Friday October 15th, 1999

Villeneuve heads first day in Malaysia

Jacques Villeneuve put on a fresh set of tyres and drained the fuel from his BAR-Supertec to set what was to be the fastest time of the day during free practice. "It proves we are competitive when we come to a circuit that nobody else has any experience on," said Villeneuve. His team-mate Zonta was back in seventeenth place however, the Brazilian stopping soon after the start of the session when his car suffered another clutch failure.

Coulthard second quickest for McLaren

David Coulthard thoroughly enjoyed his first taste of the new Malaysian Sepang circuit, "It's genuinely interesting to drive," said David who had a good day with his McLaren- Mercedes. His team-mate Mika Hakkinen was back in eighth place. He made a last minute change to his car and fitted fresh rubber which he thought would make his time a lot better , but was unable to find out as both Jordan's spun and brought out yellow flags until the end of the session.

Alesi still well up for Sauber

Jean Alesi continued to work on a quick qualifying lap for his Sauber setting the third fastest time of the day, but the Frenchman was far from happy complaining of high speed oversteer after a trip off the track and a spin. Diniz was also complaining of oversteer, but ran a more conservative sixth fastest, tee tenth's off the best time of Alesi.

Ferrari fourth and fifth

Eddie Irvine and Michael Schumacher continued to work on the set-up of their Marlboro-Ferraris , both on the same set of tyres throughout, each trying different set-up solutions. Irvine ended up just over a tenth of a second faster than his team-mate who was happy with his first day back at work. "The car feels good and so do I," said Michael, who had no problems at all with his injured leg.

Stewart seventh and tenth

Even though Rubens Barrichello comes from Brazil, he was finding the hot and humid weather oppressive when not actually running in his Stewart-Ford, while he was also finding the car difficult to set-up on this track. Herbert was complaining of too much oversteer, but was at least happier that he had found the right way to go on set-up.

Wurz heads Fisichella for Benetton

Despite staying on old rubber, Alexander Wurz took the ninth fastest time for Benetton. Fisichella ran fresh rubber but was unable to better 11th fastest saying that the new tyres had less grip than the older ones. Both drivers spun during the session which remained dry.

In Brief...

Damon Hill lost time when he had to stop at the pits to clean gravel out of his Jordan following an early off. He went off again in the last minute, as did his team-mate Frentzen who got stuck in the gravel trap. Both drivers were running different tyre compounds throughout the session. Panis' car was repaired for the second session, a brake disc failure having caused his morning crash. He was happier this afternoon, despite not bettering 13th time. Trulli was back in 15th spot complaining of too much oversteer and no traction with his Prost.

Both Williams were well back, 18th and 20th, but the team were unconcerned as they had been "doing their homework," particularly on brake cooling.

Friday Free Practice - Accumulated Times

Pos  Driver        Team                 Time                  
 1.  Villeneuve    BAR Supertec         1:42.407  194.823 km/h
 2.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes     1:42.519   +  0.112
 3.  Alesi         Sauber Petronas      1:42.701   +  0.294
 4.  Irvine        Ferrari              1:42.725   +  0.318
 5.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari              1:42.875   +  0.468
 6.  Diniz         Sauber Petronas      1:43.006   +  0.599
 7.  Barrichello   Stewart Ford         1:43.042   +  0.635
 8.  Hakkinen      McLaren Mercedes     1:43.153   +  0.746
 9.  Wurz          Benetton Supertec    1:43.311   +  0.904
10.  Herbert       Stewart Ford         1:43.349   +  0.942
11.  Fisichella    Benetton Supertec    1:43.403   +  0.996
12.  Hill          Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:43.417   +  1.010
13.  Panis         Prost Peugeot        1:43.500   +  1.093
14.  Frentzen      Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:43.677   +  1.270
15.  Trulli        Prost Peugeot        1:43.793   +  1.386
16.  Badoer        Minardi Ford         1:44.818   +  2.411
17.  Zonta         BAR Supertec         1:44.968   +  2.561
18.  R.Schumacher  Williams Supertec    1:45.164   +  2.757
19.  de la Rosa    Arrows TWR           1:45.397   +  2.990
20.  Zanardi       Williams Supertec    1:45.833   +  3.426
21.  Takagi        Arrows TWR           1:46.690   +  4.283
22.  Gene          Minardi Ford         1:49.451   +  7.044

All Timing Unofficial