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2000 Monaco GP News |
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Drivers Championship Constructors
Championship Monaco Grand Prix Thursday Practice Sessions Michael Schumacher sets the fastest time ahead of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard. Giancarlo Fisichella, Heinz Harald Frentzen and Jean Alesi make the top 6. The top 4 were the only drivers to set a time under the 1:24 mark. Michael Schumacher is just over 0.25 seconds ahead of Mika Hakkinen while David Coulthard is just 0.06 seconds behind Mika Hakkinen. Giancarlo Fisichella was most impressive in the Benetton (The Heretic was right !) managing to mix it with the top 3 only a further 0.25 seconds behind David Coulthard. There were a couple of incidents during the session with Ralf Schumacher hitting the barrier and Gaston Mazzacane crashing at Rascasse. Nick Heidfeld stopped with mechanical problems while Jos Verstappen survived a 360 degree spin. The session started under warm and sunny conditions. Ricardo Zonta and Marc Gene were the first to go out followed by most other drivers for their installation laps. 10 minutes into the session and all drivers with the exception of the Ferrari drivers and Johnny Herbert have completed their installation laps. Gaston Mazzacane sets his first timed lap with a time of 1:34.554 which is over 10 seconds slower than the best time set here on Thursday last year. This is Mazzacane's first time here at Monaco in an F1 car. 15 minutes into the session and Nick Heidfeld puts in his first timed lap with a time of 1:30.122 and improves further to 1:29.800 25 minutes into the session and only a handful of drivers have set times with Heidfeld ahead of Button and de la Rosa followed by Mazzacane, Gene and Zonta. All these drivers are either first timers on the track or have only raced once here. 30 minutes into the session and only a couple more drivers have set times. Michael Schumacher finally goes out on his installation lap. Fastest is Button with a time of 1:27.851 A couple of minutes later, Michael Schumacher completes his first timed lap and immediately posts the fastest time and on the second lap drops his time even further to 1:25.063. With 20 minutes to go, it is Michael Schumacher (1:24.518) ahead of Jean Alesi (1:25.483) and Alexander Wurz. Pedro Diniz, Ricardo Zonta and Mika Salo make the top 6. Ralf Schumacher meanwhile makes a mistake and hits the barrier but manages to continue and heads back to the pits. 15 minutes to go and both McLaren's, Johnny Herbert and Jarno Trulli have yet to set a time. Michael Schumacher is still fastest ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella and Eddie Irvine. Jos Verstappen spins but manages to recover. 10 minutes to go and both McLaren's set their first timed laps for the session immediately taking 3rd and 4th fastest times. Most drivers get back on the track for the final run of the session. 5 minutes to go and Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard exchange fastest laps with Hakkinen in 3rd place. Gaston Mazzacane crashes and Nick Heidfeld stops ! Final order : Michael Schumacher ahead of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard. Giancarlo Fisichella, Heinz Harald Frentzen and Jean Alesi make the top 6. Click here for
the timed results Mika Hakkinen goes fastest in the last minute of the session ahead of Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard. Eddie Irvine, Heinz Harald Frentzen and Ralf Schumacher make the top 6. Michael Schumacher dominated most of the session with David Coulthard getting close at times. Mika Hakkinen was a distant 3rd for most of the session until he set the fastest time just before the session ended. His time is just under 1 second off the pole position time he set here last year and almost 1.3 seconds faster than the fastest time set on Thurday last year. There is no practice sessions tomorrow. Practice and qualifying continues on Saturday. The session started with several driver going out. Giancarlo Fisichella had an engine problem minutes into the session. With 5 minutes into the session and both Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen set faster times than those set during the first session. 10 minutes into the session and Mika Hakkinen goes fastest ahead of Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard. All three are under the 1:23 mark. Frentzen improves to 4th. 15 minutes into the session and Michael Schumacher sets the fastest time just over the 1:22 mark. Hakkinen is second and Coulthard is 3rd. Both Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen are already faster than the fastest time on Thursday last year. Alexander Wurz hits the barrier and just manages to drive the car back to the pits without a front wing. Bad session for Benetton. Nick Heidfeld also crashes at the Rascasse. 20 minutes into the session and Michael Schumacher is still fastest 0.35 seconds ahead of Mika Hakkinen. Third is an impressive Eddie Irvine who is just 0.04 seconds behind Mika Hakkinen. 30 minutes into the session and Michael Schumacher goes fastest again with a time of 1:21.576 ahead of David Coulthard who also improves to 1:22.098 and Mika Hakkinen. Eddie Irvine, Jean Alesi and Rubens Barrichello make the top 6. 20 minutes to go and Michael Schumacher is still fastest ahead of David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen. Pedro Diniz crashes heavily at Rascasse. 10 minutes to go and the order is Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard, Mika Hakkinen, Eddie Irvine, Jean Alesi and Rubens Barrichello. Marc Gene spins and stalls on the track. In the last minute of the session Mika Hakkinen manages to go fastest ahead of Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard. Eddie Irvine, Heinz Harald Frentzen and Ralf Schumacher make the top 6. Ricardo Zonta hits the tyre barrier but manages to keep going. Click here for
the timed results |
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