McLaren-Mercedes head the day

Taking advantage of an almost dry track before more rain spoiled the end of the final free practice session it was the two McLaren-Mercedes of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard which dominated the afternoon with Hakkinen an impressive half a second faster than his team mate and eight tenth's ahead of his old rival, Michael Schumacher. "It was a very tough session as the conditions were changing all the time," said Hakkinen. "I was driving right on the edge," added Hakkinen after a couple of sideways moments on his quick laps.

David Coulthard only got one quick run in after spinning off. Although he got going again, he had to stop at the pits for lengthy "cleaning" operations.

Schumacher satisfied with his day

Michael Schumacher took the third fastest time behind the McLarens and was happy with the way the session had gone. "I was happy with the performance and the car felt well balanced in the dry. It's still not perfect, particularly on one corner because of the bumps where I nearly lost it a couple of times. We have to study the printouts and find a solution for tomorrow. There is still room for improvement although the car is better than it was in Melbourne. However, we will not see the real situation until qualifying tomorrow," he said.

Eddie Irvine, fourth fastest, was happy with his car today. In Australia the car was well balanced, but too slow. Here it is also well balanced but not so slow. It's hard to find a good set-up here because of the bumps and the slow corners are very slow, but so far we are where I expected; behind our main competitors and pulling away a bit from the rest," he said. "There is not a lot more to come from the car, the rest must come from me," he admitted.

Fisichella happy with fifth

Giancarlo Fisichella was delighted with the handling of his car in the dry. "We made some changes to the set-up which improved the car. I hope I can be at the same level tomorrow," he added. In contrast Wurz wasn't happy with the set-up of his car and hoped to improve it for tomorrow as well as "push a lot more,' as he put it himself.

Barrichello back up front in Brazil

After his problems this morning, Rubens Barrichello was back up front this afternoon, the Brazilian taking sixth fastest of the day running 28 laps in the session with no problems. Herbert was back in 13th spot, his session spoiled by hydraulic problems.

In brief...

Trulli and Panis both made the top 10 for Prost, Trulli seventh after improving his car's set-up, while Panis praised the team for the aerodynamic improvements they had made to the car since Australia. It was a troubled session for the Jordan drivers. Hill did only one lap before losing his engine caused by the oil system problems he had experienced this morning. Frentzen also stopped early in the pits with the same oil problems which saw him slip back to eighth place. Jean Alesi was still searching for the problem with the handling from the back end of his Sauber. Diniz was happier, confident of making the top 10 in qualifying.

Jacques Villeneuve didn't run in the session, his team still fitting his BAR's engine after repairs to a leaking fuel cell. Stand-in for the injured Luca Badoer, Stephane Sarrazin, did a good job with the Minardi to take 20th place.

Friday Free Practice - accumulated times:

Pos Driver        Nat  Team                 Time             
 1  Hakkinen      FIN  McLaren Mercedes     1:18.881   195.880 km/h
 2  Coulthard     GBR  McLaren Mercedes     1:19.352   +  0.471  
 3  M.Schumacher  GER  Ferrari              1:19.621   +  0.740  
 4  Irvine        GBR  Ferrari              1:19.772   +  0.891  
 5  Fisichella    ITA  Benetton Playlife    1:20.309   +  1.428  
 6  Barrichello   BRA  Stewart Ford         1:20.338   +  1.457  
 7  Trulli        ITA  Prost Peugeot        1:20.359   +  1.478  
 8  Frentzen      GER  Jordan Mugen-Hond    1:20.431   +  1.550  
 9  Panis         FRA  Prost Peugeot        1:20.562   +  1.681  
10  R.Schumacher  GER  Williams Supertec    1:20.671   +  1.790  
11  Wurz          AUT  Benetton Playlife    1:20.779   +  1.898  
12  Alesi         FRA  Sauber Petronas      1:20.824   +  1.943  
13  Herbert       GBR  Stewart Ford         1:20.934   +  2.053  
14  Zonta         BRA  BAR Supertec         1:21.009   +  2.128  
15  Diniz         BRA  Sauber Petronas      1:21.116   +  2.235  
16  Zanardi       ITA  Williams Supertec    1:21.773   +  2.892  
17  Gene          SPN  Minardi Ford         1:21.897   +  3.016  
18  Takagi        JPN  Arrows TWR           1:22.355   +  3.474  
19  de la Rosa    SPN  Arrows TWR           1:22.494   +  3.613  
20  Sarrazin      FRA  Minardi Ford         1:22.579   +  3.698  
21  Hill          GBR  Jordan Mugen-Hond    1:32.229   + 13.348  
22  Villeneuve    CAN  BAR Supertec         1:36.568   + 17.687  

Weather: dry, drizzle towards the end of the session.

All Time Unofficial