Saturday October 16th, 1999

Ferrari head the field into qualifying

By the end of the final free practice session this morning it was the two Marlboro-Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine heading the field into this afternoon's qualifying session , the two Scuderia-Ferrari Marlboro drivers over half a second clear of their nearest opposition. Schumacher was delighted with his car's handling at this track and did not even fit fresh tyres for his best lap right at the end of the session. Irvine ran three sets of tyres carrying out back-to- back comparison runs with the two compounds available. Both drivers will use a later spec 048C engine for qualifying and possibly for the race.

McLaren up against it

Mika Hakkinen was unable to better third fastest time this morning , McLaren's Ron Dennis admitting that it was going to be tough to beat the Ferraris in qualifying as his drivers were still chasing the best set-up for their cars on the changing track conditions. He also said that it was a difficult tyre choice for qualifying. Coulthard was fifth fastest one tenth of a second of his team-mate's best time.

Herbert well up for Stewart

After holding the quickest time for much of the session, Johnny Herbert slipped back to fourth place , the Nurburgring winner still not happy with his car's handling which was still understeering too much for his liking. Rubens Barrichello could not better seventh fastest , the Brazilian disappointed at not being able to make the best of his tyres when he tried fresh ones.

Villeneuve keeps hopes high for BAR

Jacques Villeneuve continued to keep his BAR team's hopes high this morning when he ended up sixth fastest, the Canadian complaining of a little high speed oversteer, otherwise delighted with the way his car was performing here. Despite being back in 13th place, Ricardo Zonta was also happy with is morning, the Brazilian heading for a much higher spot until he spun off on his quick lap.

Alesi eighth for Sauber

Jean Alesi was unable to better eighth fastest time despite improving his car's aerodynamic balance at the start of the session. Hopes of the Sauber team taking two places in the top 10 in qualifying are going to be tough , Diniz twelfth this morning after two spins, one of which left his stuck in a gravel trap with a damaged nose on his Sauber.

Jordan looking for pace

Heinz Harald Frentzen admitted that it was going to be tough to qualify his Jordan-Mugen Honda well up here. Frentzen was still struggling to find a good balance for the second sector of the circuit and only made tenth fastest time. Hill was back in 15th spot after a spin during the session.

In brief...

The Williams team were also struggling to find a good balance here, Ralf Schumacher unable to better ninth time while Zanardi was back in 17th place, still a long way from the ideal set-up.

Olivier Panis only managed 12 laps to the other's 30. He was delayed by a gearbox problem and then spun off into a gravel trap and stalled. Trulli also went off the track early on before changing a front left brake calliper on his Prost. Both drivers are using the latest A18 evo 7 engine for qualifying.

Both Minardis are having engine changes after getting them too hot when they spun.

Pos  Driver        Team                 Time                  
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari              1:40.424  198.670 km/h
 2.  Irvine        Ferrari              1:40.506  + 0.082     
 3.  Hakkinen      McLaren Mercedes     1:41.107  + 0.683     
 4.  Herbert       Stewart Ford         1:41.111  + 0.687     
 5.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes     1:41.269  + 0.845     
 6.  Villeneuve    BAR Supertec         1:41.560  + 0.136     
 7.  Barrichello   Stewart Ford         1:41.608  + 1.184     
 8.  Alesi         Sauber Petronas      1:42.042  + 1.618     
 9.  R.Schumacher  Williams Supertec    1:42.153  + 1.729     
10.  Frentzen      Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:42.282  + 1.858     
11.  Fisichella    Benetton Supertec    1:42.292  + 1.868     
12.  Diniz         Sauber Petronas      1:42.473  + 2.049     
13.  Zonta         BAR Supertec         1:42.578  + 2.154     
14.  Wurz          Benetton Supertec    1:42.755  + 2.331     
15.  Hill          Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:42.861  + 2.437     
16.  Trulli        Prost Peugeot        1:42.946  + 2.522     
17.  Zanardi       Williams Supertec    1:43.108  + 2.684     
18.  de la Rosa    Arrows TWR           1:43.729  + 3.305     
19.  Badoer        Minardi Ford         1:43.981  + 3.557     
20.  Panis         Prost Peugeot        1:44.032  + 3.608     
21.  Gene          Minardi Ford         1:44.937  + 4.513     
22.  Takagi        Arrows TWR           1:44.978  + 4.554