Silverstone 2000: Friday Practice 1
Times
P. No Driver Team - Car Time/Laps
1. 5 Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:27.683 211.074 km/h
2. 7 Irvine Jaguar 1:28.169 + 0:00.486
3. 2 Coulthard McLaren Mercedes 1:28.525 + 0:00.842
4. 1 Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes 1:28.659 + 0:00.976
5. 6 Trulli Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:28.705 + 0:01.022
6. 22 Villeneuve BAR Honda 1:28.845 + 0:01.162
7. 4 Barrichello Ferrari 1:29.083 + 0:01.400
8. 12 Wurz Benetton Playlife 1:29.111 + 0:01.428
9. 11 Fisichella Benetton Playlife 1:29.214 + 0:01.531
10. 20 Gene Minardi Fondmetal 1:29.537 + 0:01.854
11. 10 Button Williams BMW 1:29.775 + 0:02.092
12. 16 Diniz Sauber Petronas 1:30.214 + 0:02.531
13. 18 de la Rosa Arrows Supertec 1:30.279 + 0:02.596
14. 19 Verstappen Arrows Supertec 1:30.313 + 0:02.630
15. 17 Salo Sauber Petronas 1:30.643 + 0:02.960
16. 14 Alesi Prost Peugeot 1:30.656 + 0:02.973
17. 15 Heidfeld Prost Peugeot 1:31.006 + 0:03.323
18. 21 Mazzacane Minardi Fondmetal 1:31.250 + 0:03.567
19. 23 Zonta BAR Honda 1:31.322 + 0:03.639
20. 3 Schumacher,M Ferrari 1:36.763 + 0:09.080
8 Herbert Jaguar NO TIME RECORDED
9 Schumacher,R Williams NO TIME RECORDED
FIA Press Release
Weather Conditions: Cool, windy and wet
JORDAN : FRENTZEN SETS THE PACE
Heinz-Harald Frentzen set the pace with a fastest time of 1m 17.683s in his Jordan EJ10. "We worked out a good wet and dry set-up during last week's test," said technical director Mike Gascoyne. "Heinz went out early and reckoned he could have gone a little quicker, but Jarno lost time due to differential problems we did not sort out until the end." Trulli wound up fifth on 1m 28.705s.
JAGUAR: MIXED FORTUNES
Eddie Irvine set second fastest time on 1m 28.169s, complaining that "the wind is just appalling" while Johnny Herbert stopped after only three laps with loss of pneumatic valve pressure. "I don't generally believe in bad luck" said Jackie Stewart, "but I am beginning to change my mind in Johnny's case."
McLAREN: THIRD AND FOURTH
The McLaren-Mercedes of David Coulthard (1m 28.525s) and Mika Hakkinen (1m 28.659s) wound up second and third fastest, the MP4/15s featuring minor aerodynamic revisions developed in last week's test. Hakkinen also lost s short time while his pit-to-car radio was readjusted during the second half of the session.
BAR: VILLENEUVE TAKES SIXTH
Jacques Villeneuve set sixth fastest time (1m 28.845s) in his BAR-Honda before stopping just before the end of the session with gearchange problems. Ricardo Zonta complained of difficult handling balance on his way to 19th fastest time (1m 31.322s).
FERRARI: BARRICHELLO QUICKEST IN WET
Rubens Barrichello's Ferrari F1-2000 set seventh fastest time overall, but was quickest when the circuit was at its very wettest. Michael Schumacher did just a handful of laps in the wet and wound up 20th. The Ferraris were running an extra rear wing plane and will have qualifying engines tomorrow.
BENETTON: EIGHTH AND NINTH
The Benetton Playlifes of Giancarlo Fisichella (1m 29.214s) and Alexander Wurz (1m 29.111s) set eighth and ninth fastest times. The team had a revised front aerodynamic package, but Fisichella in particular complained about the wind.
BRIEFLY
MINARDI: Marc Gene's Minardi suffered loss of air valve pressure on its Ford V10 engine while Gaston Mazzacane was trying an F1 car in the wet for the first time.
WILLIAMS: Jenson Button(11th/1m 29.775s) was impressed with his Williams-BMW's high spsed stability but found it nervous in the wind under braking.
SAUBER: The Saubers of Pedro Diniz and Mika Salo found good dry weather set-ups but suffered from excessive oversteer in the dry.
PROST: The Prost team will use its latest Evo 3 version of the Peugeot A20 engine in qualifying and the race.
Report by Formula-1.co.uk
Heinz-Harald Frentzen set the pace in today's first practice session for the British Grand prix on Sunday, from Eddie Irvine in his Jaguar Cosworth. McLaren were next up with Coulthard piping Mika Hakkinen to the third fastest time. However, the times are all rather meaningless thanks to varying weather conditions.
Rather unsurprisingly, today's first practice session was interrupted by rain. The session began on a damp track with no rain falling. Half way through the session rain began to fall, sending all the drivers scurrying back to comfort of their pits garages, while mechanics changed from dry to wet setup. April in the UK has been one of the wettest months on record and the forecast is more of the same on Saturday and Sunday. So much so that Silverstone today decided not to sell general admission tickets for today and tomorrow because they want to protect the condition of the car parks… but that is another story.
Once the session resumed, lap times were initially some 15 seconds slower than Frentzen's earlier pace of 1:27.683. Michael Schumacher had not taken to the track in the first half of the session and was therefore on of the first out on the wet track., immediately lapping in 1:37.260.
Rather surprisingly after a flurry of tail enders, Schumacher remained the only driver on the circuit for some time, improving his lap time on each lap. Schumacher may have been the slowest runner, but he got plenty of wet weather running in.
Johnny Herbert failed to set a lap time, his Cosworth stopping on the start finish line. Clearly Jaguar are in trouble, despite Irvine's fast lap as he too had to be pushed back to the pits early in the session. Meanwhile, Ralf Schumacher did not take to the circuit. Problems at BMW?
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