Friday 24 July 1998
Friday free practice, 11.00-12.00
WEATHER CONDITIONS: bright and sunny

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Fisichella sets Benetton pace
Giancarlo Fisichella ended this morning's section of the free practice
session with fastest time in his Benetton-Playlife B198, setting his best
time on the very last lap after taking most of the fuel out of the car. He
reported that the car felt generally well balanced with just a touch of
understeer. Alexander Wurz wound up fourth fastest, happy with his car
until he had to stop out on the circuit with a failed wheel bearing.

Schumacher second for Ferrari
Michael Schumacher's Ferrari F300 set second fastest time although the
German driver ended his session prematurely with his car's undertray full
of gravel after an off-track excursion at the first corner. Later in the
session Eddie Irvine locked up his brakes going inside Jos Verstappen's
Stewart-Ford under braking for the second corner and both cars collided,
the Stewart being pitched into a spin and Irvine limping back to the pits
with a broken steering arm. Both drivers were using the shorter chassis
specification with a new front wing developed from the one introduced at
Montreal and Irvine'e car sported revised ducting to the sidepods.

Coulthard third for McLaren
David Coulthard wound up a satisfied second fastest with the
McLaren-Mercedes, feeling that a fastest lap time was probably in the car
although he lost about 0.3sec passing Jacques Villeneuve's Williams on his
best lap. Mika Hakkinen finished seventh fastest after losing time when an
electronic sensor became detached and he came slowly back to the pits where
his car spent the rest of the session.

Frentzen fifth for Williams
Heinz-Harald Frentzen set fifth fastest time in the Williams-Mecachrome
although 0.9sec away from Fisichella's best. Jacques Villeneuve wound up
11th, neither Williams driver reporting anything specifically wrong apart
from the fact that they needed to pick up the best part of a second a lap.

Mixed fortunes at Sauber
Jean Alesi set sixth fastest time in the Sauber Petronas, reporting that he
was very happy with the balance of the car, but although team-mate Johnny
Herbert was only two places behind him, the Englishman reported that his
car was understeering badly and wearing its tyres.

Jordans ninth and 13th
Ralf Schumacher and Damon Hill posted ninth and 11th fastest times in their
Jordan Mugen Hondas, the German reporting that he had too much understeer
and a general lack of traction. Hill said that this was quite a crucial
race for the team in terms of judging precisely how much progress they had
made recently. Both cars were prepared to the same short sidepod trim as
used at Silverstone.

Briefly
Olivier Panis was having his first experience of the A1-Ring as he was
recovering from leg injuries when last year's race took place. He was quite
happy with the balance of his Prost Peugeot although lacking grip. Rubens
Barrichello was working on shock absorber development on his
Stewart-Ford..Ricardo Rosset's Tyrrell had understeer and a misfire.

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Friday 24 July 1998
Friday free practice, 13.00 to 14.00
WEATHER CONDITIONS: hot and sunny

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Coulthard goes ahead
David Coulthard finished the second part of today's free practice session
setting fastest time in the McLaren-Mercedes MP4/13, the Scot feeling that
he had "got a good direction on car set-up" and felt optimistic
about his prospects for Saturday qualifying. He finished the session
0.001sec ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella's Benetton-Playlife B198 with Mika
Hakkinen third fastest, the Finn having slightly lost his way on chassis
set-up after losing time during the morning session due to a loose
electrical connection.

Fisichella splits the McLarens
Giancarlo Fisichella continued to be satisfied with the feel of his
Benetton B198, still experiencing a touch of understeer as he tried a
qualifying run with only a part-qualifying set-up. Considering this, he
felt the overall performance during the session was good. Alexander Wurz
managed sixth fastest time, the Austrian feeling confident despite losing
time this morning.

Herbert fourth for Sauber
Johnny Herbert set fourth fastest time, although the Englishman said that
not too much should be read into today's performances as the track
conditions were changing all the time. Jean Alesi wound up tenth overall,
still happy with the feel of his car although he was running a race set-up
as opposed to Herbert's qualifying trim.

Barrichello fifth fastest
Rubens Barrichello produced an optimistic fifth fastest time in the
Stewart-Ford, the Brazilian reporting that the car now felt well balanced
under braking thanks to the progress made with shock absorber set-up. Jos
Verstappen set 16th fastest time.

Ferraris seventh and eighth
Michael Schumacher wound up seventh fastest in the Ferrari F300 having
spent some time evaluating a race set-up and briefly gone off the road
again. Eddie Irvine was just behind, eighth fastest, reporting that the
biggest challenge this weekend would be to choose the right tyre
specification.

Hill ninth for Jordan
Damon Hill had a relatively trouble-free run to ninth fastest time in the
Jordan Mugen Honda, but Ralf Schumacher spun and stalled, which meant that
he lost much of the second half of the session.

Briefly:
Heinz-Harald Frentzen spun off into a gravel trap after setting what turned
out to be 17th fastest time, four places behind team-mate Jacques
Villeneuve_Ricardo Rosset was still suffering engine problems with the
Tyrrell-Ford and had a quick spin_Mika Salo had a water leak in his Arrows
A19 while Pedro Diniz first had a spin and then stopped when the engine
broke.

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