Summary

• Morning

  Olivier Panis was the fastest man on his home track in the free practice this morning. He drove a fastest time of 1:18.205. Jean Alesi was second with 1:18.526 and Schumacher third (1:18.545).

  Damon Hill cam to a disappointing fifth time with 1:19.037.

• Afternoon

  Mika Hakkinen denied Olivier Panis the fastest time of the day infront of his home cowd with just a few seconds on the clock. Hakkinen was one a the few to really improve on his time, he clocked a 1:17.673.

Notes:

• Morning
  • Hill is using little wings on his Helmet this weekend to improve aerodynamics.
  • The teams are using the B-compound Goodyear tyre.
  • Coulthard spins of but is stopped by the gravel trap before he could hit the wall.
  • Alesi spins entering a corner and puts a lot of gravel on the track, Alesi could get his car back on the track.
  • Hill hits a curb at the same point where Alesi went of causing the back end of his Williams to fly through the air, Hill could return to the pits.

• Afternoon
  • A lot of drivers were having difficulty at the Chicane, one of them was Katayama who went of the track and straight through the gravel trap and back on the circuit again.
  • Barrichello had some technical difficulties and had to park his Jordan-Peugeot on the grass.
  • Verstappen spun twice, the second time ended his session in the dust.

Top Six

1. Hakkinen 1:17.673
2. Panis 1:18.205
3. Berger 1:18.284
4. Alesi 1:18.526
5. Schumacher 1:18.545
6. Hill 1:18.598

Hill:"There are quite a few things we're working on to improve for qualifying."

Michael Schumacher baby brother's Formula One adventure is getting closer. Willi Weber, manager of both Michael as Ralf Schumacher, has stated that Flavio Bratore, manager of the Benetton-Renault team, has granted Ralf some test drives in the near future.

Michael Schumacher himself has won the Shell-Ferrari karting challenge held yesterday evening at the Magny-Cours kart track. Although he had some tough competition coming from the Japanese journalists.