Belgian GP Friday Tyrrell notes

BELGIAN GRAND PRIX [28.08.98] AUTUMN ARRIVES EARLY IN THE ARDENNES

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, BELGIUM, August 28, 1998 - Braving the sort of cold, showery weather for which the Ardennes region of Belgium is notorious, Tyrrell drivers Toranosuke Takagi and Ricardo Rosset today began their preparations for Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix. Both men spent Friday's two one-hour sessions honing the handling characteristics of their cars and evaluating the latest Prime and Option tyres on offer from Goodyear.

TORANOSUKE TAKAGI (No 21) Position: 18th Best lap: 1:56.080

"I know the weather is often unpredictable at Spa, but I hadn't expected it to be so cold. It's more like winter! Still, we have made good progress with the set-up of the car and I am hopeful of a good performance in qualifying tomorrow and in the race. I would particularly like to do well this weekend since my father is visiting from Japan."

RICARDO ROSSET (No 20) Position: 22nd Best lap: 1:58.178

"It was just a normal Friday of a Grand Prix weekend really. I worked with my engineer on chassis balance and we did a back-to-back comparison of the Goodyear Prime and Option tyres available for this race. Initially, the track surface was wet this morning, but it soon dried out and we were able to do virtually all our running on dry tyres. I could have got a better time today, but I was caught behind other cars on one of my quick laps. I like Spa. It's a tremendously challenging circuit with high-speed corners and long straights - just the sort of place where you can really feel the power and performance of a Formula One car."

DR HARVEY POSTLETHWAITE, Managing Director, Tyrrell

"On the longest circuit of the year we still seem to find traffic as soon as we want a clear lap to evaluate tyres. Nevertheless, this was a productive session. We made progress with the cars and they ran reliably."