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GP - 1st Friday Practice: Michael Schumacher sets a stunning lap time as he sets the fastest time this session ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Mika Hakkinen. Coulthard, Frentzen, Panis, Villeneuve, Trulli and Raikkonen make the top 10. 60 min: No further improvements. 59 min: Final lap for the cars on the track! 58 min: Olivier Panis improves to 7th just ahead of his team-mate. 57 min: Eddie Irvine improves to 6th with a time of 1:25.572. It remains to be seen if that is under low fuel or not ? 56 min: Rubens Barrichello moves into 2nd ahead of the 2 McLarens with a time of 1:24.405. That is still 0.786 seconds behind his team-mate! 55 min: Most cars are now on the track for the final minutes of the session. 54 min: Button and Fisichella are back in at the back just ahead of the Minardis. 53 min: Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard go back onto the track. They are 2nd and 3rd at this stage. 52 min: Eddie Irvine in 10th has set the best time from a Michelin running car ahead of Williams. 51 min: Top 10 - M Schumacher, Hakkinen, Coulthard, Barrichello, Frentzen, Villeneuve, Trulli, Raikkonen, Panis and Irvine. 50 min: Barrichello improves to 4th with a time of 1:24.632 but that is a second slower than his team-mate!! 49 min: Just over 10 minutes remaining and Fisichella has covered the least number of laps so far with just 4 while Burti has only managed 7! 48 min: No he doesn't improve but he posts a 1:23.8 - close! 47 min: He continues and looks like he'll go better this lap! 46 min: WOW!, Michael Schumacher improves his time by more than a second with a 1:23.619! 44 min: The 2 Schumacher brothers go back out on the track. 42 min: Kimi Raikkonen is driving today on a track that he is familiar with for a change. That is already showing as he is in 8th while Nick Heidfeld (his team-mate) is in 11th and 0.4 seconds behind him! 41 min: With the exception of the 2 Williams (in 10th and 12th), all the Michelin runners are behind the Bridgestone runners. Clearly the Michelin tyres are not performing well against Bridgestone today. 40 min: Top 10 - Hakkinen, Coulthard, M Schumacher, Frentzen, Barrichello, Villeneuve, Trulli, Raikkonen, Panis and R Schumacher. 39 min: Luciano Burti finally sets a competitive time with a 1:29.775 in 20th place. 38 min: Jacques Villeneuve has improved his time but remains in 6th with a time of 1:25.627 37 min: It could be that the Michelin tyres are not performing well at this stage. Irvine is still struggling in 18th even though he has covered 16 laps so far. 36 min: The Honda runners are currently between 0.8 to 1.5 seconds off the pace. BMW Williams though are surprisingly off the pace. Ralf is 1.755 seconds behind Hakkinen. 35 min: Heinz Harald Frentzen moves into 4th while Trulli takes 7th 33 min: Only 6 cars are on the track now. The top 3 are the only ones with times in the 1:24's, 3rd to 8th have times in the 1:25's. 32 min: The 2 Arrows are in 13th and 14th, Alesi is in 15th then the 2 Benettons. Irvine is way down in 18th place at the moment. 31 min: David Coulthard improves but remains in second only 0.017 seconds behind Mika. 30 min: All the drivers have set timed laps except for Pedro de la Rosa who's car stopped on the installation lap. Luciano Burti set a very slow lap obviously in problems. 29 min: Top 10 - Hakkinen, Coulthard, M Schumacher, Barrichello, Frentzen, Villeneuve, Raikkonen, Panis, Trulli and R Schumacher. 28 min: Ralf Schumacher goes into 10th place just ahead of his team-mate. 27 min: Coulthard takes 2nd place with a time of 1:24.471. 26 min: Michael Schumacher returns to the track. Eddie Irvine has covered the most number of laps so far with 10. He is in 16th place though. 25 min: Jenson Button in the Benetton is in 12th place. It appears that the new Renault engine is making the Benetton go better! 24 min: David Coulthard moves straight into 3rd with a time of 1:24.969. 23 min: Ralf Schumacher and David Coulthard on the track for their first timed laps. 22 min: Top 10 - Hakkinen, M Schumacher, Barrichello, Frentzen, Villeneuve, Raikkonen, Trulli, Panis, Montoya and Heidfeld. 21 min: Mika Hakkinen improves again in 1st with a time of 1:24.413. Barrichello is in 3rd with a time of 1:25.319. 20 min: The times are really fast. Just to compare, the pole time in 97' on slicks was 1:21.598. If we don't have a wet qualifying session tomorrow, that time could be beaten! (The quickest time in testing this year was Alexander Wurz in the McLaren with a 1:22.081) 19 min: Hakkinen improves and takes the top spot with a time of 1:24.590. Coulthard has yet to set a time. 18 min: Frentzen jumps into 3rd with Trulli in 4th!. They are almost a second off the pace of Michael Schumacher though! 17 min: Kimi Raikkonen takes 4th ahead of his team-mate Nick Heidfeld. Frentzen, Trulli and Villeneuve go out on the track. 16 min: Juan Pablo Montoya goes 3rd with a 1:27.109. He should do well here compared to his team-mate as he is familiar with this track. 15 min: Top 6 - M Schumacher, Hakkinen, Verstappen, Bernoldi, Alonso and Irvine. 14 min: Mika Hakkinen moves into 2nd with a time of 1:25.089 and Verstappen moves into 3rd with a 1:27.960. 13 min: The time set already by Michael is faster than pole last year but that qualifying session was run under wet conditions. 12 min: Tarso Marques, Jos Verstappen and Mika Hakkinen are on the track as Michael Schumacher pits. 11 min: Bernoldi sets a 1:28.258, Irvine a 1:29.330 and Alonso a 1:30.083 11 min: It could be that Michael is going out early due to the lack of testing they have had here at Silverstone. 9 min: Enrique Bernoldi, Fernando Alonso and Eddie Irvine go out on the track. 9 min: Michael Schumacher improves to 1:24.901. That is a lot faster than the fastest time last year in the 1st practice. 7 min: Michael Schumacher is the first to set a timed lap with a 1:25.430. 5 min: Michael Schumacher remains on the track and starts a timed lap! 3 min: Michael Schumacher goes out on the track for his installation lap. Ferrari have only tested here once this season. 2 min: Pedro de la Rosa has a problem and stops on the track. His session is over! 1 min: The cars are on the track for their installation lap. David Coulthard has indicated that they are not introducing any major changes at this GP apart from some electronic developments while Ferrari are said to be planning to use their qualifying specification engine for the race giving them an additional 20 horse power. Session underway. Showers are forecast this weekend at Silverstone on all 3 days. If it does rain during qualifying it will be similar to the qualifying session here last year when the session was run under drying track conditions. Session starting in 5 minutes Session starting at 11:00 AM local time under cloudy weather conditions. The temperature is 18 degrees |