Magny-Cours 3rd practice notes

Third free practice session

Weather: Sunshine but breezy

Dario Franchitti (Mercedes) 1st: "I've found a good set-up for Top Qualifying but I'm not so sure about settings for the races."

Bernd Schneider (Mercedes) 2nd: "The car is okay. I'm more worried that I could be kidnapped by Dario this evening. It's nice of him to let me drive in the practice sessions and have some fun before he destroys my title ambitions!"

Klaus Ludwig (Opel) 3rd: "At last I've been able to turn the potential of the car into a fast lap time. I'm not sure whether we can beat the Mercedes in Top Qualifying but my tyres are still good enough to produce another fast lap."

Alessandro Nannini (Alfa Romeo) 4th: "I worked on my race set-up this morning and did a 10 lap run. The car seems quite good but I think that Mercedes might be too quick in Top Qualifying today."

Jorg van Ommen (Mercedes) 5th: "The car is more or less okay. It handles well and I think that if I can make a good lap in Top Qualifying then I will have a good race."

Yannick Dalmas (Opel) 7th: "We're getting close to the limit of the car's potential. It is now quite tricky to drive, especially in the long corners where it changes from understeer to oversteer and back again. I used old tyres though and the times were very consistent - which is good for the race."

Gabriele Tarquini (Alfa Romeo) 8th: "We managed to find a little more speed this morning by making some small changes to the set-up of the car, mainly in the suspension."

Manuel Reuter (Opel) 10th: "I only managed to complete three laps before the differential started to leak quite badly. My back is hurting again, worse than yesterday."

Stefano Modena (Alfa Romeo) 11th: "We changed everything - shock absorbers, springs and aerodynamics - but we went the wrong way so we've gone back to yesterday's settings."

Kurt Thiim (Mercedes) 12th: "We are making progress slowly but our problem is a lack of grip. I've concentrated on improving the fast corner set-up for the race."

Nicola Larini (Alfa Romeo) 15th: "This morning was not so good. There was a misfire problem with the engine and it took a lot of time to find out what was causing it."

JJ Lehto (Opel) 17th: "There's no grip at all and we don't know where we can find some more downforce. I was quicker yesterday on harder tyres..."

Michele Alboreto (Alfa Romeo) 22nd: "Everything is wrong. I don't know what's going on with the car - it's just slow."