Lap record small consolation, says Mika
Mika Hakkinen said his Hungaroring lap record was little consolation for an afternoon of toil to finish fifth in the Hungarian Grand Prix
The Finn gambled on a low fuel load late in the race to try and get past championship rival Williams-BMW's leading driver Ralf Schumacher, but it failed to pay off.
In the end, he had to be content with a place behind Schumacher Jr and a distant fifth, 70 seconds behind his big brother.
"During the first 29 laps of the race, I was stuck behind Trulli, who was about 1.5 seconds slower per lap than me," said Hakkinen. "It was only after his first pit stop that I could start to make inroads on Ralf Schumacher, who by then was about 30 seconds ahead.
"My first and second pit stops were excellent. But we changed the strategy, so I only took a little fuel load in the second stop to see whether it would be possible to overtake Ralf Schumacher - unfortunately this didn't work.
"Overtaking at this track is impossible if the driver ahead of you doesn't make a mistake.
"Then I had to come in for my additional fuel stop and that was it," he added. "The speed of my car was very good and the lap record is a small consolation for my efforts."
Even so he had blistered around in 1m16.723s - more than seven-tenths faster than race winner Michael Schumacher. David Coulthard in the other McLaren set the second fastest time - one third of a second slower.
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