Timothy Collings' Friday Practice Report - Belgian GP

Briton David Coulthard, who is chasing his second consecutive Belgian Grand Prix victory, set the fastest time during opening practice on Friday for Sunday's race.

The McLaren driver, who was fastest in the morning's free practice, maintained his advantage through the afternoon session despite being unable to beat his earlier lap time of 1:53.398.

Coulthard's McLaren teammate, world championship leader Mika Hakkinen of Finland, proved their team still held an advantage over title rivals Ferrari as he set the second fastest time, just five tenths of a second slower than the leading lap.

"I am not reading too much into this performance," Coulthard said. "You don't get any points for being quick on Friday. All that matters is being first across the line on Sunday.

"I was just concentrating on myself today and I wasn't really looking at the opposition. I'm happy with the car and looking forward to the rest of the weekend."

Briton Johnny Herbert was the surprise of the day, as he posted the third quickest time. The Jaguar driver, who is leaving Formula One at the end of the year, put in his quick lap in the dying seconds of the session.

Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, who has walked away from two big accidents at the track in the last two years, was an encouraging fourth fastest in his British American Racing car.

Villeneuve said: "I don't think we will be able to improve the car much on Saturday, so it will be a matter of whether the other teams can find much more speed."

German Michael Schumacher proved Ferrari were still lacking the ultimate pace of the McLarens as he could manage no better than fifth fastest, more than eight tenths of a second slower than Coulthard.

"I am just looking at the difference in lap times between myself and Hakkinen," Schumacher said. "The gap is not that big and I feel comfortable with the situation."

The former world champion will, however, hope for improved fortunes in Saturday's qualifying session when he will get to use a new engine which is slightly faster.

Austrian Alexander Wurz, in the Benetton, was a promising sixth, ahead of Dutchman Jos Verstappen in the Arrows and Italian Giancarlo Fisichella in the Benetton.

The practice sessions, which took place under clear blue skies, were relatively incident free as drivers perfected their qualifying and race set-ups.