SUZUKA, Japan (Oct 31, 1998 - 14:03 EST) - McLaren team chief Ron Dennis
said he was not worried by Michael Schumacher's pole position for Sunday's
showdown Japanese Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver was fastest in Saturday's qualifying but McLaren
teammates Mika Hakkinen, the championship leader, and David Coulthard
filled second and third spots.

"This is probably the only race I have ever come to where coming
second is as important as coming first," Dennis said. "Of course,
it is always nice to be on pole, but we are very comfortable with our grid
position, particularly as our lap times show we are well ahead of the
opposition."

Hakkinen admitted he was disappointed at not taking pole, but said he was
relaxed at starting from the front row for the 12th time this year.
Schumacher completed a hat-trick of pole positions for Ferrari.

"Being second is not such a big problem," said Hakkinen.
"Naturally, I am a little disappointed as I would have preferred to be
on pole, but this doesn't give me any more pressure just because I am not
on pole.

"It was a pretty good session, but not good enough. I thought I was on
a fast lap on my last lap, but then I went wide and made a mistake and I am
annoyed with myself more than anything for that."

Hakkinen of Finland will have his Mercedes-Benz powered team mate Briton
Coulthard behind him in third place on the second row which he shares with
another Briton, Ferrari's second man Eddie Irvine.

"I am happy enough because I know that I am making progress all the
time this weekend and I feel I am now significantly quicker than
Irvine," said Coulthard.

"And I know that I am losing some time in the first sector which is an
area in which I can improve. So that is something good."

In the drivers' championship, Hakkinen has an advantage of four points over
Schumacher, a gap that would not be quite enough for him if Schumacher won
and Irvine forced his way through to second.

But in the constructors' title race, they have a lead of 15 points on
Ferrari and look likely to win that championship unless their drivers fail
to collect two points between them.

"We have a better basis from which to start this race than we had at
the Nurburgring for the last race," Mercedes team chief Norbert Haug
said. "It was a strong performance by Michael Schumacher, but we are
on target with our cars on rows one and two."

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