Friday 10 July 1998
Friday free practice, 11.00-12.00
WEATHER CONDITIONS: warm, light overcast

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hakkinen and Coulthard 1-2 for McLaren
The McLaren-Mercedes MP4/13s of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard finished
the first part of today's free practice session 0.092sec apart in first and
second places. Despite slight initial tyre graining in cool conditions,
both drivers were generally happy with the feel of their cars although
Coulthard complained of slightly too much oversteer in medium speed corners
"which was a change from last week's testing when we had too much
understeer." Coulthard also survived a straight-on moment without any
damage.

Schumacher third for Ferrari
Michael Schumacher set third fastest time, although he admitted that he did
not bother to try much in the way of chassis set-up work as he expects the
conditions to change again this afternoon when there is more rubber on the
track. The team did not bring its new front wing which is being held back
for use on faster circuits later on. Eddie Irvine lost most of the session
after spinning into a gravel trap at Luffield on only his third lap.

Fisichella happy with Benetton
Giancarlo Fisichella set fourth fastest time in his Benetton B198,
reporting himself happy with the feel of the slight suspension and
aerodynamic modifications which were being used this weekend. Alexander
|Wurz spent most of the session getting to grips with a brand new chassis
and wound up 11th. Both drivers will have development versions of the
Playlife V10 engines for tomorrow's sessions.

Williams fifth and seventh
Jacques Villeneuve and Heinz-Harald Frentzen set fifth and seventh fastest
times in their Williams FW20s which incorporated shorter side pods and
other aerodynamic revisions which proved promising in testing last week.
"Our option tyre has been graining so the handling was not so good
this morning," said Patrick Head, "but we expect things to
improve as more rubber goes down." Heinz-Harald Frentzen added that he
was not certain just how much of last week's testing promise will carry
over to the race weekend. "The car is better," he said, "but
it is a little early to say how much closer to the Ferraris we really
are."

Hill sixth for Jordan
Damon Hill set sixth fastest time for Jordan, but neither he nor team-mate
Ralf Schumacher felt this was particularly representative of what was to
follow when the circuit conditions settled in. Ralf finished the session
tenth fastest.

Briefly:
Jean Alesi complained that his Sauber's tyres were graining excessively,
but Johnny Herbert said he had no problems_both Prost drivers complained
about lack of grip and are working to improve the aerodynamics_Both Arrows
drivers are using regular specification V10 engines. Pedro Diniz had a
water leak and Mika Salo was troubled by rear-end bottoming_Rubens
Barrichello's Stewart-Ford was troubled with steering trouble while Jos
Verstappen found the circuit conditions "very strange".

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday 10 July 1998
Friday free practice, 13.00 to 14.00
WEATHER CONDITIONS: mild and overcast

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coulthard goes ahead of Hakkinen
David Coulthard raised his hopes for a possible home Grand Prix victory
here at Silverstone when he lapped his McLaren-Mercedes 0.124sec faster
than his team-mate Mika Hakkinen in the second hour-long portion of today's
free practice session here at Silverstone.

"The track conditions were fairly consistent today although not as
they were when we tested here last week," said Coulthard, "but at
least we are towards the right end of the field. It was quite emotional for
me going down the Hangar Straight on the first lap to see all the support
from the fans. I obviously would like a dry qualifying session and race; I
know Ferrari have made progress, but we have some more developments in the
pipeline at McLaren so they had better watch out."

Mika Hakkinen was generally satisfied with his MP4/13's behaviour and spent
most of the session trying to improve the sharp edge of his car's handling
balance.

Williams FW20s third and fourth
Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jacques Villeneuve were both optimistic about the
feel of their Williams FW20s here this afternoon, each driver using a fresh
set of tyres in the second part of the session - Frentzen because he
flat-spotted his original set and Villeneuve because the team is confident
that it will rain at some stage of the weekend and conserving dry weather
tyres may not be such a pressing priority.

Irvine fifth for Ferrari
Eddie Irvine made up for time lost during the first hour of the session,
setting fifth fastest time in his Ferrari F300 after concentrating on
back-to-back evaluations of the Goodyear prime and option tyre choices this
afternoon. Michael Schumacher wound up seventh fastest, unconcerned about
his position as he felt there was still plenty of chassis tuning to do
before tomorrow's qualifying session.

Benetton completes top half dozen
Giancarlo Fisichella set sixth fastest time in his Benetton-Playlife, life
team-mate Alexander Wurz the Italian was suffering from a big oversteer
problem through the first sector of the lap. Wurz also had a straight-on
moment and had to be satisfied with eighth fastest time.

Jordans ninth and tenth
Ralf Schumacher and Damon Hill set ninth and tenth fastest times in the
Jordan Mugen Hondas, Hill slipping a bit despite trying a second set of
option compound tyres. Ralf Schumacher was moderately happy with the feel
of his car.

Briefly:
Johnny Herbert lost about half an hour as mechanics worked to rectify a
problem with the hydraulic pump which controls the electronic throttle
mechanism_Jean Alesi reported his Sauber C17 felt difficult to balance but
felt the latest Step 2 Petronas engines were stronger than those used at
Magny-Cours_Both Prost drivers had problems setting up their cars; Olivier
Panis had a spin and Jarno Trulli stopped on the circuit shortly before the
end of the session.

--- Msged/386 4.20 beta 4