Practice, European GP, Nurburgring, Friday 26th April

The weather was glorious, ideal for racing. Although the air temperature was only 14C, the sun made it much hotter. By midday the track temperature was 31C, and was up to 35C by the end of practice.

Although Hill was fastest in the first practice session, the revelation was Jos Verstappen in his new red and white liveried Arrows Hart, this meagerly funded team humbling much better funded opposition. The momentum was carried on through into the second session, but it fell off towards the end.

The most embarrassed person on the track was Jean Alesi. In the first session, Alesi barely made it 100 meters before parking it in the gravel. He exited the pits, went into the first corner, and then went off into the kitty-litter. He followed this up with a minor spin later in the session as well.

The Ferrari's came to this session buoyant after a successful testing session at the Ferrari owned Mugello circuit. Schumacher had set a new unofficial lap record on the Wednesday evening, but they were still too far back from the Williams Renault of Hill. It wasn't for lack of trying though - Schumacher was using every inch of the track, the kerb, and anything else he could get away with, and delighting the crowd with power-slides and armfuls of opposite lock. By the end of the session he was still half a second off the pace though.

Breaking himself in gently was Villeneuve, on his first visit to the Nurburgring. He was way down in the mid-teens at the beginning of the session, but practice and a reduced fuel load allowed him to move upwards.

Martin Brundle appeared to be having a bad day, languishing down in fifteenth place, when with about 20 minutes left he suddenly banged in a series of fast laps, moving up to 12th, then 6th, and three laps later 5th. Herbert, maintaining a low profile up to that moment, decided to try this as well, and reached as high as 7th place.

As soon as there were less than 10 minutes to go, the cars came out in force, and there were some major improvements. The first of these was Jean Alesi, moving up from 15th to 3rd in one lap. Eight minutes to go, and Riccardo Rosset tried a little bit too hard. Putting his inside wheels over the apex and onto the gravel, he lost it on the exit. He did well to keep the engine running and get out of the gravel. He pointed himself in the right direction and continued onwards.

In the dying minutes, a number of notable improvements were made. Both McLarens and the Jordan of Barrichello moved well into the top half of the grid. Just as impressive as this was the fact that the Benetton of Alesi was holding up the Arrows of Verstappen. Verstappen had a quick look at the final corner, but thought better of it. Leaving it late was Panis, who set his fastest lap as he took the chequered flaf, moving up to fourth.

Interestingly, the fastest car though the speed-trap was the McLaren of Coulthard, which reached 290kph at the fastest part of the track, the back straight. Damon Hill reached 288kph, and Schumacher 281kph. Mercedes are finally getting their act together - over to you Ron Dennis.

Results - Practice

1	D.Hill	1:20.853	202.857kph
2	M.Schumacher	1:21.332	201.662kph
3	M.Hakkinen	1:21.478	201.301kph
4	O.Panis	1:21.858	200.366kph
5	D.Coulthard	1:21.962	200.112kph
6	J.Alesi	1:21.973	200.085kph
7	R.Barrichello	1:22.014	199.985kph
8	J.Verstappen	1:22.093	199.792kph
9	M.Brundle	1:22.112	199.746kph
10	H.Frentzen	1:22.152	199.649kph
11	M.Salo	1:22.215	199.496kph
12	J.Villeneuve	1:22.453	198.920kph
13	J.Herbert	1:22.525	198.747kph
14	G.Berger	1:22.631	198.492kph
15	E.Irvine	1:22.668	198.403kph
16	R.Rosset	1:23.745	195.851kph
17	P.Lamy	1:23.904	195.480kph
18	U.Katayama	1:24.014	195.224kph
19	G.Fisichella	1:24.196	194.802kph
20	P.Diniz	1:24.406	194.317kph
21	L.Badoer	1:26.832	188.888kph
22	A.Montermini	1:27.605	187.222kph