Friday Second Free Practice

Fresh tyres make Hakkinen fastest

Running a fresh set of the new soft compound Bridgestone tyres brought to this race, Mika Hakkinen knocked a full 1.3 seconds off his morning time to set the fastest time of the day, just 14/1000ths of a second ahead of Michael Schumacher. David Coulthard ended up third fastest, also after running fresh tyres. Both the McLaren drivers went off in the session, Coulthard's car suffering minor damage to a barge board after running through a gravel trap. Mika blamed his spin on a grabbing rear brake problem.

Schumacher second and looking good

Michael Schumacher remained on the same set of tyres he ran this morning, but still managed to improve his time which was good enough for second overall, Michael trying mixed settings throughout the session and happy with the progress he had made, changing the rear wing of his Ferrari just before the end of the session. Rubens Barrichello took fourth fastest for the day, the Brazilian also making good progress, but not feeling 100 percent due to a heavy head cold.

Trulli tops 'the rest'

"It is the first time for a while I have had a completely trouble-free Friday," said Jarno Trulli who put his 31 laps to good use in learning the circuit as well as setting the fifth fastest time. "I learned a lot about the car today which should put us in good stead for tomorrow," he said. Heinz Harald Frentzen had a routine session, his times getting quicker along with the track on his way to tenth place keeping the same set of tyres.

Ralf into top six

Ralf Schumacher improved to sixth fastest for the day during the afternoon, the German finding his Williams-BMW difficult to set up for this track trying different wing setting throughout the afternoon. Jenson Button tried a fresh set of tyres at the end to take 12th fastest, but did not have any special complaints, the Englishman enjoying the wide Sepang track.

Mixed afternoon for BAR-Honda

Ricardo Zonta was happy to take seventh place for BAR this afternoon, Jacques Villeneuve falling back to 17th overall after a fuel pressure problem saw the car spend most of the session in the pits while the faulty pump was changed.

Both Benettons in the top ten

Giancarlo Fisichella was more than happy with his Benetton-Supertec this afternoon after taking eighth just ahead of his teammate Alex Wurz who improved his car, but could have gone quicker but for a yellow flag at the end of the session.

In brief...

Jos Verstappen went off in his Arrows on his way to eleventh place, but did no damage. He and de la Rosa tried less downforce this session, but had to revert back when the cars were too difficult to drive. De la Rosa set the 15th time for the day. An engine problem saw Heidfeld end up slowest for the day, Jean Alesi much happier with his Prost this afternoon, but still unable to better 18th. The two Jaguars slipped back to 13th and 14th in the afternoon, Herbert still complaining of no grip from the rear end, Irvine also disappointed with the lack of progress in the afternoon, but was still optimistic about his qualifying performance tomorrow.

Pos Driver Team Times 1. Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes 1:40.262 199.027 km/h 2. M.Schumacher Ferrari 1:40.276 + 0.014 3. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes 1:40.498 + 0.236 4. Barrichello Ferrari 1:40.877 + 0.615 5. Trulli Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:41.304 + 1.042 6. R.Schumacher Williams BMW 1:41.493 + 1.231 7. Zonta BAR Honda 1:41.497 + 1.235 8. Fisichella Benetton Playlife 1:41.593 + 1.331 9. Wurz Benetton Playlife 1:41.679 + 1.417 10. Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:41.751 + 1.489 11. Verstappen Arrows Supertec 1:41.914 + 1.652 12. Button Williams BMW 1:42.012 + 1.750 13. Herbert Jaguar Cosworth 1:42.113 + 1.851 14. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth 1:42.141 + 1.879 15. de la Rosa Arrows Supertec 1:42.254 + 1.992 16. Diniz Sauber Petronas 1:42.457 + 2.195 17. Villeneuve BAR Honda 1:42.649 + 2.387 18. Alesi Prost Peugeot 1:42.868 + 2.606 19. Salo Sauber Petronas 1:43.284 + 3.022 20. Mazzacane Minardi Fondmetal 1:43.424 + 3.162 21. Gene Minardi Fondmetal 1:43.655 + 3.393 22. Heidfeld Prost Peugeot 1:43.786 + 3.524 All timing unofficial