|
|
|
|
Formula 1 news, results and statistics when you need it |
2000 French GP News |
||
 |
|||
| |||
|
|
|
|
|
Formula 1 news, results and statistics when you need it |
2000 French GP News |
||
|
|||
| |||
Download the NewsOnF1.com |
Drivers Championship Constructors
Championship French Grand Prix Saturday Practice and Qualifying David Coulthard continues to top the times ahead of his team-mate Mika Hakkinen. The Jordan pair of Jarno Trulli and Heinz Harald Frentzen came 3rd and 4th ahead of Eddie Irvine. Michael Schumacher only managed 6th fastest while his team-mate Rubens Barrichello was down in 9th place. The McLaren pair are almost 1 second ahead of Jarno Trulli
who is 3rd. Most drivers did around 15 laps with the exception of Ralf Schumacher who only managed 4 laps. The session started with most drivers going out on their installation laps. Ricardo Zonta was the first to set a timed lap in the 5th minute of the session with a time of 1.19.541. Moments later, Coulthard, Verstappen, Alesi and Gene set timed laps. Order after 10 minutes: David Coulthard (1:16.638), Jarno Trulli (1:17.654), Jos Verstappen, Jean Alesi, Pedro Diniz and Marc Gene. In the following few minutes all drivers with the exception of the Schumacher brothers have set a timed lap. Michael Schumacher finally sets a timed lap 19 minutes into the session. David Coulthard improves to 1:15.965 becoming the first to go under the 1:16 mark this weekend while Mika Hakkinen jumps to 2nd ahead of Trulli. Order after 20 minutes: David Coulthard (1:15.965), Mika Hakkinen (1:16.830), Jarno Trulli, Michael Schumacher, Heinz Harald Frentzen and Rubens Barrichello. Ralf Schumacher sets a time in 18th place while Frentzen goes faster than Schumacher taking 4th place while Johnny Herbert moves into 6th position just behind Michael Schumacher. Mika Hakkinen improves but remains in second position. With 15 minutes to go in this 45 minute session and it is David Coulthard (1:15.965), Mika Hakkinen (1:16.144), Jarno Trulli, Heinz Harald Frentzen, Michael Schumacher and Johnny Herbert. The positions at the top remain fairly static with no change in the top 5 times while Jenson Button taking 6th place from Johnny Herbert. Ralf Schumacher is down in 19th while Eddie Irvine is 22nd! 5 minutes to go and the top 6 are David Coulthard (1:15.965), Mika Hakkinen (1:16.144), Jarno Trulli, Heinz Harald Frentzen, Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button. In the final 2 minutes Eddie Irvine moves from 22nd to 5th moving Schumacher back to 6th position. Final Order: David Coulthard (1:15.965), Mika Hakkinen (1:16.144), Jarno Trulli, Heinz Harald Frentzen, Eddie Irvine and Michael Schumacher. Click here for the timed results David Coulthard keeps the time he set during the first session as the fastest for both practice sessions as no one seems to even come close. Coulthard himself only practiced for half the session after suffering yet another engine problem this weekend. Mika Hakkinen didn't improve his time and remained in 2nd place. Very few drivers have improved. In the top 6, Barrichello moved into 3rd while Ralf Schumacher moved to 4th. The Jordan pair of Trulli and Frentzen are in 5th and 6th position. Michael Schumacher didn't improve and has dropped back to 8th place. These times though are not very indicative as each team goes through their own program. It is worth noting though that Coulthard's best time today is still not as fast as the time set by Hakkinen here last week. He is still 0.4 seconds slower. No comparison can be made with last year's qualifying times as it was a wet session last year. The start of the session was not as busy as the first session today. Jos Verstappen was the first on the circuit followed by Jarno Trulli and Eddie Irvine. Both McLaren's come out early as well. Lap times are much slower than the first session, fastest so far is David Coulthard with a time of 1:18.996 which is 3 seconds slower than his fastest time. Order after 10 minutes: David Coulthard (1:15.965), Mika Hakkinen (1:16.144), Jarno Trulli, Heinz Harald Frentzen, Eddie Irvine and Michael Schumacher. Both Ferrari drivers go out on the track but they don't improve. Only the Benetton pair of Fisichella and Wurz and Sauber's Mika Salo have improved slightly. 20 minutes into the session and the order is still David Coulthard (1:15.965), Mika Hakkinen (1:16.144), Jarno Trulli, Heinz Harald Frentzen, Eddie Irvine and Michael Schumacher. Drivers continue to lap without improvement. Ralf Schumacher was the exception jumping from 20th to 3rd with a time of 1:16.827. David Coulthard meanwhile suffers yet another engine problem. He manages to get back to the pits but his session is over. With 15 minutes to go, it is David Coulthard (1:15.965), Mika Hakkinen (1:16.144), Ralf Schumacher, Jarno Trulli, Heinz Harald Frentzen and Eddie Irvine. Some drivers start to improve as they start testing qualifying setup with Salo and Verstappen the first to improve followed by Rubens Barrichello who jumps to 3rd from 7th with a time of 1:16.726 still almost a second slower than Coulthard's time set in the first session. 5 minutes to go and it is David Coulthard (1:15.965), Mika Hakkinen (1:16.144), Rubens Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher, Jarno Trulli, and Heinz Harald Frentzen. In the final few minutes, a lot of drivers go out and a few improve including Fisichella, Salo and Villeneuve. Final Order: David Coulthard (1:15.965), Mika Hakkinen (1:16.144), Rubens Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher, Jarno Trulli, and Heinz Harald Frentzen. Click here for the timed results Michael Schumacher grabs his 4th pole position of the season ahead of David Coulthard and Rubens Barrichello. Mika Hakkinen, Ralf Schumacher and Eddie Irvine make the top 6. David Coulthard again suffered problems as his car was not ready and had to go out in the spare car that was setup for Hakkinen. He managed to get back into his car in the final 15 minutes and on his last run managed to improve his time to just 0.1 seconds from pole setter Michael Schumacher. Rubens Barrichello ended up 3rd fastest 0.4 seconds behind Schumacher while Mika Hakkinen who used to be the "Pole man" only managed 4th just 0.003 seconds behind Barrichello. Still this is the 4th race in a row that he is outqualified by his team-mate David Coulthard and it is the 3rd race in a row where Hakkinen is not in the top 3. Ralf Schumacher was impressive in 5th while his team-mate Jenson Button was 10th. Eddie Irvine was 6th while his team-mate Johnny Herbert was 11th. Jacques Villeneuve was the best of the Honda powered teams in 7th place just ahead of Frentzen and Trulli in 8th and 9th respectively. Ricardo Zonta in the other BAR was way down in 19th place after he suffered an engine failure on his race car and had to use the spare. As Fisichella predicted, Benetton did not do well here with Fisichella in 14th and Wurz in 17th. The promise of the Prost team doing well at their home grand prix is fading quickly with Nick Heidfeld in 16th position and Jean Alesi in 18th. The session started under hot conditions with the air temperature at 29 degrees and the track temperature at 34 degrees. 6 minutes into the session and Gaston Mazzacane sets the first timed lap with a time of 1:19.035. Rubens Barrichello goes out next, surprisingly early for a Ferrari driver to go out that early. He is followed by Alesi and Heidfeld. Barrichello immediately sets a time of 1:16.230. Order after 10 minutes: Rubens Barrichello (1:16.230) ahead of Nick Heidfeld, Jean Alesi and Gaston Mazzacane. No other driver has set a time yet. A few more drivers go out including Villeneuve, Irvine, Fisichella and Verstappen. Ricardo Zonta suffers an engine failure and parks his car on the grass. He needs to get back in the spare. Bad luck for the Brazilian. Order after 15 minutes: Barrichello, Villeneuve, Irvine, Heidfeld, Herbert, Wurz. Both Jordan's go out as well as both Williams. Mika Hakkinen also goes out. 20 minutes into the session and it is Rubens Barrichello ahead of Mika Hakkinen and Eddie Irvine. Ralf Schumacher, Jarno Trulli and Heinz Harald Frentzen make the top 6. Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard and Ricardo Zonta have yet to set times. Michael Schumacher goes out 23 minutes into the session and grabs provisional pole position with a time of 1:15.632 25 minutes into the session and it is Michael Schumacher ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Mika Hakkinen. Eddie Irvine, Ralf Schumacher, Jarno Trulli make the top 6. David Coulthard prepares to go out in the spare car. Meanwhile Jacques Villeneuve moves up to 6th position. 30 minutes into the session and it is Michael Schumacher ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Mika Hakkinen. Eddie Irvine, Ralf Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve make the top 6. David Coulthard goes out in the spare and moves into second while Mika Hakkinen moves into 3rd ahead of ahead of Rubens Barrichello. 35 minutes into the session and it is Michael Schumacher ahead of David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen. Rubens Barrichello, Eddie Irvine and Ralf Schumacher make the top 6. Ricardo Zonta finally sets a time in the spare BAR after suffering an engine failure in his race car. He moves to 18th. Michael Schumacher goes out but does not improve his time. 40 minutes into the session the top 6 has not changed with Michael Schumacher ahead of David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen. Rubens Barrichello, Eddie Irvine and Ralf Schumacher make the top 6. Rubens Barrichello goes out and does not improve while David Coulthard abandons his lap to go back to his race car. 45 minutes into the session the top 6 has not changed with Michael Schumacher ahead of David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen. Rubens Barrichello, Eddie Irvine and Ralf Schumacher make the top 6. Mika Hakkinen goes out and doesn't improve either. It seems that the track conditions are worsening. Meanwhile David Coulthard after setting the fastest first sector spins but recovers. 50 minutes into the session and the top order is Michael Schumacher ahead of David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen. Rubens Barrichello, Eddie Irvine and Ralf Schumacher make the top 6. 55 minutes into the session and the top order is Michael Schumacher ahead of David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen. Rubens Barrichello, Eddie Irvine and Ralf Schumacher make the top 6. Most drivers go out on their final laps. David Coulthard improves but is not enough to grab pole. He is only 0.1 seconds behind Michael Schumacher. Rubens Barrichello manages to grab 3rd place ahead of Hakkinen by just 0.003 seconds. Top 6 Grid Positions: Michael Schumacher ahead of David Coulthard and Rubens Barrichello. Mika Hakkinen, Ralf Schumacher and Eddie Irvine. |
| |
|
