Busy time for Scuderia-Ferrari Marlboro

Winner of the Australian Grand Prix, Eddie Irvine, was back in the driving seat two days after his victory when he stopped off at Malaysia's new Grand Prix track in Kuala Lumpur where he drove a Ferrari F50. He described the circuit as excellent. Back in Italy, test driver Luca Badoer traded his Minardi for one of last year's F300B chassis in which he ran 52 laps (1m 02,604 secs best) trying new suspension geometry for the 1999 chassis. There will also be the F300B running at Monza on Monday, 15th March at the request of the FIA to test the new "anti-rain" surface which has been laid on the main straight. The current F399 chassis raced in Australia will be tested on Tuesday and Wednesday in Barcelona and Saturday and Sunday in Jerez.

McLaren to run at Silverstone

The McLaren team will start testing their MP4/14 chassis in Silverstone on Monday where both Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard will carry out the first of several tests in preparation for the GP of Brazil next month. Technical Director Adrian Newey as since been able to say precisely what happened to the two cars in Melbourne; "A seized bearing in the accelerator linkage for Mika and an hydraulic leak for David. These were teething problems of a new car and nothing more," he pointed out. Newey refused to say if his team were racing on a one or two stop strategy in Australia.

Frentzen slowed by a minor problem

Heinz-Harald Frentzen's loss of time to Eddie Irvine in the second half of the race was caused by a loss of engine power due to a problem with his Jordan's air box. Part of the structure inside broke off starving the engine of air. "Because of that Heinz was unable to pull maximum revs and had to save fuel in the closing laps," explained Trevor Foster. The team are planning to continue testing in Barcelona on Tuesday, but the plans could be upset by the late arrival of the cars from Melbourne due to technical problems with the freight aircraft which brought them back.

Prost delay their testing

The late arrival of their cars from Australia has also forced the Prost team to cancel their proposed Barcelona test and perhaps even those planned for Magny Cours the follod his practice spoiled by Gearbox trouble which saw him start from the back of the grid, although his Sunday warm-up time was very good. Unfortunately, a stuck wheel nut at the pit stop forced him to retire from the race."

"Trulli also had bad luck. When he made his pit stop the fuel valve door got stuck and he had to make another lap. When he stopped again the mechanics managed to force the cover. When he re-started he hit Gene's Minardi and both cars were put of the race. In both cases, the times they were doing in the race reassured us that the potential of the car is there. We have to work now to increase the reliability, which we will be doing right from the next test in Barcelona this week," added Dudot.

BAR upset not to have finished

The BAR team were unhappy not to get one of their cars to the finish for their first GP. Villeneuve lost his car's rear wing for a reason which the team have still not discovered. Zonta had an overheating gearbox due to two "tear-off" visor strips being stuck in the oil radiator. Despite that, the team say they have learned a lot, not only about their cars but also about their opposition. The team are planning two days of testing in Silverstone this week with Zonta who will be concentrating on reliability and endurance testing. After going before the FIA World Council on Friday, BAR boss Craig Pollock was relieved to find that his team had not ben banned from competition nor fined for his actions against the FIA concerning their non acceptance of two different liveries for his two cars this year.

Minardi damaged in transport

The Minardi team were upset to learn that one of their cars had been damaged in transport back from Melbourne.