Schumacher heads first day in Monaco

Michael Schumacher put the Marlboro-Ferrari team at the top by the end of the first day's free practice before Sunday's Monaco GP, the German using the same set of tyres as he worked on improving his car's mechanical grip on the slowly improving track surface. Eddie Irvine ran two sets of tyres setting the fourth fastest time of the day with the second Ferrari. Schumacher's time is still some three seconds off last year's pole position.

McLaren back on track

"We got a bit lost in our set-up this morning, but we are back on track now," said McLaren boss Ron Dennis after Mika Hakkinen set the second fastest time of the day this afternoon. David Coulthard was back in sixth spot, neither driver having any problems throughout the afternoon other than traffic for David Coulthard when he was trying to set his fastest lap.

Panis an impressive third for Prost

1996 Monaco GP winner Olivier Panis surprised everyone with an impressive third fastest time of the session for the Prost team. Despite a straight-on on one occasion and still complaining of too much understeer, he was delighted with the performance of his Peugeot engine around the tight streets of Monaco. Jarno Trulli might well have been at the top end of the time sheets with him, but a straight on into the barriers at St Devote while holding down fifth place saw the Italian out for the rest of the day and back in 12th place at the end with suspension and bodywork damage.

Barrichello back to seventh

Rubens Barrichello slipped back to seventh overall this afternoon, the Brazilian still complaining of some understeer from his Stewart-Ford, but otherwise happy that he had run the whole day with little problem from his car. Johnny Herbert was happier with his car and tenth place, but said that it would need the same work all over again when practice resumed on Saturday.

Salo ahead of Villeneuve for BAR

Mika Salo and Jacques Villeneuve set the eighth and ninth fastest times of the session, neither driver running new tyres. "It was quite an encouraging performance for our first time here," said Craig Pollock.

In brief...

Alex Zanardi was unable to improve dropping back to 13th place with his Williams. Ralf Schumacher only got to run for the final 20 minutes after what turned out to be an oil leak on his engine this morning was rectified. "I changed the set-up in a bid to improve the car and set my fastest lap on the final lap, although I didn't really get the chance to evaluate it," said Ralf.

Although Damon Hill was back in 11th spot for Jordan by the end of the session, he was delighted with the way his car was performing here and confident he could be back up front in qualifying trim. It was another bad session for his team-mate Frentzen . A spin at the start of the session which saw him clip the barrier at Rascals caused him to get another push from the marshals which prevented him running for most of the session. He was 19th fastest with his morning time after just 12 laps all day.

Takagi took 20th time despite a straight on and stalling. Marc Gene was still learning his way around the track in 21st place, his team-mate Badoer last after stopping with an oil pump problem in the gearbox.

Thursday Free Practice, Accumulated Times

Pos  Driver        Team                 Time                   
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari              1:22.718   146.536 Kmph
 2.  Hakkinen      Mclaren Mercedes     1:22.854   +    0.136  
 3.  Panis         Prost Peugeot        1:23.318   +    0.600  
 4.  Irvine        Ferrari              1:23.396   +    0.678  
 5.  Fisichella    Benetton Playlife    1:23.458   +    0.740  
 6.  Coulthard     Mclaren Mercedes     1:23.503   +    0.785  
 7.  Barrichello   Stewart Ford         1:23.545   +    0.827  
 8.  Salo          BAR Supertec         1:23.793   +    1.075  
 9.  Villeneuve    BAR Supertec         1:23.862   +    1.144  
10.  Herbert       Stewart Ford         1:23.865   +    1.147  
11.  Hill          Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:23.874   +    1.156  
12.  Trulli        Prost Peugeot        1:23.958   +    1.240  
13.  Zanardi       Williams Supertec    1:24.065   +    1.347  
14.  Wurz          Benetton Playlife    1:24.263   +    1.545  
15.  Alesi         Sauber Petronas      1:24.492   +    1.774  
16.  R.Schumacher  Williams Supertec    1:24.906   +    2.188  
17.  Diniz         Sauber Petronas      1:25.094   +    2.376  
18.  de la Rosa    Arrows TWR           1:26.148   +    3.430  
19.  Frentzen      Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:26.336   +    3.618  
20.  Takagi        Arrows TWR           1:27.618   +    4.900  
21.  Gene          Minardi Ford         1:27.667   +    4.949  
22.  Badoer        Minardi Ford         1:28.316   +    5.598  

All timing unofficial