Morning practice times:

POS	DRIVER	TIME
1	Damon Hill	1:24.524
2	Mika Hakkinen	1:24.604
3	Heinz Harald Frentzen	1:24.767
4	Michael Schumacher	1:24.792
5	Jean Alesi	1:24.842
6	Rubens Barrichello	1:25.455
7	Eddie Irvine	1:25.743
8	Jos Verstappen	1:25.770
9	Gerhard Berger	1:25.773
10	David Coulthard	1:25.963
11	Mika Salo	1:26.048
12	Martin Brundle	1:26.220
13	Ukyo Katayama	1:26.494
14	Pedro Diniz	1:26.670
15	Johnny Herbert	1:26.736
16	Giancarlo Fisichella	1:26.958
17	Pedro Lamy	1:26.992
18	Jacques Villeneuve	1:27.235
19	Andrea Montermini	1:27.843
20	Olivier Panis	1:28.003
21	Luca Badoer	1:28.451
22	Riccardo Rosset	1:31.050

There had been no major accidents in the morning session, although Schumacher and Coulthard both span at the Rascasse, but luckily avoided hitting anything. Both McLarens were maintaining their massive improvement since the San Marino Grand Prix, their handling problems solved. McLaren had found that their front wing was flexing at the mountings while under load, thus causing a varying degree of downforce on the front wing, and the subsequent handling problem. By strengthening this, and by adding some L-shaped vanes underneath the wing, the handling problems had been cured, and the resulting boost in driver confidence showed through in the lap times acheived. This weekend was looking interesting.

In the afternoon session, Martin Brundle was the first out. Since Imola, the Jordan team had been extensively testing at Imola, as well as at the permanent facility at Pau in south-western France, trying different differential set-ups for the Monaco GP. They were also running their mid-wing for this race, as were the McLaren. Brundle's first out lap was a 1:27.013, so no improvement.

Jean Alesi was one of the next out, and he was hoping for a much better weekend, and he was trying as hard as usual. He was spectacular to watch out of the corners, often laying down tracks of rubber as he did so. His first out lap was a 1:26.060, and he was held up on his next one. Alesi then consequently slowed down to let the other cars pull away before doing his next flyer - a 1:24.200, good enough for third. He then dived into the pits.

Schumacher wasn't having so much luck today though. Coming out of the tunnel, Schumacher's car started to fish-tail under braking. Only Schumacher's lightning fast reactions prevented a major accident, but he still ended up sailing up the escape lane. He collected himself back together, rejoined the track, and headed pitwards.

Hill and Villeneuve then emerged together, Villeneuve in front. Despite having raced here in his Formula Three days, Villeneuve was taking time to learn the circuit, the 700 odd bhp available to him now making the circuit seem completely different than when you only have about 300 bhp or less. His top speeds weren't slow though, and he was the fastest in the speed trap at the tunnel exit, having reached 272kph. Into the Mirabeau, and it was Verstappen who was fastest, the Arrows driver having another good day until he sailed up the escape lane at Mirabeau, pushing too hard, but at least not hitting anything. Fifteen minutes into the session and Panis was also off at St. Devote, avoiding contact with the barriers. He rejoined, and set a 1:25.086 (6th) on his next flyer.

The Arrows of Rosset and Verstappen came out next, Verstappen having been in for new tyres since his off, which didn't seem to have slowed him down at all. On Verstappen's first flying lap, he set a 1:26.346. His next was even faster, only 0.25s down on Hill's morning lap time at the tunnel exit. However, his inexperienced teammate Rosset, who had never driven here before (and neither had Pedro Lamy), holding him up. Rosset dived into the pits out of the way, but the damage was done, and Verstappen couldn't improve that lap. Just to prove the previous lap wasn't a fluke, he set a 1:25.112 on his next, good enough for 7th. He was looking to go even faster the next lap, locking his right front into Mirabeau. However, he pushed it too hard, and turning into the Rascasse, the rear of his car overtook the front, planting him backwards into the barriers, ripping off three corners in the process. The marshals immediately pounced on the car, slinging trolley-jacks underneath the car, and quickly removing it. The session continued.

Schumacher was the next out, for the last time that day. He managed a 1:25.337 before disappearing into the pits. He had only done 21 out of the allotted 31 practice laps for the day, and it would seem that he had a mechanical problem. No information was immediately forthcoming though.

Hill then emerged for his run, and quickly set about making a new benchmark time. He wasn't content with just a small improvement though. Despite the narrow twisty streets, he managed to find a whole 0.703s, lowering his time to 1:23.821. All those who thought they were close looked up in despair and wondered what they had to do. McLaren had the answer though.

The Rascasse Grand Prix car scrap yard continued to do brisk business throughout the session, Rosset being the next customer. Coming out of the corner, he lightly brushed the outside barrier, stalling the car in the process. In the fortieth minute Diniz did a much better job, emulating Verstappen. Before he even came out of the corner he was travelling backwards, planting it in the barriers backwards. The car started to turn, the nose clipping the barrier, rapidly spinning the car. The damage wasn't heavy, but the whiplash due to the spin would have hurt his neck badly. The last customer was Fisichella in the 56th minute. He came out of the Rascasse drifting sideways with a touch of understeer. He brushed the barriers and went out, nor harm done.

Alesi also had his now customary spin, although he was original in his choice of location. Coming to the top of the hill into the Casino Square he lost the back end. Miraculously he missed all the barriers, and the car was quickly pointing in the right direction. Alesi planted the throttle and kept going, not losing much time in the process. His next lap was a 1:24.767, but the back end of the car was very twitchy in Casino and Mirabeau.

Villeneuve by this time was up to tenth, but the lap times were rapidly coming down as people changed on to new rubber. In the 49th minute, Berger set the 2nd fastest time, but this was quickly beaten by Barrichello, who managed a 1:23.976. Villeneuve was also up to speed, setting a 1:24.396 on his 29th lap, good enough for 4th. On his 30th he set a 1:24.256, up to third. By now though he was out of laps, and headed into the pits.

Both Hill and the two McLarens came out in the dying minutes, Hill with only four laps of his allotted total left. Hill kept it quiet, seemingly content with the time he had set, but the two McLarens were charging. And how. Hakkinen was using all the kerbs and more, millimetres away from the barriers at some point. And it showed in his lap times - he set a 1:23.762, and took the top spot from Hill. To show that this was no fluke, he managed a slightly slower 1:23.848 on his next. Hill responded with a 1:23.801. Coulthard also gave it a go, setting a 1:23.850 for third place. The chequered flag came out, and Hakkinen gave a last gasp attempt, managing a 1:23.785. This was +0.021s on his fastest lap so far, so there was no improvement, and he stayed in first place, 0.039s ahead of Hill.

Combined Practice Times

POS	DRIVER	TIME
1	M Hakkinen	1:23.762, 143.033 Kph
2	D Hill	1:23.801
3	D Coulthard	1:23.850
4	R Barrichello	1:23.976
5	J Alesi	1:24.160
6	O Panis	1:24.167
7	J Villeneuve	1:24.257
8	M Brundle	1:24.270
9	G Berger	1:24.285
10	H Frentzen	1:24.585
11	M Schumacher	1:24.757
12	J Verstappen	1:25.112
13	U Katayama	1:25.322
14	G Fisichella	1:25.326
15	P Lamy	1:25.441
16	M Salo	1:25.615
17	E Irvine	1:25.688
18	P Diniz	1:25.936
19	J Herbert	1:26.143
20	A Montermini	1:27.843
21	L Badoer	1:28.451
22	R Rosset	1:28.512

By Darren Galpin