2002 Great Britian Formula 1 Grand Prix Race Report
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Great Britain Formula One Grand Prix
7th July, 2002.  Silverstone.   Round 10.

2001 1/ Mike Hakkinen (McLaren);
2/ Michael Schumacher (Ferrari);  3/ Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari);
4/ J.B.Montoya (Williams);  5/ K.Raikkonen (Sauber);  6/ N.Heidfeld (Sauber)

Mika Hakkinen finally gets the car he deserves from McLaren-Mercedes and dominated the Silverstone.  He was never headed after overtaking pole positioned Ferrari rival Michael Schumacher.
Michael Schumacher extends his lead in the Driver's Championship to 37 points clear of his nearest rival David Coulthard, who retired early this race after a collision.

Last year's winner: David Coulthard (McLaren) - 2000 race report here

Silverstone, the home of British motor racing, played host to the first ever World Championship Grand Prix event in 1950. Since then the 3.194 mile / 5.141 km track has been revised on a number of occasions but still incorporates features such as the famous sweeping right-hander of Copse. It was at Silverstone in 1985 that Keke Rosberg lapped the track at an average speed of 160mph / 257kph, making Silverstone the fastest circuit on the calendar.
   
Situated in the Northamptonshire countryside, some 70 miles / 112 km north of London, Silverstone is a medium grip circuit that is quite hard on tyres.

Grand Prix Circuits:
A Tour of Formula 1 Circuits from Starting Grid to Chequered Flag
by Alan Henry  Hardcover(1998)

Comments from Mika Hakkinen after winning the British GP

Q: You`ve never won here before, indeed, you haven`t won for over a year. How does it feel?    
Mika HAKKINEN: It feels really good. Obviously after all the trouble that`s been going on this year, it feels good to win it obviously, and particularly here at Silverstone because I drive for an English team and in front of an English crowd. We made a great show.
   
Q: You seemed to be driving right to the final section of the final lap. Is that because you were thinking of the final lap of the Spanish Grand Prix earlier this year where you pulled off?    
MH: No. What I was planning to do, I was really wanting to push really hard to make a big gap so that when I came down I would park the car and have a cup of tea and then come back.
   
Q: Mika, you seemed relax from the start of the weekend; are we now going to see more wins from you?    
MH: Hopefully there will be more wins before the end of the season. Before this Grand Prix we had a very good test, we were able to get a good balance in the car and the tyres we were using here were suiting a lot my driving style so I was able to attack the corners and I was able to have a car which didn`t understeer so much and gave me the opportunity to chose the line in the corners that I wanted to, so probably that can explain my speed here a little bit. Otherwise everything was at it has always been.
   
Q: Mika, how special is this win here at Silverstone?    
MH: It`s probably difficult to understand 100 per cent how important it is for me, because first of all, I always wanted to win in Canada and I did that not last year but the year before. I always wanted to win that because it`s a very special Grand Prix, as is the Silverstone Grand Prix and it happened today, so it`s something incredible, something that`s missing from my black book. I won quite a few times in Formula Three, but never in Formula One.
   
Q: Why did you slow so much at the end?    
MH: I just wanted to see the crowd, just to slow down, I wasn`t in any rush. There was a big gap to these guys, so I decided to take it easy.
   
Q: You weren`t thinking of Spain?    
MH: No, no, not at all, no. Of course I was thinking about that too! The last lap I was sure that something was going to happen, dear God don`t. But it was OK.
   
Q: What`s your version of the overtaking manoeuvre with Michael?    
MH: Simply I was surprised what happened to Michael to be honest because he was reasonably quick in the first sector and not so quick on the last sector and the mid sector so I was surprised what happened to him. I don`t know if it was a mistake or his car was difficult or something but it gave me the opportunity to overtake him and I got beside him and we continued like that in turn two and turn three. I even gave him a little bit of room in case he wanted to race for a couple of corners but he lifted so he doesn`t a reason to race with me at the moment I think.
   
Q: How important was it for you to get past him?    
MH: It was very important. I tell you what. If I had been stuck behind him for longer it would have been very difficult to get the distance and the gap that I needed because of my two stops.
   
Q: But in the end, that strategy was right.    
MH: Absolutely. It was quicker to go two stops and to stop reasonably early and it worked fine. I was really surprised what these guys did, to be honest.
   
Q: Mika, this was a good Grand Prix for you; do you feel you are getting closer to Ferrari?    
MH: I really cannot answer that question, no. We`ll see what happens at Hockenheim. It`s a different Grand Prix. Let`s see what happens.
   
Q: Mika, during this hard period, were you worried that you would never win again?    
MH: I suppose it`s a fear for every Grand Prix driver who has won a Grand Prix that you think that you`re never going to win again. That`s why I kept pushing very hard to win again because you know it`s a great feeling. I feel that way, the car that we have, the team that we have, we have all the great possibilities to do that. So I`m confident. In these six Grands Prix I`m sure there will be a McLaren winning.

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