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GP - 1st Saturday Practice Session
Session over with Michael Schumacher fastest ahead of Ralf Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen. Coulthard, Barrichello, Montoya, Villeneuve, Frentzen, Panis and Heidfeld make the top 10. 46 min: Mika Hakkinen improves again to 3rd a tenth ahead of his team-mate. 45 min: Mika Hakkinen moves into 4th with a time of 1:16.757. That is still over 3/10ths slower than his best yesterday! 44 min: Irvine improves to 14th just behind his team-mate. 43 min: David Coulthard improves slightly but remains in 3rd place. All the cars are on the track except Barrichello, Bernoldi and Villeneuve. 42 min: At the bottom of the timesheets, it is Jenson Button 4 seconds off the pace while Marques is 21st!. 41 min: Villeneuve goes off and is stuck in the gravel. He is currently impressive in 6th but this is the second mistake so far this weekend!. 40 min: Coulthard takes 3rd with a time of 1:16.766 but he is just under half a second slower than Michael Schumacher. 39 min: Top 10 - M Schumacher, R Schumacher, Barrichello, Coulthard, Montoya, Villeneuve, Hakkinen, Frentzen, Panis and Raikkonen. 38 min: 7 minutes remaining in the session and expect most of the cars to come out on the track. 37 min: Barrichello and Coulthard are back in the track. 36 min: The best time so far set by Michael Schumacher is only 0.1 seconds faster than the best time set yesterday by Hakkinen. Expect the times to drop further. 35 min: Luciano Burti has covered the most number of laps so far with 12 while Frentzen managed 11. 34 min: Eddie Irvine has just set a competitive time but he is down in 19th place and over 3 seconds off the pace. 33 min: Frentzen moves into 8th with a time of 1:17.374 just over a second off the pace. 32 min: Michael Schumacher improves again in 1st with a best time of 1:16.308! 31 min: Frentzen and Michael Schumacher return to the track. 30 min: 15 minutes remaining in the session and the gaps at this stage are a lot closer with less than a second covering the top 8 cars. 29 min: Not much activity at the moment with Verstappen, Burti, Bernoldi and Marques the only drivers on track. 28 min: Top 10 - M Schumacher, R Schumacher, Barrichello, Coulthard, Montoya, Villeneuve, Hakkinen, Panis, Frentzen and Raikkonen. 27 min: Eddie Irvine finally goes out on his first lap. 26 min: Jacques Villeneuve is in 6th place just 0.566 seconds off the pace! 25 min: Ralf Schumacher jumps into 2nd place just 0.079 seconds behind his brother. Barrichello is 3rd and Coulthard is 4th. 24 min: Michael Schumacher improves in 1st with a time of 1:16.495. That is just under the best time set by Hakkinen yesterday. 23 min: Top 10 - M Schumacher, Coulthard, Barrichello, Frentzen, Heidfeld, Hakkinen, Villeneuve, Panis, de la Rosa and Trulli 22 min: Rubens Barrichello moves into 3rd while Frentzen improves to 4th. 22 min: Michael Schumacher has improved on his time from yesterday while both McLaren's are off their best at this stage. 21 min: Nick Heidfeld moves into 3rd while Hakkinen is 4th with a time of 1:17.860. 20 min: Michael Schumacher goes 1st with a time of 1:16.846 while Coulthard moves into 2nd with a time of 1:17.165. 19 min: Top 10 - Frentzen, Panis, Trulli, Burti, Villeneuve, Alesi, Verstappen, Alonso, Fisichella and Marques. 18 min: Both Michael Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella go off but they recover. 17 min: Olivier Panis in now 2nd with a time of 1:19.354. 17 min: Heinz Harald Frentzen goes fastest with a time of 1:18.251. 16 min: Jarno Trulli goes fastest with a time of 1:19.511. That is slow compared to his best time of 1:18.133. 15 min: Verstappen and the 2 BAR drivers go out on the track. 14 min: Trulli joins in the action while Burti sets a time of 1:19.910. 13 min: Luciano Burti is learning the track as it is new to him. He was 20th on Friday with a best time of 1:20.094. 13 min: Luciano Burti starts his first flying lap. 11 min: Tarso Marques sets a time of 1:21.903. His best time from Friday was 1:21.129 10 min: Tarso Marques is the first driver to start a flying lap. 9 min: If the weather forecasts are accurate, the qualifying will be dry and an expected temperature of 17 degrees. This should help the Michelin runners. 7 min: Heinz Harald Frentzen who lost a lot of time in the second session yesterday is on the track. 5 min: Rubens Barrichello goes out on his installation lap. 3 min: It is quiet on the track at the moment. 2 min: The cars are streaming back into the pits after their installation lap. Session underway and several cars are out on their installation lap with Alonso and Bernoldi at the front. The lap times set by both Hakkinen and Coulthard yesterday were stunning. Hakkinen's best time during the 2nd Friday practice was over a second faster than the Pole time of last year. If this trend continues, expect a Pole time in the low 1:15's or even lower. This will raise concerns over the speed of the cars. Session starting in 2 minutes Even though the McLarens were in a class of their own during the practice sessions yesterday, Michael Schumacher - who finished 4th - was not concerned about the huge gap and expects to be at the front in Qualifying later today. Session starting in 5 minutes Ralf Schumacher has extended his contract with BMW Williams until the end of 2004. This leaves one seat available for either Jenson Button or Juan Pablo Montoya from the 2003 season as Jenson Button is on a 2-year loan to Benetton. Session starting in 8 minutes Session starting at 9:00 AM local time.
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