Canadian GP Saturday practice notes

Hill fastest ------------ Damon Hill clocked the fastest time of the free practice just minutes from the end of the second session, having made numerous handling improvements to the Williams chassis. David Coulthard, seventh fastest and 0.594s behind Hill, continues to be troubled by oversteer on corner entry and understeer on exit.

Ferraris impressive again ------------------------- Jean Alesi piloted his Ferrari to the second fastest time of the free practice, 0.121s behind Hill's benchmark. Gerhard Berger was close behind despite being able to geta final run with revised suspension settings due to the red-flagged session.

Schumacher working on race strategy ----------------------------------- Benetton used much of the practice session to work on race strategy for Sunday, trying various suspension settings and working out the effects of fuel load vs additional pit stop times. Michael Schumacher scored the fourth fastest time, with a happy Johnny Herbert just 0.029s and two places behind.

McLaren balance improves ------------------------ McLaren had managed to improve the car's balance somewhat overnight, allowing Mika Hakkinen to set a strong 6th fastest time. Mark Blundell, still using an earlier evolution of the Mercedes V10, was further back in 11th place.

Sauber finds more speed ----------------------- Heinz-Harald Frentzen had a minor collision with Pedro Diniz near the end of the first session while passibg the Brazilian. Despite damaging his nosecone, the Sauber-Ford driver managed the 8th quickest time, ahead of Blundell and both Jordan-Peugeots. His teammate, Jean- Christophe Boullion, was 18th after damaging his engine through over- revving it.

Barrichello spins off hard -------------------------- After setting a solid 9th fastest time for Jordan-Peugeot, 0.242s faster than teammate Eddie Irvine, Rubens Barrichello spun off hard just before the end of free practice, badly damaging the rear suspension in the tire barriers. The team will attempt to replace the rear section with that from the spare car.