Friday March 24th, 2000

Barrichello quickest at home

Rubens Barrichello delighted his home fans when he set the fastest time in the first free practice session for his home Grand Prix, the local hero lapping his Ferrari a quarter of a second quicker than the McLaren of Mika Hakkinen. Michael Schumacher took the fourth fastest time in the hot humid conditions running 8 laps compared with Barrichello's 13, a slight leak from a driveshaft boot causing him to lose time in the pits. Schumacher, like the rest of the drivers, found the new track surface an improvement with the exception of the main straight which they all found to be worse than last year.

Routine start for Mercedes

Confident that they have cured their engine problems by a change of induction air filter for their pneumatic valve system, which allowed debris to block open a one-way valve, the McLaren Mercedes team ran a routine morning with Mika Hakkinen setting the second fastest time of the session. Coulthard was just behind him, the two drivers making routine adjustments during a trouble free session.

BAR still well up the field

Jacques Villeneuve took the fifth fastest time for the BAR-Honda team, the Canadian working on te mechanical set-up in a bid to alleviate the problem of the bumps on the main straight. Zonta ran only four laps, debris in the radiators causing an early overheating problem while he was then sidelined by gearbox trouble.

Wild morning for Alesi

Jean Alesi had three spins and two off-course excursions during the session on his way to the sixth fastest time for Prost. His last off saw him lose the car's front wing. He also complained of too much heat in the cockpit. Heidfeld took things easier, 12 laps used learning the circuit.

Fisichella seventh for Benetton

Under the new management of Flavio Briatore, the Benetton team took seventh place this morning, Giancarlo Fisichella trying to eliminate too much understeer. Wurz was back in 15th spot, the Austrian's car suffering gear change problems.

Routine start for Jordan

Both Frentzen and Trulli had a trouble free session working on race set-up and basic chassis work. New aerodynamic parts have been fitted to the cars after a successful Silverstone test last week.

In brief...

A sticking throttle was soon cured for Salo who set the 9th time for Sauber. Diniz was 13th, complaining that the changing circuit conditions made set-up changes impossible to evaluate. De La Rosa ran just 2 laps because of gearbox troubles. Johnny Herbert had his first trouble free session of the season with his Jaguar. He was 18th quickest complaining only of the "horrific bump" on the main straight. However, Irvine ran only 4 laps before pulling up with an electrical problem. Button was learning the circuit with his Williams, 11th fastest ahead of Ralf Schumacher in 14th spot complaining of handling problems with the rear end of his car.

Pos  Driver        Team                 Time                  
 1.  Barrichello   Ferrari              1:17.631
 2.  Hakkinen      McLaren Mercedes     1:17.896   +  0:00.265
 3.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes     1:18.040   +  0:00.409
 4.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari              1:18.562   +  0:00.931
 5.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda            1:18.613   +  0:00.982
 6.  Alesi         Prost Peugeot        1:18.909   +  0:01.278
 7.  Fisichella    Benetton Playlife    1:19.041   +  0:01.410
 8.  Frentzen      Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:19.073   +  0:01.442
 9.  Salo          Sauber Petronas      1:19.078   +  0:01.447
10.  Verstappen    Arrows Supertec      1:19.254   +  0:01.623
11.  Button        Williams BMW         1:19.303   +  0:01.672
12.  Trulli        Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:19.330   +  0:01.699
13.  Diniz         Sauber Petronas      1:19.419   +  0:01.788
14.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW         1:19.862   +  0:02.231
15.  Wurz          Benetton Playlife    1:19.946   +  0:02.315
16.  Gene          Minardi Fondmetal    1:20.094   +  0:02.463
17.  Mazzacane     Minardi Fondmetal    1:20.371   +  0:02.740
18.  Herbert       Jaguar Cosworth      1:20.512   +  0:02.881
19.  Heidfeld      Prost Peugeot        1:20.890   +  0:03.259
20.  Zonta         BAR Honda            1:47.338   +  0:29.707
21.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth      1:55.900   +  0:38.269
22.  de la Rosa    Arrows Supertec     59:24.733   + 58:07.102

All timing unofficial