AUGUST 15, 2000

No favoritism at McLaren, insists Newey

MCLAREN designer and technical director Adrian Newey has insisted that there will be no favoritism between the teams two drivers.

Newey said that drivers David Coulthard and new championship leader Mika Hakkinen will be treated equally unless either takes a clear advantage in the title race.

"Unless the point in the championship has been reached where it is desirable to favor one driver it will not happen," said Newey. "This is certainly not the case at the moment.

"However, if we have reached a situation where our drivers are just racing against each other, we tell them to hold position, in order to avoid the risk of a car problem or of one of the drivers going off the road.

"We are obviously putting as much weight as possible behind them both (Coulthard and Hakkinen) and I am totally satisfied that there is no favoritism being given to one driver or the other."