Coulthard on the pace
"It is not easy to get the car balanced on a track like this, but when you do get it, the times flow easily," said David Coulthard after taking the fastest time of the session for McLaren leaving his team-mate Mika Hakkinen trailing in second place by two tenth's of a second. Coulthard, who likes this circuit, is confident that he can repeat his pole position of last year. Mika Hakkinen tried hard to beat his team-mate's time, the Finn running off the road at one point, but could not match the Scotsman's pace.
Michael playing a guessing game
It's going to be difficult to make the right tyre choice for qualifying as we don't know how the weather will be for the race tomorrow," said Michael Schumacher after taking the third fastest time of the session only a tenth of Hakkinen's fastest lap. Eddie Irvine's car was fitted with the new front wing for this session, the Irishman having a spin during the session as he worked to revise his car's set-up for the new front wing. Despite that he was fourth fastest, three tenth's of a second behind Schumacher.
Barrichello fifth for Stewart
Rubens Barrichello continued to run strongly in the Stewart- Ford, he took fifth place with team-mate Johnny Herbert just behind him in sixth spot. "The car was a lot more consistent this morning. I shall be looking for a place in the top 6 on the grid," predicted Barrichello. Herbert was a lot happier with his car today after working on the set-up overnight.
Ralf Schumacher takes seventh
After setting what was to be seventh fastest time of the morning early in the session, Williams' Ralf Schumacher worked on the race set-up for the rest of the session. Alex Zanardi lost some time in the pits with an hydraulic problem, but was not too worried as he quite happy with his car's performance before that.
In brief...
Changes to the set-up of his Jordan saw HH Frentzen back up to eighth place just ahead of team-mate Hill, the German still struggling to find a good all-round balance for his car. Hill was not as happy as he had been yesterday, Damon saying that the car did not feel as good on low fuel load than it did with heavier tanks.
Both Prost drivers were finding it hard to strike a balance between traction and high speed stability. Pedro Diniz was just ahead of his team-mate Alesi in 13th place, the Frenchman planning to run the same qualifying set-up as Diniz in a bid to improve his times.
The Benetton boys were still struggling to find a good set-up and did not better 14th and 15th fastest times. Mika Salo, sixteenth fastest, headed Jacques Villeneuve who was ack in 17th spot troubled by fuel pressure problems during the session.
Saturday Free Practice, Accumulated Times
Pos Driver NAT Team Time
1 Coulthard GBR Mclaren Mercedes 1'26"509 205.158 Km/H
2 Hakkinen FIN Mclaren Mercedes 1'26"750 + 0'00"241
3 M.Schummacher GER Ferrari 1'26"834 + 0'00"325
4 Irvine GBR Ferrari 1'27"193 + 0'00"684
5 Barrichello BRA Stewart Ford 1'27"429 + 0'00"920
6 Herbert GBR Stewart Ford 1'27"734 + 0'01"225
7 R.Schumacher GER Williams Supertec 1'27"986 + 0'01"477
8 Frentzen GER Jordan Mugen-Hond 1'28"196 + 0'01"687
9 Hill GBR Jordan Mugen-Hond 1'28"209 + 0'01"700
10 Zanardi ITA Williams Supertec 1'28"364 + 0'01"855
11 Trulli ITA Prost Peugeot 1'28"405 + 0'01"896
12 Diniz BRA Sauber Petronas 1'28"447 + 0'01"938
13 Alesi FRA Sauber Petronas 1'28"468 + 0'01"959
14 Wurz AUT Benetton Playlife 1'28"565 + 0'02"056
15 Fisichella ITA Benetton Playlife 1'28"569 + 0'02"060
16 Salo FIN BAR Supertec 1'28"596 + 0'02"087
17 Villeneuve CAN BAR Supertec 1'28"702 + 0'02"193
18 Panis FRA Prost Peugeot 1'28"956 + 0'02"447
19 Takagi JPN Arrows TWR 1'29"300 + 0'02"791
20 de la Rosa SPN Arrows TWR 1'29"762 + 0'03"253
21 Gene SPN Minardi Ford 1'30"497 + 0'03"988
22 Badoer ITA Minardi Ford 1'31"347 + 0'04"838
Weather: dry, sunny.
All timing unofficial