British American Racing today completed its penultimate test session before the start of the 1999 Formula One season. In oppressively hot conditions, Ricardo Zonta managed to put in 20 laps of the Kyalami circuit, reliability issues terminating his runs prematurely on several occasions. The young Brazilian also suffered two minor off-course excursions, due at least in part to the very slippery track surface. The resulting delays meant British American Racing did not have the opportunity to run its car in qualifying trim with new tyres or low fuel, as the Williams team did during the morning.

Ricardo Zonta: "Today hasn't gone as well as we expected, but I am still very happy with the team. They have worked really hard all week and, despite the problems, everybody retains great motivation. We've learned a great deal this week, and that's more important that setting a good lap time."

Craig Pollock, Managing Director, British American Racing: "For me, today has probably been one of the most difficult days of the test because it was the day where we were expecting the most and where we achieved the least. Expectations, though, are still very high. In general, over the last five days, this test has been very successful and we're very happy to have come here. We have amassed a lot of useful data for the start of the season and also confirmed that we still have a considerable amount of work to do if we're to achieve what we're aiming for."

Olivier Boutron, Senior Test Engineer, Supertec Sport: "We came to Kyalami with an engine suitable for Melbourne and it is the first time we have run this specification. We have tested it in difficult conditions because it has been very hot in South Africa and the air density is very low, which means less engine power. That, in turn, has affected our data. Our main aim, though, was to work on the cooling and oil systems, and we've made considerable progress in those areas. All the information we have accumulated will be valuable for the first race."