News item:
Kar Wendlinger is set to test for Sauber in the coming week
at Paul Ricard, having driven 100 laps in the Porsche Supercup.
If the tests go well, he will drive in the final two Grands
Prix for Sauber.


Report:
It was another dry day at Jerez.  Hill had been fastest in
the morning session with a 1:22.755, and the afternoon was
set for another fast session, as the sky was cloudy and the 
track cool.

The very start of the session saw a very busy track, since
there were heavy clouds overhead and everyone feared it might
rain.  Verstappen, Morbidelli, Hill and Belmondo were among
those who were out from the begining.  Hill got held up on
his first flying lap by Belmondo, and failed to improve his 
time.  Verstappen, having been one of the potential non-qualifiers
after an accident yesterday did a very cautious first flying
lap to put himself 19th on the grid.  Morbidelli moved up
to 5th.

Hill backed off for a lap to let the traffic get ahead of him,
and then started another flying lap and was -.925 faster than
his first split time from yesterday, and then -.486 faster
at the second split, but then got held up by Belmondo again
to finish the lap +.194 slower than his yesterday's provisional
pole.

Barrichello was also out on the circuit at this point, and
beat Hill's time to take provisional pole.  Hakkinen was out,
and moved up to second, as Herbert moved into 5th.  Hill went
back to the pits, and then Herbert took over provisional pole.

Schumacher came out, as Brundle (who was 19th) started a
flying lap.  He was +.322 off Herbert's first split, and then
got caught behind a Larrousse, and was +1.251 off at the second
intermediate, to finish the lap with a 1.25.556, which was only
good eneough to move him up to 18th.

Schumacher started his flying lap and was -.337 faster at
the first intermediate, -.650 faster at the second, and, then
before he finished the lap, first Mansell and then Berger
took provisional pole away from Herbert.  Nevertheless, when
Schumacher finished the lap -.982 faster than Herbert's time,
it was still good eneough to take provisional pole from Berger.

Alesi was on the track now, currently in 14th position, but
before completing a flying lap, he spun off into the gravel
bed at the start of the start-finish straight, and that was
the end of his session.  This meant that he was stuck with
yesterday's time.  At about the same time, Blundell lost it,
and had a massive impact into a tyre wall, while DeCesaris
ran too wide at another corner, lost the rear and and had
a big impact against a tyre wall, scattering debris all over
the track.  The session was stopped briefly, and everyone 
returned to the pits with the three cars were cleared away.

The session was restarted before they had finished moving 
the Sauber, and re-building the tyre wall that DeCesaris had
demolished, but only Belmondo went out.  He managed a time
of 1:30.234, with a completely clear track, which left him 
still down in 28th.  There were 42 minutes left in the
session, and the standings were was follows:

Schumacher, Barrichello, Berger, Mansel, Herbert, Hakkinen,
Hill, Frentzen, Panis, Verstappen, Morbidelli, Blundell,
Irvine, Alesi, Katayama, DeCesaris, Alboretto, Brundle,
Zanardi, Martini, Fittipaldi, Comas, Bernard, Brabham,
Noda, Schiaterella
Non-qualifiers:
Gachot and Belmondo.

Hakkinen, Hill and Irvine all went out, with Damon Hill
being -.404 and -.385 faster than Schumacher at the two 
splits and -.166 faster at the end to move up to the top
of the list, with a 1.22.892.  Frentzen also appeared
on the tract at this stage, with the top 6 looking like
this:
1. Hill 1:22.892,  2. Schumacher +.166,  3. Barrichello +.563
4. Berger +.785,  5. Mansell +1.136,  6. Herbert +1.148

Herbert came out again, as Hill returned to the pits.
There were 33 minutes to go, and there were breaks appearing
in the clouds.  Frentzen was +.427 and +.354 off at the
two intermediates and +.539 off at the end of the lap,
which moved him up to third place.  Mansell, was also
out on the track, and moved up to take third away from 
Frentzen.  Schumacher also appeared out, to try and get
some laps in before the temperature of the track rose
too much.

Hill and Mansell have both dome 8 laps at this stage, and 
so still have some left.  Schumacher is three tenths slower
than Hill's time at the first intermediate, but marginally
faster at the second, and finishes the lap -.130 faster
with a 1.22.762 to take away pole from Hill.  He slowed
down on the next lap, only clocking up a 1.23.523.

Berger, who was now in 6th position, was out on his 7th lap
of the afternoon, as was Martini, who was down in 17th.
Berger was +1.531 off the pace at the second intermediate,
and +2.314 off at the end of the lap.  Frentzen who was
now in 4th position came out again, and put in times that
were +.306 off at the first intermediate, +.726 off at the
second and +1.295 off at the end of the lap, which was no
impovement.  Morbidelli was also out on the track at this
stage, and managed +.585 and +1.162 at the two intermediates,
and +1.815 at the end of the lap, which didn't improve his
time of 1.24.097, which had him in 8th position.

At this stage it was quite clear that the track conditions
had deteriorated with the rising temperature.  The top 12
positions were:
Schumacher, Hill, Mansell, Frentzen, Barrichello, Berger,
Herbert, Morbidelli, Hakkinen, Irvine, Panis, Vertappen.
There was .915 of a second covering the top 6.

Herbert went out, but couldn't improve his time of 1:24:040.
Hill, Fittipaldi (currently 19th), Mansell and Verstappen
were all on the track.  Hill was +.436 at the first intermediate,
and since it is the first part of the track where the Williams 
has the advantage, it looked unlikely that he would re-take
the pole position.  He was +.914 off Schumacher's time at
the second intermediate, when he locked up, and went across
a gravel bed, bring lots of gravel back onto the track. He
then went straight back to the pits, and having completed 11 
laps this meant that he couldn't get any more flying laps in.

There were 10 minutes to go in the session, and it seemed
fairly certain that Schumacher would start from pole.
Verstappen went back to the pits, still in 12th position.
Mansell did a time that was +.322 at the first intermediate,
+.633 at te second and +1.249 at the end of the lap, and
that was his last flying lap.  Hakkinen was also out, but
failed to improve his time.  There were 3 minutes left.
Fittipaldi was out, and was +2.941 off the pace with a
1.25.703.  With 1 minute left, Berger finished his session
and went back to the pits.  The session ended with the
standings as follows:

Schumacher, Hill, Mansell, Frentzen, Barrichello, Berger,
Herbert, Morbidelli, Hakkinen, Irvine, Panis, Verstappen,
Katayama, Blundell, Brundle, Alesi, Martini, DeCesaris

The Lotus cars were down in 21st and 22nd, with Noda and
Schiaterella in 25th and 26th and Gachot and Belmondo the
two non-qualifiers.

-- 
Christine.                                chogan@indigo.ccsem.infn.it
chogan@maths.tcd.ie                             cjhogan@dsg.cs.tcd.ie

If it makes goo on the windscreen, we'll call it a bug. -- Larry Wall