Friday First Free Practice - San Marino GP

Friday April 30th, 1999

Hakkinen and Coulthard set the pace

A last moment flying lap at the end of this morning's first practice session for Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix in Imola saw McLaren's Mika Hakkinen head the time sheets again, almost a full second ahead of his team-mate David Coulthard, who took the second fastest time of the session. Coulthard lost track time and ran only 7 laps compared to Hakkinen's 16 when his McLaren suffered an alternator problem, otherwise neither drivers had any complaints at the end of the session during which they fine tuned the set-up of their cars.

Ferrari off to a good start on home track

The Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team got off to a good start this morning with Eddie Irvine and Michael Schumacher setting the next two fastest times this morning. Irvine ran his car in 'standard' trim with a bit lighter fuel load to produce his best time just a fraction slower than Coulthard, while Schumacher was running a new front wing design for the first time. He was happy with his car which he will continue to fine tune to the changing track conditions during the afternoon session.

Barrichello still going well for Ford

Rubens Barrichello and the Stewart Ford team continued to show well here. Barrichello set the fifth fastest time, the team hoping that further engine modifications will have cured the problems which they had in Brazil and the recent Jerez test. "We still haven't put a race distance on the revised engine, but we are hoping that it will be OK here," said Ford's engine boss Nick Hayes. Johnny Herbert was back in 14th place, the Englishman saying that he had gone the wrong way with set-up changes during the session. He also went too fast in the pit lane and earned a $3,250 fine.

Alesi fast for Sauber

Jean Alesi was quick in the first session for Sauber. He complained of poor grip and had a problem with his car's engine speed limiter, but didn't get caught for speeding. Pedro Diniz ended up tenth, despite a spin under braking.

In brief...

Both Jordan drivers were well off the pace in 15th for Hill and 16th for Frentzen. Hill complained of a lack of grip and spun off at the end of the session. Frentzen said he had bad understeer. Olivier Panis only ran nine laps in his Prost because of a gearbox oil leak but was happy with eighth fastest time, his team mate Jarno Trulli slipping back to 12th after failing to overcome an understeer and lack of traction problem. Jacques Villeneuve was well up in seventh place for BAR, his new team mate for the weekend, Mika Salo, was in 19th spot as he got used to the car which he had previously driven in Jerez for one day.

Pos  Driver        Nat  Team                 Time             
 1   Hakkinen      FIN  Mclaren Mercedes     1'28"467   200.617 Km/H
 2   Coulthard     GBR  Mclaren Mercedes     1'29"218   + 0'00"751  
 3   Irvine        GBR  Ferrari              1'29"381   + 0'00"914  
 4   M.Schumacher  GER  Ferrari              1'29"534   + 0'01"067  
 5   Barrichello   BRA  Stewart Ford         1'29"902   + 0'01"435  
 6   Alesi         FRA  Sauber Petronas      1'30"182   + 0'01"715  
 7   Villeneuve    CAN  BAR Supertec         1'30"337   + 0'01"870  
 8   Panis         FRA  Prost Peugeot        1'30"408   + 0'01"941  
 9   R.Schumacher  GER  Williams Supertec    1'30"603   + 0'02"136  
10   Diniz         BRA  Sauber Petronas      1'30"794   + 0'02"327  
11   Fisichella    ITA  Benetton Playlife    1'30"854   + 0'02"387  
12   Trulli        ITA  Prost Peugeot        1'30"975   + 0'02"508  
13   Wurz          AUT  Benetton Playlife    1'31"009   + 0'02"542  
14   Herbert       GBR  Stewart Ford         1'31"046   + 0'02"579  
15   Hill          GBR  Jordan Mugen-Hond    1'31"064   + 0'02"597  
16   Frentzen      GER  Jordan Mugen-Hond    1'31"217   + 0'02"750  
17   Takagi        JPN  Arrows TWR           1'31"577   + 0'03"110  
18   Zanardi       ITA  Williams Supertec    1'31"598   + 0'03"131  
19   Salo          FIN  BAR Supertec         1'32"449   + 0'03"982  
20   de la Rosa    SPN  Arrows TWR           1'32"756   + 0'04"289  
21   Badoer        ITA  Minardi Ford         1'33"648   + 0'05"181  
22   Gene          SPN  Minardi Ford         1'38"065   + 0'09"598 

Weather: dry, sunny. 

All timing unofficial


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