Summary

The battle has begun between Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve on what might be a crucial point in this year's championship.

Villeneuve was fastest in the morning session ahead of M. Schumacher, but he had to let Mika Hakkinen take the fastest time of the day.

Notes

• Both Hill and Verstappen had a very difficult day in their cars.
• The top six from this morning:

  1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

  Villeneuve (Williams) M. Schumacher (Ferrari) Wurz (Benetton) Frentzen (Williams) Alesi (Benetton) Irvine (Ferrari)

  1m 24.085s 1m 24.132s 1m 24.203s 1m 24.383s 1m 24.415s 1m 24.424s

  • Weather during session: Dry

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

Hakkinen (McLaren) Villeneuve (Williams) Frentzen (Williams) Herbert (Sauber) Alesi (Benetton) Fisichella (Jordan) M. Schumacher (Ferrari) Wurz (Benetton) Irvine (Ferrari) Trulli (Prost) R. Schumacher (Jordan) Magnussen (Stewart) Coulthard (McLaren) Salo (Tyrrell) Nakano (Prost) Katayama (Minardi) Fontana (Sauber) Barrichello (Stewart) Diniz (Arrows) Hill (Arrows) Marques (Minardi) Verstappen (Tyrrell) 107% rule

1m 22.935s 1m 23.266s 1m 23.327s 1m 23.581s 1m 23.785s 1m 23.883s 1m 24.132s 1m 24.203s 1m 24.424s 1m 24.946s 1m 24.948s 1m 25.136s 1m 25.360s 1m 26.035s 1m 26.270s 1m 26.446s 1m 26.640s 1m 26.785s 1m 26.797s 1m 26.810s 1m 27.066s 1m 27.923s 1m 28.740s

Quotes

• Hill: "Tom has been misquoted and too much has been made of his criticisms. I'm going to give my best in the British Grand prix and Tom is 100 per cent happy with my efforts."