Saturday April 8th, 2000

In a closely fought final free practice session before this afternoon's qualifying practice, Mika Hakkinen edged out Michael Schumacher for the top spot, the McLaren just one-tenth of a second ahead of the Ferrari - which promises a thrilling battle for the pole.

David Coulthard worked hard with the second McLaren-Mercedes to match his team-mate's times, and was just five-thousandths of a second slower than Schumacher to claim third spot, despite going straight-on across one of the chicanes during the session.

Schumacher had a trouble-free session this morning, working on race and qualifying set-up, and happy with the handling in both configurations. His team mate at Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, Rubens Barrichello carried out a similar programme, but could not better sixth quickest. The Brazilian was 1.3s off Schumacher's best, still not happy with the handling of his chassis. Both Ferraris were running a modified engine which has been fitted for qualifying but will not be used for the race.

Jarno Trulli and Heinz-Harald Frentzen changed places this morning, the Italian taking the fourth fastest time just ahead of his team-mate. Both the Jordan drivers had a trouble-free session, working on tyre choice and different set-ups. Frentzen was trying new sidepods for the first time which Trulli had tried yesterday. Frentzen's last attempt at a quick lap was spoiled by a slower Minardi which blocked his lap. "There is a bit of a compromise with the set-up at this track," said a team spokesman, referring to the need to ride the kerbs for a quick lap time.

Despite both Sauber drivers complaining of a lack of traction, Mika Salo set an impressive seventh fastest time of the session, while Pedro Diniz was not far behind in 10th spot. The team was also deciding which tyres to use, the difference between the softer and harder tyres being very close.

After missing Friday's practice, Jacques Villeneuve came back with a bang today to put his BAR in eighth place despite two spins, the second of which left him stuck in a gravel trap. Team-mate Ricardo Zonta was back in 20th place, the first part of his session spoiled by an engine problem. The BAR team changed the engine for a fresh one before the end of the session.

Due to a braking problem, Ralf Schumacher damaged the front wing of his Williams when he ran off through a gravel trap. He was back in action later in the session to set 12th fastest, before he stopped out on the track with an engine throttle problem. His team-mate, Jenson Button was back in 18th place after sitting out most of the session with an hydraulic problem.

The Prost team was using a special qualifying engine with electronically adjustable trumpets today, but Jean Alesi and Nick Heidfeld could not better 16th and 19th places respectively, both complaining of poor aerodynamic balance.

Marc Gene destroyed the left side of his Minardi when he ran wide and into a tyre barrier.

Pos  Driver        Team                 Time                  
 1.  Hakkinen      McLaren Mercedes     1:24.973
 2.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari              1:25.085   +  0:00.112
 3.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes     1:25.090   +  0:00.117
 4.  Trulli        Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:25.852   +  0:00.879
 5.  Frentzen      Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:26.097   +  0:01.124
 6.  Barrichello   Ferrari              1:26.357   +  0:01.384
 7.  Salo          Sauber Petronas      1:26.428   +  0:01.455
 8.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda            1:26.551   +  0:01.578
 9.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth      1:26.566   +  0:01.593
10.  Diniz         Sauber Petronas      1:26.634   +  0:01.661
11.  Herbert       Jaguar Cosworth      1:26.729   +  0:01.756
12.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW         1:26.807   +  0:01.834
13.  Wurz          Benetton Playlife    1:26.855   +  0:01.882
14.  Fisichella    Benetton Playlife    1:26.964   +  0:01.991
15.  Verstappen    Arrows Supertec      1:27.188   +  0:02.215
16.  Alesi         Prost Peugeot        1:27.195   +  0:02.222
17.  de la Rosa    Arrows Supertec      1:27.312   +  0:02.339
18.  Button        Williams BMW         1:27.453   +  0:02.480
19.  Hedifeld      Prost Peugeot        1:27.464   +  0:02.491
20.  Zonta         BAR Honda            1:27.791   +  0:02.818
21.  Gene          Minardi Fondmetal    1:28.155   +  0:03.182
22.  Mazzacane     Minardi Fondmetal    1:28.276   +  0:03.303

All timing unofficial