Schumacher heads the day for Ferrari

Michael Schumacher got to work on trying the two Goodyear tyre options for this race as well as changing the mechanical and aerodynamic set-up of his Ferrari and took the fastest time of the day half a second ahead of his closest rival. Despite the impressive showing, Schumacher was still conservative about his performance this weekend. "Of course I am happy to be on the provisional pole, but I do not think today’s result shows the whole truth and therefore I expect qualifying to be very close tomorrow. I believe we are competitive. All the hard work in testing over the past few weeks seems to have paid off," said the German.

Eddie Irvine carried out a similar programme with long runs on a heavy fuel load to check tyre wear, but his session was cut short when he spun off into a gravel trap due to a brake imbalance problem. "We have a good idea in which direction to go, but we are not there yet," said the Irishman, who still ended up fourth fastest.

Ralf makes it an all Schumacher top duo

Ralf Schumacher was also impressive in the Jordan at this race, the younger brother of Michael setting the second fastest time of the day with his Jordan Mugen-Honda after 6 laps on the same set of tyres. Damon Hill was struggling compared with his team mate, the British driver only seventh fastest, 1.3 seconds slower than Ralf after running the car in race specification throughout the session.

Frentzen still third fastest for Williams

Heinz Harald Frentzen continued to make good progress with his revised Williams-Mecachrome, the German working on the set-up to take the third fastest time of the day. In contrast, Villeneuve was having an oversteer problem with his car's set-up and was unable to better eighth fastest for the day complaining that his car was too loose at the rear end.

Hakkinen slips to fifth

Fastest this morning, Mika Hakkinen was only fifth fastest by the end of the day. The Finn happy with his car but not with the Minardi which had slowed him going into the chicane on his final flying lap. David Coulthard made changes to the rear suspension and aerodynamics of his McLaren during the session and was a lot happier with his car's handling after setting the sixth fastest time.

Top ten time for Verstappen

Jos Verstappen put the Stewart into the top 10 with the ninth fastest time of the session, helped in part by a new set of tyres and a new differential of the car. Rubens Barrichello was back in 17th place after getting delayed by yellow flags on his quick runs.

In brief...

bad afternoon for Sauber. Both the Sauber cars were hors de combat early in the session when Jean Alesi spun off and Johnny Herbert pulled off with a smoking engine about to blow up. Salo complained of understeer in his Arrows. Jarno Trulli ran 38 laps for the Prost team, more than anyone else today.

Timing

POS DRIVER      NATION     TEAM                 TIME

 1. M.SCHUMACHER   GER     Ferrari              1:39.823   211.478 km/h
 2. R.SCHUMACHER   GER     Jordan Mugen-Hond    1:40.336   + 0.513     
 3. H.H.FRENTZEN   GER     Williams Mecachro    1:40.389   + 0.566     
 4. E.IRVINE       GBR     Ferrari              1:40.615   + 0.792     
 5. M.HAKKINEN     FIN     McLaren Mercedes     1:40.644   + 0.821     
 6. D.COULTHARD    GBR     McLaren Mercedes     1:40.845   + 1.022     
 7. D.HILL         GBR     Jordan Mugen-Hond    1:41.098   + 1.275     
 8. J.VILLENEUVE   CAN     Williams Mecachro    1:41.252   + 1.429     
 9. J.VERSTAPPEN   NED     Stewart Ford         1:42.191   + 2.368     
10. G.FISICHELLA   ITA     Benetton Playlife    1:42.224   + 2.401     
11. A.WURZ         AUT     Benetton Playlife    1:42.628   + 2.805     
12. T.TAKAGI       JPN     Tyrrell Ford         1:42.833   + 3.010     
13. J.TRULLI       ITA     Prost Peugeot        1:43.121   + 3.298     
14. O.PANIS        FRA     Prost Peugeot        1:43.493   + 3.670     
15. M.SALO         FIN     Arrows TWR           1:43.634   + 3.811     
16. J.ALESI        FRA     Sauber Petronas      1:43.788   + 3.965     
17. R.BARRICHELLO  BRA     Stewart Ford         1:43.854   + 4.031     
18. J.HERBERT      GBR     Sauber Petronas      1:43.894   + 4.071     
19. P.DINIZ        BRA     Arrows TWR           1:44.468   + 4.645     
20. S.NAKANO       JPN     Minardi Ford         1:44.632   + 4.809     
21. R.ROSSET       BRA     Tyrrell Ford         1:45.054   + 5.231     
22. E.TUERO        ARG     Minardi Ford         1:46.396   + 6.573     

Temperature:       air 20-19C     track  34-29C

All timing is unofficial

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