Friday August 27th, 1999
Coulthard turns the table on Hakkinen
In the final session of Friday's free practice for the Belgian Grand Prix it was still the two McLaren-Mercedes which outpaced the rest of the field around the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, but this afternoon it was David Coulthard who got the better of his team-mate Mika Hakkinen with the fastest time of the day. Both drivers ran fresh sets of tyres, but both were held up by traffic and reckoned they could have gone quicker.
Fisichella flying third for Benetton
Giancarlo Fisichella made an impressive improvement on his morning times to set the third fastest time of the day for Benetton, the Italian fitting fresh tyres at the end to improve to within half a second of the lead McLaren. He said he had improved the handling of his car, but was still complaining of a little too much understeer. His team-mate Wurz, back in 12th place, complained that whatever he did to his car to change it, it made no difference. "I think there is something wrong with the car," he said.
Mixed day for Jordan
After improving to what was at the time second fastest, Heinz- Harald Frentzen's session ended up in an accident when he ran wide on a corner and knocked three wheels of his car along the barrier. "I was a bit too quick" admitted an uninjured Frentzen who still ended up fourth quickest for the day. Damon Hill was happy with fifth. He tried both qualifying and race set-ups and like his car in both conditions setting his best time on fresh tyres.
Salo and Irvine eighth and ninth
Mika Salo and Eddie Irvine continued to work on the set up of their Marlboro-Ferraris, neither driver improving upon their morning times which left them back in eighth and ninth places for the day. Salo said he had improved the car on some parts of the circuit, but was still having troubles on others, while, Irvine was having trouble with understeer and locking front and rear brakes. He fitted a fresh set of tyres, but didn't run a quick lap at the end .
In brief...
Jacques Villeneuve had a lucky escape when his BAR's front right suspension cam apart under braking for Les Combes at close to 300 kph. It threw his car into a half spin and it slid down the barrier , luckily without any injury to Villeneuve. The BAR team then kept team-mate Ricardo Zonta in the points for the rest of the session until they have the chance to examine the exact cause of the failure on Villeneuve's car.
Jean Alesi slipped back to tenth place, complaining of too much understeer from his Sauber. Diniz was back in 17th spot, the Brazilian also complaining of understeer and getting used to a new race engineer after his previous one, Stephen Clark, was sacked after telling him to push while ahead of Alesi instead of letting him by. His new engineer is Andy Tilley.
Both Prost drivers were complaining of a lack of rear end grip, the two hoping to improve the aerodynamic balance tomorrow, Panis 13th fastest while Trulli was back in 20th place.
A Full Report will be added shortly...
Friday Free Practice - Accumulated Times
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes 1:53.577 220.862 kmph
2. Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes 1:54.021 + 0.444
3. Fisichella Benetton Supertec 1:54.066 + 0.489
4. Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:54.678 + 1.101
5. Hill Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:54.892 + 1.315
6. R.Schumacher Williams Supertec 1:54.899 + 1.322
7. Herbert Stewart Ford 1:54.975 + 1.398
8. Salo Ferrari 1:55.032 + 1.455
9. Irvine Ferrari 1:55.242 + 1.665
10. Alesi Sauber Petronas 1:55.271 + 1.694
11. Barrichello Stewart Ford 1:55.484 + 1.907
12. Wurz Benetton Supertec 1:55.486 + 1.909
13. Panis Prost Peugeot 1:55.541 + 1.964
14. Zanardi Williams Supertec 1:55.743 + 2.166
15. Badoer Minardi Ford 1:56.090 + 2.513
16. de la Rosa Arrows TWR 1:56.263 + 2.686
17. Diniz Sauber Petronas 1:56.310 + 2.733
18. Villeneuve BAR Supertec 1:56.429 + 2.852
19. Takagi Arrows TWR 1:56.749 + 3.172
20. Trulli Prost Peugeot 1:56.765 + 3.188
21. Gene Minardi Ford 1:56.855 + 3.278
22. Zonta BAR Supertec 1:57.717 + 4.140