Panis sets the pace on his home track - until the Fin
On a cloudy overcast day in France Olivier Panis held pole at 1m 18.205s for most of the session. The other top teams stayed at least 0.3s away.
For the first half of the session the top five followers to Panis were various combinations of Alesi, Schumacher, Berger, Hill and Villeneuve.
About half way through Hakkinen moved up to second with a Panis +0.033s. Just after this Barrichello rolled to a stop with car trouble.
With 5 minutes left Berger does a Panis +0.079s and moves into 3rd place.
After several earlier spins Verstappen finally backs into the gravel with 2 minutes of the session left.
In the last minute Hakkinen beats Panis by a stunning 0.532s to finish the session on pole.
Picture of the day has to be Irvine carrying a traffic cone on his front suspension for a few meters after taking a short cut.
1st Free
Pos Driver Team Lap Time Pos Lap Time
1 M.Hakkinen McLaren 1m 17.673s 0 0m 0.000s
2 O.Panis Ligier 1m 18.205s 0 0m 0.000s
3 G.Berger Benetton 1m 18.284s 0 0m 0.000s
4 J.Alesi Benetton 1m 18.526s 0 0m 0.000s
5 M.Schumacher Ferrari 1m 18.545s 0 0m 0.000s
6 D.Hill Williams 1m 18.598s 0 0m 0.000s
7 J.Villeneuve Williams 1m 18.992s 0 0m 0.000s
8 D.Coulthard McLaren 1m 18.994s 0 0m 0.000s
9 E.Irvine Ferrari 1m 19.098s 0 0m 0.000s
10 P.Diniz Ligier 1m 19.104s 0 0m 0.000s
11 M.Brundle Jordan 1m 19.479s 0 0m 0.000s
12 R.Barrichello Jordan 1m 19.676s 0 0m 0.000s
13 J.Verstappen Footwork 1m 19.693s 0 0m 0.000s
14 R.Rosset Footwork 1m 20.195s 0 0m 0.000s
15 U.Katayama Tyrrell 1m 20.215s 0 0m 0.000s
16 H.Frentzen Sauber 1m 20.231s 0 0m 0.000s
17 M.Salo Tyrrell 1m 20.455s 0 0m 0.000s
18 P.Lamy Minardi 1m 20.678s 0 0m 0.000s
19 J.Herbert Sauber 1m 21.189s 0 0m 0.000s
20 G.Fisichella Minardi 1m 21.291s 0 0m 0.000s
21 L.Badoer Forti 1m 21.360s 0 0m 0.000s
22 A.Montermini Forti 1m 23.002s 0 0m 0.000s
---- 107% ---- 1m 23.110s