Prost

Jarno Trulli: "This morning, when I arrived at the circuit, I never thought I would finish the afternoon with the fastest time in the opening free practice session for this Grand Prix. My car was well-balanced from the very first laps, no doubt because it behaves very well with low downforce. I realised immediately that we could be very competitive. The team has done a great job in finding a good aerodynamic solution for this circuit. When I took my set of new tyres in the final minutes of the session, I recorded the best time. I like this circuit very much since I drove here a lot in Formula Three and, in six races, I won six times. Thank you to the whole team. It is good for the morale to start the weekend in this way."

Olivier Panis: "Following the work done at the Monza test, we were able to start the day here with a well-balanced car and we have worked throughout the day in a good direction. I am confident that the rest of the weekend will go well as I clocked my fastest time with a heavy fuel load. We have found a good compromise in terms of aerodynamic and mechanical set-up which means we should be able to improve and do better. Now we must work to find more grip without sacrificing our speed."

Alain Prost: "From time to time, it is nice to be surprised favourably. It is true that since the start of the season, we have not often been truly surprised like this. We have been able to see today that our cars behave well enough on this circuit which did not seem to be one of the easy ones for us. The work done in recent times with the test team is starting to bear fruit. We have tried several modifications on the cars, notably aerodynamic changes and the drivers seem to be satisfied enough with the cars."

Ferrari

Eddie Irvine: "It's good to be quick today, but the time doesn't mean much. We still have a lot of work to do, because I am having trouble controlling the back end of the car, which is why I spun this morning. The new wings make the car very fast to drive down the straights, but hard to control in the slow sections. I feel under less pressure here than I did in Zeltweg, my first race as team leader. Now I am more confident and content and I hope that will come through in my driving."

Mika Salo: "I had no problems with the car and we improved it during the day. I did not use new tyres so I am confident I can do better tomorrow. Today was easier for me than Friday in Austria, because I did not have to learn about the car and was able to concentrate on my set-up. Now I know what effect the changes we make have on the car and that makes the work easier. The car is good under braking, which is particularly important on this track, but we need to work on the Motodrom section a bit more."

Jean Todt: "Today we concentrated on adapting our cars to the track. As usual, Friday's times have little significance. Both drivers used only one set of tyres. I think tomorrow we will see the usual contenders for front row honours."

Benetton

Giancarlo Fisichella: We were expecting a better performance on this low downforce track. The modifications that we tested at Monza three weeks ago worked well and this shows in our times. The car is well balanced but is still lacking some grip. The tyres deteriorate very quickly, but I think this is the same problem for everyone.

McLaren

David Coulthard: "Quite a contrast to come from Austria to Hockenheim which requires low downforce and very high speeds. A case of really getting a feel for the car on this bumpy circuit, I had one little off as I entered the stadium, but that's what it is all about, finding your limits."

Mika Hakkinen: "It was a good day's practice as I worked hard with the guys to get the right balance for the car. I had one spin, I didn't loose much time because of it, but I did find the limit of the car."

Ron Dennis: "Practice was a little messy for us, but both drivers were working hard to optimise the cars on high mileage tyres and appropriate fuel loads. Free practice times, as always on a Friday, are virtually meaningless."

Norbert Haug: "We are heading in the right direction and I don't assume that all the cars faster than us had a lot of fuel on board."

Stewart

Rubens Barrichello: "I worked through various settings to try and improve the car's traction and the rear stability under braking. I see those characteristics of the car as being crucial for this weekend. I'm still along way from an optimum qualifying set-up. I don't feel as if we have quite got the balance right. I will sit down with my engineers and discover where we can improve because I feel I can make up time, particularly in the Complex, which will be the key to a good grid position."

Johnny Herbert: "In the first session my car had a broken exhaust and then in the afternoon we grappled with a handling problem which meant that it wasn't worth running towards the end. The car bore no relation to the car I drove at the Monza test in low downforce trim. It was nervous at the rear and very twitchy even in a straight line. It was impossible to make it work effectively. A lot of the day was wasted."

Paul Stewart, Chief Operating Officer: "We have a problem with Johnny's car which we have not sourced yet but it appears it was damper related. As a result he was unable to make a lot of progress today. Rubens worked through a set-up programme to try and find a direction for the race. Both drivers feel there is some work ahead before qualifying tomorrow."

Martin Whitaker, Director of Ford Racing, Europe: "We experienced no problems with the engines today. After successful running on the dyno at Cosworth Racing's Northampton base the new Series 4 engine will make its debut in both cars tomorrow."

Jordan

Damon Hill: "That was a good session. We did a lot of things to improve the car and I am happy with the progress we made. It is extremely hard to find a perfect set up but the car felt quite good and if we continue in this direction we should be competitive."

Heinz-Harald Frentzen: "I lost most of this morning's session because I went off so I spent most of the afternoon working on race set up. I was not going for a quick lap time so I am not concerned that I am 17th. I am quite confident that we will go a lot faster tomorrow."

Minardi

Marc Gene: "I am very satisfied because the today's performance confirm the big step forward made by the car. I also have the feeling that my car behaves very well on such a fast track. I even feel a bit surprised: I was aware that the car was much more performing but I didn't expect to post such a time, only a little second slower than the pole. Tomorrow it will be a tough day but we'll do our best because the improvements are evident."

Luca Badoer: "Unfortunately my car suffered an engine failure. This prevented me from continuing the set-up; moreover, I couldn't switch to new tyres being unable to improve my time."

Williams

Alex Zanardi: "We had quite a smooth day, without any big trouble. We believe that we have made some small improvements and I am looking forward to something even better tomorrow, which is another day."

Ralf Schumacher: "At the moment I am not really satisfied with our performance. The car is still quite unstable turning in under braking which is a problem. I lost most of my second hour of the free practice session because we had to change the gearbox, which meant that we could not do much of the setting up work. Anyway, now we will sit together and try to find a good set up for tomorrow's qualifying and we will hopefully be nearer the front."

James Robinson, Senior Operations Engineer: "Friday is always difficult to accurately assess in terms of knowing what other teams are doing. We are obviously concentrating on our homework for the race and working on brake wear and how the oversteer can develop as the tyres become older. Unfortunately, Ralf had a problem with his car which basically lost 50 minutes of the second session so it's difficult to be up there at the front with such a loss of track time."