Saturday Free Practice news and results (Australian GP)
©
Terms & Conditions

Saturday March 6th, 1999

McLaren dominate final free practice

If the final free practice session was any indication of what we can expect during the qualifying session this afternoon, the Mclaren-Mercedes team should end up clear leaders of the pack as Mika Hakkinen and team-mate David Coulthard ended up over two seconds faster than their rivals. McLaren reported a trouble free session , Hakkinen using his repaired car from the previous day which had new right-side suspension , gearbox and rear wing and bodywork. Coulthard finished 0,6 seconds behind his team-mate, the Scot having a couple of minor off road excursions without any damage.

Herbert third for Stewart

Johnny Herbert took the third fastest time of the session for Jackie Stewart after a trouble free session. His team-mate Rubens Barrichello was also well up in seventh spot, but complaining that he still had excessive understeer to cure before qualifying.

Hill takes fourth fastest

Despite a spin which left his Jordan stuck in a gravel trap for much of the first half of the session, Damon Hill later took the fourth fastest time just behind Herbert. Heinz-Harald Frentzen had a good morning but failed to better eighth quickest when his qualifying run was spoiled by an engine problem.

Villeneuve well up for BAR

Jacques Villeneuve surprised everyone with a last minute fifth fastest for the BAR team, the Canadian improving the car throughout the session. Ricardo Zonta had another miserable session, the Brazilian completing only three laps this morning before another transmission failure.

Ferrari struggling for grip

Michael Schumacher tried several different set-ups this morning, but could find nothing to improve a general lack of grip which saw him a disappointed sixth fastest. Eddie Irvine had similar problems trying different tyres as well as set-ups , but unable to better 10th quickest.

In brief...

Giancarlo Fisichella was happier with the progress made with his Benetton, which he took to ninth fastest time. His team-mate Alexander Wurz ran only 16 laps before spinning off and knocking the front right hand corner off his car against the wall. The team had removed their special braking system from the front of his car considering the advantages only marginal.

Most of the drivers had a spin at one stage or another, the latest tyre regulations seemingly having narrowed the performance margin to a point where it is very hard to over step the limit of grip. Jean Alesi lost part of the session when he spun into a gravel trap and then more laps later when his engine cut out. Both Prost drivers were struggling for grip, Trulli spinning off on his fast lap and Panis back in 16th spot.

Australian GP Saturday Free Practice Results:

Pos Name                  Nat. Team                Time
 1  Mika Hakkinen         FIN  McLaren-Mercedes    1:30.324 211.319kmh 
 2  David Coulthard       GBR  McLaren-Mercedes    1:30.969 + 0:00.645 
 3  Johnny Herbert        GBR  Stewart-Ford        1:32.569 + 0:02.245 
 4  Damon Hill            GBR  Jordan-Mugen Honda  1:32.661 + 0:02.337 
 5  Jacques Villeneuve    CAN  BAR-Supertec        1:32.717 + 0:02.393 
 6  Michael Schumacher    GER  Ferrari             1:32.722 + 0:02.398 
 7  Rubens Barrichello    BRA  Stewart-Ford        1:32.828 + 0:02.504 
 8  HH Frentzen           GER  Jordan-Mugen Honda  1:32.876 + 0:02.552 
 9  Giancarlo Fisichella  ITA  Benetton-Playlife   1:32.975 + 0:02.651 
10  Eddy Irvine           GBR  Ferrari             1:32.994 + 0:02.670 
11  Pedro Diniz           BRA  Sauber-Petronas     1:32.999 + 0:02.675 
12  Alexander Wurz        AUS  Benetton-Playlife   1:33.110 + 0:02.786 
13  Jarno Trulli          ITA  Prost-Peugeot       1:33.252 + 0:02.928 
14  Jean Alesi            FRA  Sauber-Petronas     1:33.305 + 0:02.981 
15  Ralf Schumacher       GER  Williams-Mecachrome 1:33.323 + 0:02.999 
16  Olivier Panis         FRA  Prost-Peugeot       1:34.129 + 0:03.805 
17  Pedro de la Rosa      SPA  Arrows              1:34.194 + 0:03.870 
18  Toranosuke Takagi     JPN  Arrows              1:34.386 + 0:04.062 
19  Alessandro Zanardi    ITA  Williams-Mecachrome 1:35.444 + 0:05.120 
20  Luca Badoer           ITA  Minardi-Ford        1:35.839 + 0:05.515 
21  Marc Gene             SPA  Minardi-Ford        1:36.848 + 0:06.524 
22  Ricardo Zonta         BRA  BAR-Supertec        1:48.227 + 0:17.903 

All Times Unofficial

Previous  |  News Index  |  Next   ]