First session: Jean gets in a spin

Alesi leaves the pits first and is overtaken by Montoya and both Arrows. Frentzen is the sixth car out on track. Alesi pits and drives straight to the Prost garage and has to be pushed back up the pit lane by Jordan mechanics! Ooops...

Frentzen on track. 5s slower than quickest man Bernoldi at second split and pits at end of his lap, recording 1m36.188s.

Alesi on track. Slower than then quickest man Bernoldi at first and second split, but quick final sector puts him P1 on 1m21.669s. Alesi fastest in first and second sector to improve to 1m21.590s on second flying lap. Further improves his sector times in first and second elements, but loses back end under braking and spins into gravel on third flying lap at penultimate corner. Forced to get out and walk sheepishly back to pits. Ooops again...

Frentzen on track. 6s slower than new P1 man Irvine at second split and pits. Improves time to 1m35.548s but still hasn't completed a proper flying lap.

Frentzen on track. Goes 19th fastest on first flying lap on 1m23.217s, 0.5s quicker than team mate Burti, but still 1.7s slower than Alesi. Second lap is a touring 1m30.993s, during which Burti goes quicker on 1m23.126s. Third flyer puts him back up to 19th on 1m22.258s. After a touring 1m34.476s, HHF builds his pace once more and goes 18th with 1m21.611s - just 0.021s slower than Alesi! Returns to pits after 5 lap run. Reports high speed understeer to his engineer.

Frentzen on track. Button immediately bumps him down to 19th. Heinz-Harald beats Alesi's first sector time, loses out by four tenths in the second, but his overall lap is fast enough to demote Alesi by 0.050s for 18th on 1m21.540s. Goes quicker in second sector on his next lap, but is thwarted by red flag for debris from Coulthard's battered McLaren.

"I think maybe the dirty track caught him out. The braking characteristics of our car is different, so maybe that caught him out or there was a problem with the car, I don't know yet...For sure, he was heading to the Prost pits after his installation lap, but there are certain things you become accustomed to."

Frentzen, Prost, 1m21.540s (16 laps)
Alesi, Jordan, 1m21.590s (5 laps)