Marlboro Ferrari head first practice in Spain
Eddie Irvine and Michael Schumacher headed the first practice session at Barcelona's Catalunya circuit this morning, Irvine three tenths of a second faster than his teammate before spinning off into a gravel trap in the final lap of the session without any damage to the car. Both drivers worked on different set-up configurations based on their test here the previous week. Like all the drivers, they complained that the wind and dusty track conditions had made their cars behave very differently to the way they had during the previous test.
Despite the conditions, Schumacher ran 19 laps concentrating mainly on aerodynamic changes. Irvine ran 11 laps during the session.
Hakkinen not in a hurry
Mika Hakkinen was not pressed to set quick times this morning because of the track conditions. He waited a long time for the track to get cleaned up a little before running just 5 laps with his McLaren Mercedes which was good enough for the third fastest time. Coulthard ran more laps working on a race set-up and ran 14 laps with the sixth fastest time.
Jordan fourth and fifth
Both the Jordan drivers did not bother running a lot of laps. Heinz Harald Frentzen and Damon Hill each ran seven laps to set the fourth and fifth fastest times respectively. "I am pretty happy with the car after our test last week, but with the way the track is at the moment there is little point doing a lot of laps or pushing hard," said Frentzen. Hill said he was unable to tell how his car was performing because of the adverse effects of the dirty track and strong wind on the handling.
Sauber try new aerodynamics and suspension
The two Sauber drivers continued testing a revised undertray and suspension geometry which they had tried last week. Unfortunately for Alesi, he went off as he did in the previous test and damaged his car's undertray, the Frenchman seven fastest after 7 laps. Diniz was eighth quickest, the Brazilian trying a race set-up and to find a balance for the changed conditions.
Villeneuve ninth for BAR
Jacques Villeneuve worked on the aerodynamic balance of his car this morning to record the ninth fastest time for BAR, a time which he could have improved considerably had he not made a mistake on turn 5 during his quickest lap.
Mika Salo's bad luck continued when he had engine problems and pulled to a halt just after the pits on his fourth flying lap.
In brief...
Ralf Schumacher and Alex Zanardi were not very optimistic about the performance of their Williams-Supertec cars back in 16th and 17th place. Schumacher had an off over a gravel trap, but was able to rejoin the track and finish the session. Zanardi did the most laps of the morning with 20 timed laps. Both Prost drivers complained of a lack of traction and grip this morning.
Arrows tried hard and soft tyre solutions, but decided it was too early to tell to draw any conclusions because of the track conditions. Luca Badoer went off in his Minardi damaging the front end of his car's monocoque on the kerbing.
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Irvine Ferrari 1:23.577 203.654 Kmph
2. M.Schumacher Ferrari 1:23.895 + 0.318
3. Hakkinen Mclaren Mercedes 1:23.982 + 0.405
4. Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:24.304 + 0.727
5. Hill Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:24.318 + 0.741
6. Coulthard Mclaren Mercedes 1:24.376 + 0.799
7. Alesi Sauber Petronas 1:24.708 + 1.131
8. Diniz Sauber Petronas 1:24.823 + 1.246
9. Villeneuve BAR Supertec 1:24.834 + 1.257
10. Fisichella Benetton Playlife 1:25.448 + 1.871
11. Barrichello Stewart Ford 1:25.510 + 1.933
12. Herbert Stewart Ford 1:25.667 + 2.090
13. Panis Prost Peugeot 1:25.751 + 2.174
14. Trulli Prost Peugeot 1:25.827 + 2.250
15. Wurz Benetton Playlife 1:25.901 + 2.324
16. R.Schumacher Williams Supertec 1:26.281 + 2.704
17. Zanardi Williams Supertec 1:26.416 + 2.839
18. de la Rosa Arrows TWR 1:26.595 + 3.018
19. Gene Minardi Ford 1:27.506 + 3.929
20. Badoer Minardi Ford 1:27.763 + 4.186
21. Takagi Arrows TWR 1:28.040 + 4.463
22. Salo BAR Supertec 22:24.830 + 21:01.253
Weather: Dry, Sunny, Some wind
All timing unofficial