Friday October 15th, 1999
Schumacher back with a bang
Michael Schumacher came back to his Marlboro-Ferrari with a bang at the new Sepang circuit in Malaysia this morning when the German lapped the damp but drying track almost a full second ahead of his nearest rivals. He ran 19 trouble-free laps learning the circuit layout, but making little changes to his car on the changing track conditions. The four Ferrari chassis at this race feature revised aerodynamics to cope with the hot weather conditions and are using the 048B development engines raced in the last event.
Eddie Irvine did 17 laps to set the fifth fastest time of the morning, a minor spin in the opening wet laps his only problem.
Sauber's star for Petronas
Jean Alesi and Pedro Diniz set the next best times for the Sauber-Petronas team, both drivers running low fuel and fresh tyres in order to set a quick time to encourage their team and race sponsor, Petronas. Alesi ran wide on one corner damaging the undertray of his car, while Diniz complained of low speed understeer and the difficulty of finding the right line around this wide circuit.
Barrichello well up for Stewart
Rubens Barrichello took the fourth fastest time for the Stewart team, the Brazilian complaining of a minor problem with his car's steering wheel , but he stayed out on the track in order to learn the layout rather than waste time in the pits having it fixed. Johnny Herbert was 11th fastest , troubled throughout the session by out of balance tyres which were causing a bad vibration, a problem which apparently affected a couple of other teams.
Problems for Fisichella
While Benetton's Alex Wurz had nothing more to say after setting sixth fastest time other than the new track's lack of grip, his team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella managed only 6 laps after a gearbox problem caused a spin and then an electrical problem caused the engine to stop a couple of corners later.
First crash to Panis
Olivier Panis had the dubious honour of being the first driver to crash an F1 car at the Sepang circuit when he spun off at the end of the straight and badly damaged the rear end of his Prost against the barrier. A possible brake problem was thought to be the reason for his accident, while he started 30 minutes late because of an hydraulic leak.
In brief...
The Jordan and McLaren teams preferred laps to glory this morning, Hill eighth and the two McLarens of Hakkinen and Coulthard ninth and tenth quickest respectively. Frentzen was 12th running 23 laps, more than anyone else.
Luca Badoer got only two laps with his Minardi before an electrical wire on the exhaust pipe caused a fire at the back end of his car. Zonta got only 5 laps in his BAR before an engine failure caused a change. Ralf Schumacher only got in 6 laps with his Williams because of an hydraulic pressure problem. Marc Gene spun and then stalled his Minardi out on the track.
Pos Driver Team Time
1. M.Schumacher Ferrari 1:44.824 190.330 km/h
2. Alesi Sauber Petronas 1:45.687 + 0.863
3. Diniz Sauber Petronas 1:45.997 + 1.173
4. Barrichello Stewart Ford 1:46.098 + 1.274
5. Irvine Ferrari 1:46.152 + 1.328
6. Wurz Benetton Supertec 1:46.812 + 1.988
7. Panis Prost Peugeot 1:47.048 + 2.224
8. Hill Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:47.087 + 2.263
9. Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes 1:47.186 + 2.362
10. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes 1:47.273 + 2.449
11. Herbert Stewart Ford 1:47.521 + 2.697
12. Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:47.998 + 3.174
13. Zanardi Williams Supertec 1:48.029 + 3.205
14. Villeneuve BAR Supertec 1:48.401 + 3.577
15. Trulli Prost Peugeot 1:49.801 + 4.977
16. Takagi Arrows TWR 1:49.815 + 4.991
17. Gene Minardi Ford 1:51.652 + 6.828
18. R.Schumacher Williams Supertec 1:58.882 + 14.058
19. de la Rosa Arrows TWR 2:01.119 + 16.295
20. Zonta BAR Supertec 2:01.186 + 16.362
21. Fisichella Benetton Supertec 2:03.831 + 19.007
22. Badoer Minardi Ford 8:13.523 + 6:28.699
All Timing Unofficial