Japanese GP Saturday practice notes

1995 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP GRAND PRIX OF JAPAN -- SUZUKA, JAPAN OCTOBER 27-29, 1995

NOTES FROM SATURDAY PRACTICE SESSION

Hakkinen heads them all ----------------------- Saving a special qualifying engine for this afternoon, Mika Hakkinen only took part in the second half of this morning's free practice session, but that was enough for the Finn to set the fastest time, his McLaren-Mercedes almost three tenths ahead of his closest rival. Things were not so good for Mark Blundell, who was ninth fastest. While going for a quick lap he lost control into the 300 kph left hander before the chicane and spun off into the barriers. Shaken, but apparently unhurt, the team will be hard pushed to repair his car for the final qualifying.

Irvine well up for Jordan ------------------------- Eddie Irvine was also well placed for the Jordan team this morning, the Jordan-Peugeot driver taking the second fastest time of the session running only 14 laps. His team-mate Rubens Barrichello was complaining of understeer and did not better tenth fastest.

Bad morning for Williams-Renault -------------------------------- It was a bad morning for the two Williams-Renault drivers. After setting what was to be the third fastest time Damon Hill spun off ending his session after just 16 laps. A few minutes later David Coulthard went for a quick lap and also went off, but was able to regain the circuit and make his way back to the pits.

Schumacher happy in race trim ----------------------------- Michael Schumacher took the fourth fastest time of the session for Benetton-Ford , the German fine tuning his car's race trim which he found every good, his only worry being the Benetton's stability under hard braking. Johnny Herbert was back in his repaired chassis following his crash the previous day. He complained of too much understeer and did not better 12th fastest time.

Alesi fifth for Ferrari ----------------------- Jean Alesi was not happy with his performance this morning, the Frenchman unable to get his car dialled in as well as it had been yesterday after setting the fifth fastest time. Gerhard Berger spent most of the session working on the set-up of his chassis which had been rebuilt with a new monocoque following his trip across the kerbs yesterday.

More engine trouble for Frentzen -------------------------------- Heinz Harald Frentzen's practice was once again cut short by engine problems when he came to a stop eight laps into the session. Karl Wendlinger had to take over the planned test programme and did not better 16th fastest, Frentzen having already gone sixth quickest.

Briefly... ---------- Roberto Moreno was back in the Forti with the automatic gearbox, but ended up stuck in a gravel trap when he spun off...Mika Salo tried a new differential on his Tyrrell which didn't work as well as he had hoped. He was also having trouble in the high speed corners when he lifted off the power...Morbidelli had to run the old undertray and exhaust system today, which meant he had to start again with finding a balance for his car.

Data courtesy Marlboro Sports Data System Edited by Robert Heathcote, for SpeedNet

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