Summary
Michael Schumacher was on the pace with setting the fastest time in free practise for the Australian Grand Prix. But just like last year however you can't draw any conclusions from the Friday, especially because rain dominated both sessions. Mika Hakkinen was second.
Notes wet
1 M. Schumacher 1m 33.826s 2 Hakkinen 1m 34.432s 3 Villeneuve 1m 35.023s 4 Wurz 1m 35.270s 5 Coulthard 1m 35.409s 6 R. Schumacher 1m 35.708s 7 Herbert 1m 35.876s 8 Alesi 1m 36.095s 9 Trulli 1m 36.231s 10 Frentzen 1m 36.741s 11 Salo 1m 36.897s 12 Barrichello 1m 37.023s 13 Hill 1m 37.102s 14 Panis 1m 37.102s 15 Rosset 1m 37.144s 16 Magnussen 1m 37.605s 17 Irvine 1m 37.891s 18 Diniz 1m 37.928s 19 Takagi 1m 38.817s 20 Fisichella 1m 38.860s 21 Nakano 1m 39.044s 107% rule 1m 40.393s 22 Tuero 2m 16.609s
The Quotes
M. Schumacher: "It was very satisfying to be driving again. Now I just cannot wait to get racing. I had a long time out - we could not drive in November and I only did a few laps in December."
Hill: "I am reasonably encouraged by what I saw, although it is difficult to draw conclusions, especially in the rain. I had several spins but it was a good practise because I am used to a foot clutch but now have a hand clutch."
Irvine: "Generally we are not looking too bad and I am satisfied with the balance of the car. In the morning I never really got going as I came in to the pits when I should have stayed out, so I got out of sequence with the rain. So this afternoon I decided to stay out and put some laps in. Looking at the section times my first run was a good one, but then from my second run onwards I had a misfire problem which we never fixed completely. I think it is a good thing to wander on the straights and under braking because of the wind but I am happy with the overall performance of the car."
Alesi: "Initially I had an electronic problem with my engine which prevented me running when practice began this morning. I was only able to get out at the end of the session. Straight away the car felt good, however, and I was able to set a competitive time even though there was no time to start experimenting with the set-up. Unfortunately my running was interrupted again this afternoon, but I take the positive view that under the circumstances eighth place is very encouraging and we have good potential for tomorrow."
Herbert: "I'm very encouraged to finish as high as seventh place, because we didn't have a good balance on the car today. In the two runs that I did on a reasonably dry track the handling was difficult under braking, and I had too much mid-corner understeer. This is nevertheless a promising start in less than ideal circumstances and I'm sure we can go even quicker tomorrow when we have an optimum balance."
Rosset: "I was very pleased with the chassis balance and general behaviour of the car. The track was very slippery when I first went out and it was also quite dirty, with a lot of leaves lying around. The situation wasn't helped either by the rain showers which occurred during both sessions. At least it gave the team an opportunity to evaluate Goodyear's new intermediate tyres, though, which seem to offer good grip. I would have liked to have been a little higher up the time sheets, but it is only the first day of practise. If the weather is better tomorrow, I'm confident we can improve on the time. I am optimistic about being able to put in a good performance in qualifying and in the race."
Takagi: "I am quite pleased with my performance today. I have never driven on this circuit before and the track was very slippery when I went out this morning. It was difficult just to keep the car on the road. I must continue to work hard, though, and I am sure the lap times will improve."
Hakkinen: The weather disrupted our plan for today and we did not do as many laps as we wanted to. However, those laps that work. But this was a relatively small number of laps and we still have a lot of work to do tomorrow."
Coulthard: "Not a great deal to report from today's session. We did not manage to do many useful laps because of the on-off nature of the rain, which affected everybody. There are some balance and driveability issues which need to be looked at when we have a track which allows us to play with the car."
Fisichella: "I met the rain nearly every time I entered the track to test something. We have worked a bit on the front aerodynamics. However these two sessions did not give us many interesting indications. I am very happy for the time set by Alexander because it confirms that our car is competitive."
Wurz: "The weather conditions did not allowed us to complete the working program planned. In the morning we mainly worked on the brakes. The 4th best lap time makes me quite happy but we must not be over confident: the rain fell during the two sessions making the results very difficult to interpret."