Friday Second Free Practice - Spanish GP

Friday May 28th, 1999

Irvine stays on top

In a session where strong winds and warmer track temperatures saw most drivers struggling to improve on their morning times, Eddie Irvine retained his top spot for Scuderia-Ferrari for the day without improving on his morning time. "We made small adjustments to the car during the session and it was better than I expected in the wind as it was a disaster last week in similar conditions," said Irvine.

Circuit de Catalunya - todayMichael Schumacher also failed to improve upon his time, the German working on a different programme to Irvine, working for the race, but he slipped back to third fastest for the day.

Frentzen impressive for Jordan

One of the few drivers to show much improvement this afternoon was Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the Jordan. He ran a quick lap with fresh tyres right at the start of the session and set what was to be the second fastest time of the day and the quickest time of the afternoon session in which he ran 21 laps. Damon Hill ran another 24 laps this afternoon, but was unable to better his morning time, the English driver frustrated by the lack of balance from his car and the difficulty to find the right one in the windy conditions to end up sixth.

McLaren working for the wind

Despite some pretty spectacular driving from Mika Hakkinen, who remained in race trim due to the conditions, he failed to improve upon his morning times slipping back to fourth fastest. They were trying a different set-up on their cars, but failed to find any improvement. "We were trying to optimise the car for the windy conditions in case it is windy for the race" said Coulthard ,who improved his time slightly but ended up seventh fastest.

Zanardi jumps to fifth quickest

A new set of tyres and a low fuel run saw Alex Zanardi leap from seventeenth to fifth fastest in the afternoon, although the Italian was cautious about his performance. I hope it means we are making a move in the right direction. I didn't expect to be fifth, but we will see tomorrow if we have made an real improvement or not.

In brief...

With fresh tyres this afternoon, Rubens Barrichello set the eighth fastest time for Stewart, Johnny Herbert back in 17th place having remained on one set of tyres all day. The Prost drivers were still complaining about instability from the rear end due to the wind. Mika Salo managed only 11 laps this 8 laps this afternoon , his team changing the engine in his car in 1h 15m. Marc Gene spun off in the Minardi damaging the rear wing and rear suspension.

Jean Alesi was late on the track because of an hydraulic problem. His car also had repairs to a crack in the monocoque caused when he ran wide over a kerb this morning and hit a sunken TV camera that wasn't sunk enough. Pedro Diniz parked early in the session with fuel pressure problems.

Friday Free Practice, Accumulated Times

Pos  Driver        Team                 Time                   
 1.  Irvine        Ferrari              1:23.577   203.654 Kmph
 2.  Frentzen      Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:23.790   + 0.213  
 3.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari              1:23.895   + 0.318  
 4.  Hakkinen      Mclaren Mercedes     1:23.982   + 0.405  
 5.  Zanardi       Williams Supertec    1:24.312   + 0.735  
 6.  Hill          Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:24.318   + 0.741  
 7.  Coulthard     Mclaren Mercedes     1:24.339   + 0.762  
 8.  Barrichello   Stewart Ford         1:24.347   + 0.770  
 9.  Villeneuve    BAR Supertec         1:24.458   + 0.881  
10.  R.Schumacher  Williams Supertec    1:24.559   + 0.982  
11.  Alesi         Sauber Petronas      1:24.642   + 1.065  
12.  Diniz         Sauber Petronas      1:24.823   + 1.246  
13.  Trulli        Prost Peugeot        1:24.957   + 1.380  
14.  Panis         Prost Peugeot        1:25.140   + 1.563  
15.  Fisichella    Benetton Playlife    1:25.448   + 1.871  
16.  Herbert       Stewart Ford         1:25.667   + 2.090  
17.  Wurz          Benetton Playlife    1:25.901   + 2.324  
18.  Salo          BAR Supertec         1:26.323   + 2.746  
19.  De La Rosa    Arrows TWR           1:26.595   + 3.018  
20.  Takagi        Arrows TWR           1:27.296   + 3.719  
21.  Gene          Minardi Ford         1:27.506   + 3.929  
22.  Badoer        Minardi Ford         1:27.763   + 4.186  

Weather: Dry, Sunny, Strong wind
All timing unofficial


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