Summary

Gerhard Berger took the fastest time of free practise 45 minutes into the second session on a drying track. Hakkinen and Schumacher showed that it was surely not up to the Williams-Renaults to set the pace.

Notes

• Alesi went through the grass when he is the first driver to go out on slicks.
• Diniz spins off.
• Herbert spins and parks his car on the grass.
• It is said that DOME F1 will take another go at Formula One. They will present a prototype of their Formula One car this weekend and if everything goes well will have some laps on the Suzuka circuit. The Japanese driver Nakano will be driving it. He also may be driving for Ligier-Mugen next year.

• Weather during session
  • Overcast
  • Wet, drying out
  • No wind
  • Warm

1. G. Berger 1m 42.350s
2. M. Hakkinen 1m 42.954s
3. M. Schumacher 1m 43.321s
4. J. Villeneuve 1m 43.372s
5. D. Hill 1m 43.747s
6. M. Brundle 1m 43.845s
7. J. Alesi 1m 43.860s
8. E. Irvine 1m 44.092s
9. R. Barrichello 1m 44.441s
10. H.H. Frentzen 1m 44.598s

Quotes

Schumacher:"The car handled really well in the rain this morning. However, it was harder to understand the situation in the afternoon, because track conditions were so changeable. It was clear through, that we would encounter greater difficulties in the dry."

Herbert:"I am quite happy with the way things have been going today. The main problem has been the constantly changing track conditions which made it difficult to judge the value of any alterations to the car."

Dutch driver Jos Verstappen will drive his last race for the TWR F1 team this weekend. Team-boss Tom Walkinshaw announced today that Pedro Diniz will take the second seat beside Damon Hill next year.

The Brazilian is rumoured to bring a sponsorship package of 8 million US dollars to the team.

Verstappen had a bad season this year because of the poor technical quality of his Arrows. It is now unsure for which team Verstappen will be driving next year or he may even be going to the Indy Cars.