Friday April 7th, 2000

Ferrari One-Two for Friday

By the end of the final Friday session in Imola Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello delighted Scuderia-Ferrari- Marlboro's fanatical fans and guaranteed a packed house tomorrow with the two fastest times of the day, Schumacher almost half a second ahead of his McLaren rivals. "I am happy with the progress we made today , but I am sure we can go even quicker tomorrow," said Schumacher. After a slow start while the team made some adjustments to his car's engine, Rubens Barrichello was delighted with his car improving his times with every lap. Despite a minor "off" over a gravel trap during the session he was second quickest, three tenth's off the pace of his team mate. Neither driver ran a fresh set of tyres.

Coulthard Still Ahead for McLaren

David Coulthard was still the quicker of the two McLaren men, reigning world champion Mika Hakkinen back in sixth place, but apparently happy with his car. Both drivers went off during the session , but with no damage to their cars. Despite their times, the team were confident that they could challenge the Ferrari drivers tomorrow.

Frentzen happy with fourth for Jordan

Running a low fuel load at the end of the session, but on a well used set of tyres, Heinz Harald Frentzen was delighted with fourth fastest time of the session just ahead of his team-mate Trulli in similar configuration.

Herbert Bounces Back for Jaguar

His Jaguar fitted with a fresh engine and a fresh set of tyres following his morning blow-up, Johnny Herbert bounced back to take seventh fastest time of the day, Eddie Irvine back in 12th place running light fuel only at the end of e session on old tyres.

In Brief...

Both Benetton drivers found their cars very nervous this afternoon, Wurz also losing time when he stalled trying to make a practice start out of the pits.

The two Saubers were in trouble this afternoon, Diniz spun of when he tried a different aerodynamic set-up, while Salo was still complaining of bad balance, too much oversteer.

Both Arrows drivers were happy, Verstappen losing time this afternoon with a water radiator leak ending up in 16th place to De La Rosa's tenth.

Ralf Schumacher locked up his Williams brakes at the chicane and spun off into a gravel trap leaving him in ninth place, while Jenson Button parked his car with a blown engine putting him back in 20th place.

Jacques Villeneuve did not get a timed lap all day with his BAR. A couple of laps into the afternoon session he spun when his engine sprung a fuel leak which started a fire forcing him to abandon the car.

Both Prost drivers were looking for a better aerodynamic balance from their cars, Alesi complaining of both under and oversteer.

Today's Accumulated Times:

Pos  Driver        Team                 Time                  
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari              1:26.944 
 2.  Barrichello   Ferrari              1:27.317   +  0:00.373
 3.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes     1:27.372   +  0:00.428
 4.  Frentzen      Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:27.730   +  0:00.786
 5.  Trulli        Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:27.795   +  0:00.851
 6.  Hakkinen      McLaren Mercedes     1:28.021   +  0:01.077
 7.  Herbert       Jaguar Cosworth      1:28.139   +  0:01.195
 8.  Fisichella    Benetton Playlife    1:28.236   +  0:01.292
 9.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW         1:28.372   +  0:01.428
10.  de la Rosa    Arrows Supertec      1:28.444   +  0:01.500
11.  Salo          Sauber Petronas      1:28.555   +  0:01.611
12.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth      1:28.566   +  0:01.622
13.  Wurz          Benetton Playlife    1:28.771   +  0:01.827
14.  Alesi         Prost Peugeot        1:28.950   +  0:02.006
15.  Mazzacane     Minardi Fondmetal    1:28.952   +  0:02.008
16.  Verstappen    Arrows Supertec      1:28.975   +  0:02.031
17.  Zonta         BAR Honda            1:29.097   +  0:02.153
18.  Heidfeld      Prost Peugeot        1:29.113   +  0:02.169
19.  Diniz         Sauber Petronas      1:29.307   +  0:02.363
20.  Button        Williams BMW         1:29.326   +  0:02.382
21.  Gene          Minardi Fondmetal    1:29.412   +  0:02.468
22.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda            7:53.474   +  6:26.530

All timing unofficial