Hungary 1999: Race Warmup
Times
P. No Driver Team - Car Time/Laps
1. 2 Coulthard McLaren Mercedes 1:20.420 177.807 km/h
2. 1 Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes 1:20.435 + 0:00.015
3. 8 Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:20.454 + 0:00.034
4. 9 Fisichella Benetton Playlife 1:20.704 + 0:00.284
5. 11 Alesi Sauber Petronas 1:21.083 + 0:00.663
6. 4 Irvine Ferrari 1:21.083 + 0:00.663
7. 10 Wurz Benetton Playlife 1:21.154 + 0:00.734
8. 22 Villeneuve BAR Supertec 1:21.211 + 0:00.791
9. 19 Trulli Prost Peugeot 1:21.364 + 0:00.944
10. 17 Herbert Stewart Ford 1:21.549 + 0:01.129
11. 18 Panis Prost Peugeot 1:21.561 + 0:01.141
12. 16 Barrichello Stewart Ford 1:21.671 + 0:01.251
13. 12 Diniz Sauber Petronas 1:21.853 + 0:01.433
14. 3 Salo Ferrari 1:22.226 + 0:01.806
15. 7 Hill Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:22.321 + 0:01.901
16. 5 Zanardi Williams Supertec 1:22.530 + 0:02.110
17. 23 Zonta BAR Supertec 1:22.889 + 0:02.469
18. 20 Badoer Minardi Ford 1:23.189 + 0:02.769
19. 15 Takagi Arrows TWR 1:23.364 + 0:02.944
20. 14 de la Rosa Arrows TWR 1:23.812 + 0:03.392
21. 21 Gene Minardi Ford 1:24.065 + 0:03.645
22. 6 R Schumacher Williams Supertec 5:07.280 + 3:46.860
FIA Press Release
Warm-up, 9.30 to 10.00
Weather conditions: sunny and bright
Coulthard ahead of Hakkinen
David Coulthard set fastest time of 1m 20.420s in the race morning warm-up 0.015sec ahead of his team-mate Mika Hakkinen. Both drivers had trouble-free runs and Coulthard did a few laps in the spare McLaren-Mercedes MP4/14. "We spent the time doing some fine tuning for the race," said Ron Dennis. "We hope our drivers make good starts because Frentzen and Fisichella are both on the softer rubber choice and could cause us a few problems in the opening stages."
Frentzen an upbeat third
Heinz-Harald Frentzen set third fastest time in the Jordan Mugen-Honda 199(1m 20.454s). "I am very happy with the set-up and the car feels nicely balanced on the softer tyres," he said. By contrast Damon Hill (15th/1m 22.321s) said he was unhappy with the balance. "We did a change on the rollbars which did not help," he added.
Fisichella a happy fourth
Giancarlo Fisichella set fourth fastest time in his Benetton-Playlife(1m 20.704s) also expressing himself satisfied with the performance on the softer rubber. "The car's performance is very consistent and we have made a few improvements to its handling," he said. Alexander Wurz (7th/1m21.154s) complained of excessivd understeer.
Ferraris fifth and 14th
The Ferrari F399s of Eddie Irvine (1m 21.083s) and Mika Salo (1m 22.226s) wound up fifth and 14th. Irvine reported that "the car works rather well" after spending the session working on tactics. Salo, by contrast, was less happy and admitted that he was still not at ease with the car despite altering the set-up and changing the front wing.
Troubled time for Williams
The Williams team had a very difficult warm-up with Alex Zanardi stopping out on the circuit with a suspected crankshaft sensor problem. He came back and took over the spare FW21 with which he set 16th fastest time (1m 22.530s). Ralf Schumacher spun off into a gravel trap on his fourth lap and ended up slowest without a full flying lap to his credit.
Briefly
Jean Alesi was a contented sixth fastest (1m 21.083s) in the Sauber-Petronas, complaining only of slight oversteer on the exit of the corners. Pedro Diniz wants to change his gear ratios (13th/1m 21.853s). Jacques Villeneuve (8th/1m 21.211s) said he was very happy with the latest aerodynamic set-up on his car. Olivier Panis (11th/1m 21.561s)reported good balance from his Prost-Peugeot while Jarno Trulli (9th/1m 21.364s) said his car felt particularly good on full tanks.
Brief Commentary
All the teams came out for installation laps immediately, though only the Jordans scored times initially - slow ones. They, with the Saubers, Arrows and Benettons, are running the Extra Soft compound, and will need to ensure their cars are very well balanced to perform well in the race.
Everyone is soon lapping for times, with the McLaren's dominating again. The Ferrari's are lapping in the same time, 1.3s off the McLaren pace, indicating that Salo could have a good race today.
Williams have been having trouble, with Zanardi slow to come out due to technical issues, and Ralf Schumacher sticking his car in a gravel trap.
Half way through the session, Frentzen posts a time 0.5s off the pace, and Villeneuve immediate goes ahead by 0.2s. BAR have been going well at times here, but are inconsistent; they are likely to finish the race, but it's uncertain how they will perform over the whole distance!
Having set initial times, McLaren and Ferrari remained in the pits for most of the session.
Five minutes from the end, and almost all the cars are out of the pits. Irvine immediately goes a full second quicker, but is still off the McLaren pace. Do not be surprised to see an inventive strategy from Ferrari today - one stop?
Frentzen improves again too, staying in the top four with Fisichella, who is really impressing so far this weekend. Villeneuve is close behind, and making the BAR (which is not on the extra soft compound) look rather good.
As the session closes, Hakkinen improves slightly on his time, then Coulthard goes even quicker. Frentzen moves into third place, 0.034 off the pace, and Wurz posts wseventh place - behind Alesi and Irvine - and all stop running. It's another dominant display by McLaren... but Frentzen looked very good for third.
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