Friday Second Free Practice - San Marino GP

Friday April 30th, 1999

Coulthard closes on Hakkinen for top spot

Although the McLaren team fitted new tyres to their cars at the end of the session, Mika Hakkinen was unable to improve upon his morning time although he still remained at the top of the time sheets. David Coulthard also found traffic, but got in a better lap that was just two tenth's slower than his team-mate after improving half a second.

Irvine heads the Ferrari charge

Eddie Irvine continued to run the fastest laps for the Scuderia-Ferrari Marlboro team, the Irishman knocking three tenth's off his morning time on the same set of tyres. He tried several set-up on his chassis and apparently was happiest with the last one which was similar to the qualifying set-up he used in Australia. Michael Schumacher slipped back to fifth spot with his time from the morning session. He worked on different race set-ups and was cu short 10 minutes before the end of the session by a punctured rear tyre when he tried to make a back-to-back run with the old front wing against the new front wing.

Hill jumps to fourth place

After improving the set-up of his Jordan Honda during the break, Damon Hill jumped up the field into fourth place tis afternoon to move ahead of Michael Schumacher. "It's not my time that I am particularly pleased about, but the fact that I could do the same times consistently," he said. Heinz Harald Frentzen was still languishing back in 17th place, his team taking too long to make changes to his car which he was unable to run before the end of the session. "At least it is encouraging to know that the car is competitive here," he said.

Williams well up

The two Williams drivers were running better this afternoon. Despite a trip across the grass, Alex Zanardi took the sixth fastest time. His team-mate also had a trip across a gravel trap because of braking problems, the German seventh fastest a few hundredth's slower than his team-mate.

Villeneuve happy with eighth

"We are improving the car every time we run it and I am happy with eighth place. I just hope we can keep that for tomorrow," said Villeneuve who put his BAR into eighth fastest time of the day. Mika Salo improved his car from this morning and his time which was 14th fastest.

In brief...

A black day for the Arrows team. Tora Takagi went off and damaged the left side of his car against the barrier. Pedro De La Rosa also had an off, but was finally stopped by an hydraulic failure.

Things went from bad to worse for the Benetton team. Alexander Wurz slipped back to 15th place , while Giancarlo Fisichella was 16th after crashing into the barriers and damaging the front right corner of his Benetton. Jean Alesi fell back to 11th spot after a spin and then stopping out on the track because of a gearbox problem. Pedro Diniz changed his Sauber , but found it worse, ending up 13th quickest.

Friday Free Practice, Accumulated Times

Pos  Driver        Nat  Team                 Time          
 1   Hakkinen      FIN  Mclaren Mercedes     1'28"467   200.617 Km/H
 2   Coulthard     GBR  Mclaren Mercedes     1'28"605   + 0'00"138  
 3   Irvine        GBR  Ferrari              1'29"046   + 0'00"579  
 4   Hill          GBR  Jordan Mugen-Hond    1'29"452   + 0'00"985  
 5   M.Schumacher  GER  Ferrari              1'29"534   + 0'01"067  
 6   Zanardi       ITA  Williams Supertec    1'29"614   + 0'01"147  
 7   R.Schumacher  GER  Williams Supertec    1'29"630   + 0'01"163  
 8   Villeneuve    CAN  BAR Supertec         1'29"765   + 0'01"298  
 9   Barrichello   BRA  Stewart Ford         1'29"792   + 0'01"325  
10   Trulli        ITA  Prost Peugeot        1'29"808   + 0'01"341  
11   Alesi         FRA  Sauber Petronas      1'30"182   + 0'01"715  
12   Panis         FRA  Prost Peugeot        1'30"408   + 0'01"941  
13   Diniz         BRA  Sauber Petronas      1'30"482   + 0'02"015  
14   Salo          FIN  BAR Supertec         1'30"569   + 0'02"102  
15   Wurz          AUT  Benetton Playlife    1'30"830   + 0'02"363  
16   Fisichella    ITA  Benetton Playlife    1'30"854   + 0'02"387  
17   Frentzen      GER  Jordan Mugen-Hond    1'30"991   + 0'02"524  
18   Herbert       GBR  Stewart Ford         1'31"046   + 0'02"579  
19   de la Rosa    SPN  Arrows TWR           1'31"257   + 0'02"790  
20   Badoer        ITA  Minardi Ford         1'31"547   + 0'03"080  
21   Takagi        JPN  Arrows TWR           1'31"557   + 0'03"090  
22   Gene          SPN  Minardi Ford         1'33"529   + 0'05"062  

Weather: dry, sunny with some clouds. 
Temperature: Air - 22C, Track - 38C

All timing unofficial


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