Coulthard Quickest As Mclaren Continues Domination

David Coulthard came out on top after the first day's practice in Melbourne,
edging out team-mate Mika Hakkinen after two hour-long sessions. Although
the faces at the front may not have changed, however, those immediately
behind were more unexpected, as both Stewart and Jordan enjoyed a good
day.


Coulthard set his time with the last flying lap of the day, recording a lap
of 1min 31.971secs to edge out the reigning champion by a scant 14/100ths.
Hakkinen had led the times for most of the combined session, but suffered a
car-breaking accident with 14 minutes remaining of the second hour.


Although the Finn was able to climb from the wrecked McLaren - and later
laugh about the incident - the impact was enough to remove three corners
from the car, and leave his engineers with an early rebuild. "I had done the
previous lap fast," Hakkinen admitted, "and thought I would see if I could
do it any faster. I was just trying to find the limit on that corner, and
was driving a little bit too fast."


"The car got a little bit unstable going into the corner and it stayed that
way, but I didn't want to lift off the throttle. I'm not hurt but the car
is!"


Relieved that his partner was unharmed, Coulthard set about putting himself
at the top of the timesheets but, although he eventually achieved his aim,
the Scot refused to be completely satisfied with his day's work: "I could do
better," he said, "I still need to put in some work on the first section of
the track because Mika was quicker than me there, but it appears that we are
the ones who have set off on the right road."


Hakkinen's main championship rival, Michael Schumacher also had a
disappointing day, but suffered most in the opening hour. The German was
forced to write off most of the session when his Ferrari ground to a halt
with gearbox problems just outside of the pit-lane. With his car counting as
stranded on the track, Schumacher was forced to watch his adversaries
gaining valuable track-time, before finally getting out in the spare for the
second hour and recording the seventh-best lap.


Into the German's usual place among the McLarens came the surprise package
of Rubens Barrichello and Stewart. The Brazilian had impressed with sixth
spot in the opening hour, and improved his time by 1.2secs to take a top
three spot by the end of the combined session. Team-mate Johnny Herbert also
proved the SF-3's potential by clocking up seventh and fifth best times for
the two hours to nestle between the two Jordans.


"This is a good boost for the team," Herbert said afterwards, "and there is
more left in the car.We've got to work hard to achieve a better balance in
qualifying trim for tomorrow but, at this stage, it looks promising."


The Englishman finished the session between the yellow Jordans of
Heinz-Harald Frentzen and compatriot Damon Hill. The Silverstone-based team
was delighted to have got off to a better start than in 1998, with both
drivers expressing their delight at being back in competition after the
winter.


"I am very pleased with the performance of both drivers and cars today,"
said team boss Eddie Jordan, "Friday's results do not necessarily mean very
much, but I would rather see Jordan where we are now that at the back of the
field. I hate to make predictions, but our chances look quite good, and I
think Heinz-Harald could be the surprise of the season."


Jarno Trulli took eighth place, confirming his suspicions that the latest
Prost-Peugeot would be better than its predecessor and capable of scoring
points on a regular basis, but team-mate Olivier Panis struggled in setting
15th best time.


Between the Frenchman and his Italian team-mate lay both Williams, both
Benettons, Alesi's Sauber and the luckless Irvine. Alex Zanardi christened
his return to F1 competition by out-pacing Williams partner Ralf Schumacher
despite a late engine problem, while Alex Wurz gained an early advantage
over Giancarlo Fisichella at the Anglo-Italian outfit.


And what of British American Racing? Well, the sport's new boys started
promisingly enough, with Jacques Villeneuve taking an encouraging ninth in
the first hour, but neither the Canadian nor team-mate Ricardo Zonta could
do anything to prevent a slide down the order later on. Zonta could do
little except watch his time become slowest of the day after a mechanical
problem cut short his second hour, but Villeneuve remained upbeat about the
team's performance despite slipping to 16th spot by the end of the
session.


"Looking at the times - except the first two cars - the rest of the field is
fairly tight," said the 1997 champion, "and I think our position is
encouraging. The car has gone well, feels very neutral and is easy to drive.
We've had no problems and are looking forward to Saturday."


The other rookies in the field - Spaniards Pedro de la Rosa and Marc Gene -
acquitted themselves well, taking 19th and 20th positions respectively,
having originally been higher in the order. Both drivers admitted that their
main concern was to get in as many laps as possible in an attempt to learn
the circuit, but neither appeared overawed by their new-found status when
questioned about the session in the Friday press conference.