It was certainly a man against nature battle. In very similar circumstances to last year the heavens opened just minutes before the start of the race and an avalanche of water covered the track. Would it last? Would a dry line form? Shall I take wets or slick? Those were the questions. Unlike last year the organisers decided not to run an Acclimatisation session (even though no one had practised in the wet this year) and left the teams to it.
The Ferrari's chose wets, the Williams chose slicks - and the rest is history. Frentzen's pole position disappeared in a milli second as both Michael and Fischella barreled past him. The first lap saw Diniz out and Michael over 6.5 seconds in front of second man Fisichella. Next lap saw several incidents at the chicane which took out both McLarens and Hill. In quick succession we then lost Trulli, Ralph, Herbert, Alesi and later Villeneuve and Frentzen, both of whom touched one too many barriers. This left Michael, Barrichello, Irvine and Panis in well spreadout order.
The race became a test of patience as the drivers plodded through 62 laps (all that could be run inside the 2 hour maximum time) of trying to keep on track in the rain storm. Several drivers spun but did not touch. Major excitement on lap 51 as Michael heads off into the St Devote run off - only to turn around and get back on track - no real position problem as he was over 1 minute in front of second place Barrichello.
10 cars finished out of 22 starters. This result puts Ferrari and Michael ahead in the Constructors' and Drivers' championships.
Ralph was first out at the start of the session, he locked up at the chicane and ran over the bumps, meanwhile Johnny Herbert was parking at Mirabeau with a mechanical failure after half a lap. The session was stopped to remove the Sauber. While Johnny ran back to the pits the marshalls coaxed his car onto a flat bed and everyone else returned to the pits.
11 minutes later and Alesi leads the warriors back onto the track. Once again Ralph misses the chicane. In fact over the next few minutes Barrichello, Hill and Irvine all manage to fluff the entrance to this tricky section.
Panis set the first quick time at 1m 24.597s. Michael and Villeneuve brought it down to 1m 21.657s with Mika knocking a final -0.177s 5 minutes before the end.
The first drama of the session came after 17 minutes, when Verstappen lost control exiting the swimming pool section and hit the barriers. Just before this Fisichella had taken pole with a time of 1m 19.701s. This stood until 23 minutes into the session when Michael took over with a 1m 18.235s - a pole time which would last until 2 minutes from the session end.
At 42 minutes Hakkinen took the same exit as Verstappen in the same place. At least it's not far to get back to the pits!.
Villeneuve was 4th on the grid with 5 minutes left. He ran a superb fast lap and was -0.105s at the last split time. Unfortunately he came up behind a Tyrrell just before Rascasse, he slid all over at Anthony Noghes (but did not touch) and completed the lap in 1m 18.583s - second on the grid. Then it got worse - he ran wide at St Devote, bounced off the barriers and then gently slowed down till he stopped in the tunnel.
The session was not over yet - Frentzen put in a 1m 18.216s to push in front of Michael. But the two Ferrari's were on track for a final dash. With 1m of session left Michael was cannoning through Casino Square. He started his fast lap with 4s of sesson left - everyone was on the edge of their seats but by the second split time we knew the result.
At usual today's session was split into two 45 minute blasts. At 9am and in bright sunshine the times started to come in. After 24 minutes Hakkinen was the first to break Thursday's fastest time with a 1m 21.046s. Just 4 minutes earlier teammate Coulthard had ended his session with a spin and stall at Rascasse. Alesi, Frentzen and Hakkinen continued to squash the time - at the end of this first half Hakkinen was on top at 1m 19.962s followed by Frentzen, Alesi, Salo, Villeneuve, Verstappen and Michael in 7th. Three minutes before the end Panis spun at Anthony Noghes and splattered against the barriers. Trulli ended his session parked at the chicane with mechanical problems.
In the second half Coulthard was back and Panis was not. His car had been too badly damaged. His next drive will be in the spare at qualifying. Within a few minutes Michael had taken the fastest time down by a further -0.697s. 10 minutes later Herbert spun into Mirabeau and lost his rear suspension and then Verstappen retired at Casino with mechanical problems. The times became really serious in the last 20 minutes when many teams took to smaller rear wings and new tyres. Frentzen was the first to break 19s with a 1m 18.728s, Villeneuve took a further -0.116s and Fisichella another -0.052s. With 2 minutes to go Berger spun at the Swimming Pool and smashed into the barriers. Then on his absolute final lap HH knocked a further -0.190s off the top and moved Fisichella into second. .
The first half of the session started at 11am in a bright sunny Monaco. First on track were the two Jordans of Ralph and Fisichella. As usual just about everyone came out in the first few minutes then returned straight back into the pits. Nakano was the first driver to run a few laps and rapidly brought his time down from 1m 42.087s to 1m 33.616s. Jean Alesi was the next serious lapper bringing the fastest time down into the 1m 26s region. Then came Villeneuve who dropped it to 1m 24.656s.
The rest of this one hour session saw Frentzen as the man to beat with both Villeneuve and Michael always seeming to get into trafffic on their fast laps. At the end HH was 1m 23.187s, with Michael at +0.383s and Hakkinen at +0.448s followed by Villeneuve, Barrichello (brilliant) and Irvine.
The second half of the two hour session began at 13h00 with Michael out first but once again being foiled by heavy traffic. Ten minutes into the session Hakkinen took the fastest time to 1m 23.124s (-0.063s) despite being at +0.2s in the chicane. A few minutes later Katayama was seen rolling to a stop inside the tunnel with mechanical problems. HH then broke the time down twice more to 1m 22.417s just as the red flags came out. No drama - it was just to remove Katayama's car which was in a dangerous position. The current standings were: Frentzen, Hakkinen, Panis, Michael, Barrichello, Villeneuve, Irvine, Alesi, Coulthard, Berger, Fisichella and Hill.
When the track opened again it was Ralph who put the fire into everyone. He knocked nearly half a second off HH with a magnificent 1m 21.939s (-0.478). Then the flood gates opened as HH took the time down by -0.006s, then Villeneuve by -0.004s, then Frentzen by -0.042s and Michael by -0.136s (he was at -0.641s at the chicance but then came up behind Villeneuve at the pool).
With 10 minutes to go Hill had moved to 6th and Herbert had taken the fastest time from Michael by -0.142s, his 1m 21.188s was the fastest of the day. The shunt of the day came 7 minutes before the end when HH slid at the corner just after the Rascasse (beginning of the start straight) and slammed into the barriers. He destroyed his car but was uninjured.
Final standing: Herbert, Michael, Villeneuve, Fisichella, Berger, Hakkinen, Frentzen, Ralph, Hill, Alesi.