Hakkinen dominance continues

It was a virtually effortless performance from the Finn, who did fewer laps than anyone else yet remained 0.5s clear of the field.

The Williams revival is still on course, Ralf Schumacher moving up to second quickest before spinning out and ending the session beached on the grass. His team-mate Alex Zanardi had to abandon his attempt at a fast lap when he hit traffic.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen's lowly 17th position is not a true indication of the Jordan's competitiveness. The Italian GP winner spent most of the two sessions in the garage, suffering several problems on his car. Frentzen finally emerged to do one flying lap and set sector times to rival Hakkinen's best, before aborting the lap and returning to the pits. His team-mate Damon Hill was sixth fastest, so the team are definitely on the pace.

Also looking competitive are Stewart, BAR and Benetton. The two Ferrari's completed a large number of laps but did not significantly improve their times. They may have been running mostly on used tyres however.

The Nurburgring could see rain this afternoon. The track temperature is low and clouds are gathering, so there could be another spectacular upset.

Saturday morning practice times: