Saturday Free Practice - French GP

Saturday June 26th, 1999

Barrichello quickest

In mixed dry and damp conditions it was Rubens Barrichello who took the quickest time for the Stewart-Ford team in the final free practice session before this afternoon's qualifying practice for the French Grand Prix. He is hoping the weather will remain the same this afternoon.

His team-mate Johnny Herbert was back in 11th position running race set-ups during the session.

McLaren second and third

David Coulthard pipped his McLaren team-mate Mika Hakkinen to third place on the time sheets after a trouble free session, both drivers running 21 laps this morning. Hakkinen also had no problems throughout the session, while Coulthard proved to be the qu ickest driver when the track was wet in the second half of the session.

Ralf Schumacher well up for Williams

It was the turn of Ralf Schumacher to star for the Williams team this morning, Ralf setting the fourth fastest time of the session ahead of the two Ferraris despite a couple of harmless offs onto the grass and gravel trap. Alex Zanardi , who was well up y esterday, slipped back to ninth place despite running 27 laps. However, he was delighted with the handling of his car and claimed he had made good progress with the car.

Irvine heads Schumacher for fifth place

Despite a harmless spin at the final chicane Eddie Irvine set the fastest time of the two Marlboro Ferraris, Michael Schumacher taking sixth place just behind him. Both cars were running the revised rear bodywork and the 048B qualifying engine this mornin g, both drivers running yesterday's tyres in order to save the others for qualifying and the race. Schumacher had another brief trip through a gravel trap and went to the pits to have his car checked and the gravel cleaned out of the radiators.

Frentzen happy, Hill happier

"We still have more time to come from the car , although it is now pretty well balanced for the conditions," said Heinz Harald Frentzen who was seventh quickest. Damon Hill was happier with the handling of his car than he was yesterday, although he claime d it was still very hard to find the right set-up for the changing conditions.

In brief...

After a lot of changes to their cars overnight, the BAR drivers were happier today, Zonta setting tenth quickest time , Villeneuve in 14th place. Jean Alesi ended up walking back after he spun and then tried to select first gear with too many r evs on te engine which promptly broke the gearbox. Giancarlo Fisichella had a harmless spin in the Benetton trying to avoid a Jordan at the hairpin. He was happier with his car, but admitted that it was going to be very tough to make a place in the top 10 in qualifying. Both Arrows drivers continued to complain of a lack of grip as did both Prost drivers who also complained of a lack of traction.

Saturday Free Practice - Accumulated Times

Pos  Driver        Team                 Time                   
 1.  Barrichello   Stewart Ford         1:17.232   198.104 kmph
 2.  Coulthard     Mclaren Mercedes     1:17.283   + 0.051  
 3.  Hakkinen      Mclaren Mercedes     1:17.386   + 0.154 
 4.  R.Schumacher  Williams Supertec    1:17.496   + 0.264     
 5.  Irvine        Ferrari              1:17.520   + 0.288     
 6.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari              1:17.689   + 0.457     
 7.  Frentzen      Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:18.030   + 0.798     
 8.  Hill          Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:18.170   + 0.938     
 9.  Zanardi       Williams Supertec    1:18.255   + 1.023     
10.  Zonta         BAR Supertec         1:18.484   + 1.252     
11.  Herbert       Stewart Ford         1:18.516   + 1.284     
12.  Alesi         Sauber Petronas      1:18.595   + 1.363     
13.  Fisichella    Benetton Playlife    1:18.671   + 1.439     
14.  Villeneuve    BAR Supertec         1:18.777   + 1.545     
15.  Takagi        Arrows TWR           1:18.887   + 1.655     
16.  Trulli        Prost Peugeot        1:19.075   + 1.843     
17.  Diniz         Sauber Petronas      1:19.171   + 1.939     
18.  de la Rosa    Arrows TWR           1:19.214   + 1.982     
19.  Wurz          Benetton Playlife    1:19.375   + 2.143     
20.  Panis         Prost Peugeot        1:19.403   + 2.171     
21.  Badoer        Minardi Ford         1:20.388   + 3.156     
22.  Gene          Minardi Ford         1:20.681   + 3.449  

All timing unofficial


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