Saturday Second Free Practice

Schumacher on track for pole

Michael Schumacher had another good session during the final free practice session before this afternoon's qualifying, the German setting the fastest time of the session, the only driver to break 1m 24.0 seconds. He ran 31 laps working on tyre evaluation and qualifying set-up and was two tenths quicker than his closest rival. Rubens Barrichello took the third fastest time, the two drivers delighted with their car's performance here and optimistic for a front row position at Ferrari's home race.

Hakkinen set to challenge for pole

Mika Hakkinen had a good session running fresh tyres to set the second fastest time of the session, the Finn having to dial out some understeer from his car when fitted with fresh rubber. David Coulthard completed the McLaren-Ferrari top four places with the fourth fastest time, his accident yesterday confirmed to have been caused by a wishbone failure.

Williams-BMW back on track

After their disappointing showing yesterday, the Williams-BMW team was back on track this morning as Ralf Schumacher and Jenson Button set the fifth and sixth fastest times fine tuning their cars for qualifying this afternoon with a fresh set of tyres each.

Fisichella seventh, no laps for Wurz

It was a mixed morning for the Benetton team as Giancarlo Fisichella got his car working better to take the seventh fastest time of the session. His teammate Alexander Wurz did not get a complete lap when his car came to a halt in both halves of the session due to a fuel pick-up problem, which left him stuck out on the track.

BAR better today

Jacques Villeneuve and Ricardo Zonta were a lot happier this morning when overnight changes saw their cars improve dramatically, Zonta eighth fastest just ahead of Villeneuve in ninth spot.

Bad session for Jordan

It was a disastrous session for the Jordan team. Heinz-Harald Frentzen completed just 7 laps before sliding off on the dusty edge of Parabolica corner and badly damaging the front left corner of his car along with the steering rack and nose section which the team spent the rest of the morning trying to repair. Jarno Trulli only managed 11 laps, the Italian spending most of the session in the pits while the team traced what turned out to be a stuck hydraulic valve that was causing the sensors to shut down the engine.

In brief...

Irvine, who was delighted with his Jaguar in which he set 10th place, had a worrying moment just before the end of the session when a rear suspension failure saw him almost lose control of his car. Mazzacane had to stop early when his Minardi's engine ran out of air pressure for the pneumatic valve system.

Pos Driver Team Times 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari 1:23.904 248.126 km/h 2. Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes 1:24.142 + 0.238 3. Barrichello Ferrari 1:24.199 + 0.295 4. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes 1:24.292 + 0.388 5. R.Schumacher Williams BMW 1:24.352 + 0.448 6. Button Williams BMW 1:24.515 + 0.611 7. Fisichella Benetton Playlife 1:24.644 + 0.740 8. Zonta BAR Honda 1:24.672 + 0.768 9. Villeneuve BAR Honda 1:24.780 + 0.876 10. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth 1:25.064 + 1.160 11. Salo Sauber Petronas 1:25.179 + 1.275 12. Trulli Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:25.198 + 1.294 13. Alesi Prost Peugeot 1:25.299 + 1.395 14. Diniz Sauber Petronas 1:25.407 + 1.503 15. Heidfeld Prost Peugeot 1:25.431 + 1.527 16. Herbert Jaguar Cosworth 1:25.473 + 1.569 17. de la Rosa Arrows Supertec 1:25.508 + 1.604 18. Verstappen Arrows Supertec 1:25.776 + 1.872 19. Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:26.272 + 2.368 20. Gene Minardi Fondmetal 1:26.295 + 2.391 21. Mazzacane Minardi Fondmetal 1:27.234 + 3.330 22. Wurz Benetton Playlife 8:45.695 + 7:21.791

All timing unofficial