Friday First Free Practice

Schumacher quickest, Barrichello goes off

Michael Schumacher's bid for the 2000 title in Japan started well with the quickest time of the first session, only a second off last year's pole. The German only made a couple of small adjustments to his Ferrari after starting with the set-up he had established during his Mugello test last week. He was quite happy with his car, which was running a new front wing, revised from the one tried in Belgium. Rubens Barrichello took the fourth fastest time; the Brazilian's session cut short on his quick lap when he spun under braking for the hairpin and ended up stuck in a gravel trap. Other than his minor off, he too was happy with the way his session had gone.

McLaren filling in Ferrari sandwich

The two McLarens were sandwiched between the two Ferraris, Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard having a trouble free session where they carried out routine brake and chassis checks. Hakkinen was four-tenths of a second slower than Schumacher, but said later that the yellow flag for Barrichello's incident had spoiled his quick lap. Coulthard was a further 7/10ths of a second outside his teammate's time, but had not tried for a quick lap.

Ralf best of the rest

Ralf Schumacher was happy with his fifth fastest time after working through his planned program in nine laps and then stopping early to save his Williams-BMW's tyres and make adjustments to the rear end of his car which he found a bit too soft causing the car to bottom out at some points. Jenson Button was learning the track running 17 laps for the session, impressed with what he found and happy with his car but for a bit too much understeer in the slow corners. Even so, he was an impressive 12th fastest.

Fisichella takes a walk

Giancarlo Fisichella's lap of the track on foot on Thursday for the first time seemed to have helped his lap times, the Italian sixth fastest this morning despite understeer problems at the hairpin. Teammate Wurz was back at the end of the field when an engine problem on his first lap saw the team start an engine change half way into the session.

In brief...

Frentzen, seventh quickest for Jordan was happier at the end of the session after eliminating too much understeer. Trulli was back in ninth spot complaining about his car bottoming too much. Irvine was complaining that his Jaguar was badly balanced in the fast second sector. Herbert also complained of the rear end being too 'loose' for his liking. Villeneuve had a spin which left his BAR's radiators full of grass. Alesi was happier with his Prost on this quick circuit. He was 11th quickest, showing Heidfeld the right lines for the first couple of laps out of the pits as the young German learned his way around to set 15th fastest time. Mazzacane stopped on the track when his Minardi's engine cut out with an electrical problem. Diniz (17th) and Salo (19th) both complained of a lack of grip and understeer from their Saubers.

Pos Driver Team Times 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari 1:38.474 214.375 km/h 2. Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes 1:38.893 + 0.419 3. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes 1:39.669 + 1.195 4. Barrichello Ferrari 1:40.000 + 1.526 5. R.Schumacher Williams BMW 1:40.429 + 1.955 6. Fisichella Benetton Playlife 1:40.699 + 2.225 7. Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:40.756 + 2.282 8. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth 1:41.054 + 2.580 9. Trulli Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:41.426 + 2.952 10. Villeneuve BAR Honda 1:41.481 + 3.007 11. Alesi Prost Peugeot 1:41.651 + 3.177 12. Button Williams BMW 1:41.730 + 3.256 13. Herbert Jaguar Cosworth 1:41.929 + 3.455 14. Verstappen Arrows Supertec 1:41.972 + 3.498 15. Heidfeld Prost Peugeot 1:42.024 + 3.550 16. Zonta BAR Honda 1:42.036 + 3.562 17. Diniz Sauber Petronas 1:42.086 + 3.612 18. de la Rosa Arrows Supertec 1:42.141 + 3.667 19. Salo Sauber Petronas 1:42.844 + 4.370 20. Gene Minardi Fondmetal 1:43.836 + 5.362 21. Mazzacane Minardi Fondmetal 1:45.238 + 6.764 22. Wurz Benetton Playlife 1:51.492 + 13.018 All timing unofficial