Friday Second Free Practice - Italian GP


Friday September 10th, 1999

Schumacher heads Friday times for Williams

Ralf Schumacher ended up heading the field at the end of the first day's free practice for the Italian Grand Prix, the German running a quick lap and working on qualifying set-up for Williams while most of the opposition contented themselves to save their tyres for qualifying and the race. Ralf Schumacher, todayAlex Zanardi set the third fastest time. "The car is not bad, but still not as good as it was last week," said Alex.

Trulli second fastest for Prost

Jarno Trulli took the second fastest time of the day for Prost, the Italian still complaining that the rear end of his car felt a little light, but otherwise happy with the overall handling. Olivier Panis was also well up, sixth fastest after his fourth fastest time was deleted when he cut the chicane. He then stopped early when he parked his car with an engine problem. Both drivers are confident of improving tomorrow when their cars will be fitted with top mounted exhaust outlets which are said to add 10 hp to performance.

Alesi slips to fourth for Sauber

After a late start while his team located a loose electrical plug, Jean Alesi got going in his Sauber only to be sidelined for good with an engine failure. He retained fourth fastest with his morning time, while Pedro Diniz ended up ninth, happier this afternoon with the balance of his car despite oversteer problems as his tyres wore down.

Villeneuve takes seventh for BAR

Victim of what turned out to be a clutch problem in the morning, Jacques Villeneuve was back on the track this afternoon to set the seventh fastest time for BAR. Ricardo Zonta was a distant 19th fastest complaining of brake problems and a chassis that changed from oversteer to understeer during the session.

McLaren work for the race

Despite the fact that Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard were no higher than fifth and eighth for McLaren respectively, the two McLaren men were confident that they would qualify well up after running high fuel loads for most of the session.

Irvine and Salo well down for Ferrari

Although Eddie Irvine and Mika Salo were concentrating on race set-ups this afternoon, Irvine was not happy after setting no better than 16th fastest time following a spin and another trip across one of the chicanes. He was finding his car very nervous to drive, as was Salo, who was 17th quickest. "The car didn't feel as well balanced as it did during the test last week," said Salo.

In brief...

Heinz-Harald Frentzen's practice was cut short after a few laps when he got the power down too soon out of the first chicane and spun. He didn't hit anything, but knocked off the ignition switch during the spin which caused the engine to cut out. Damon Hill was back in tenth place, unable to cure a turn-in understeer problem at the chicanes.

The two Stewart drivers were 11th and 12th, both hoping that their high fuel loads to-day would see them move much higher up the grid in qualifying. Both Arrows drivers were well off the pace, both complaining of a lack of straight line speed.

Pos  Driver        Team                 Time                  
 1.  R.Schumacher  Williams Supertec    1:24.507  245.802 kmph
 2.  Trulli        Prost Peugeot        1:24.692  + 0.185     
 3.  Zanardi       Williams Supertec    1:24.823  + 0.316     
 4.  Panis         Prost Peugeot        1:25.007  + 0.500     
 5.  Alesi         Sauber Petronas      1:25.030  + 0.523     
 6.  Hakkinen      McLaren Mercedes     1:25.103  + 0.596     
 7.  Villeneuve    BAR Supertec         1:25.307  + 0.800     
 8.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes     1:25.347  + 0.840     
 9.  Diniz         Sauber Petronas      1:25.388  + 0.881     
10.  Hill          Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:25.397  + 0.890     
11.  Barrichello   Stewart Ford         1:25.499  + 0.992     
12.  Herbert       Stewart Ford         1:25.551  + 1.044     
13.  Frentzen      Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:25.577  + 1.070     
14.  Fisichella    Benetton Supertec    1:25.701  + 1.194     
15.  Wurz          Benetton Supertec    1:25.742  + 1.235     
16.  Irvine        Ferrari              1:25.897  + 1.390     
17.  Salo          Ferrari              1:25.931  + 1.424     
18.  Gene          Minardi Ford         1:26.069  + 1.562     
19.  Zonta         BAR Supertec         1:26.181  + 1.674     
20.  Badoer        Minardi Ford         1:26.633  + 2.126     
21.  de la Rosa    Arrows TWR           1:27.542  + 3.035     
22.  Takagi        Arrows TWR           1:28.806  + 4.299     

All Timing Unofficial


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