It was wet, the first wet session of the meeting. All the previous set-ups teams arrived at went out of the window, and new ones were required. Out the cars came, Berger leading the way.
They all took it gingerly, not pressing too hard due to the diabolical conditions. Twenty cars went out, and twenty came back in again after an installation lap to consult with their engineers and to make set-up changes. Only Heinz-Harald Frentzen completed a flying lap in the first five minutes, setting a 1:49.9, some 25 seconds or more off qualifying times. Even Jean Alesi, normally so good in the rain, was having problems, the car twitching every time he hit peak power or went to brake.
Hill was the first of the top drivers to set a flying lap (1:43.353), taking the top time despite plenty of sliding about. The car was on rails during qualifying, but it was on a skid pan now. He was slightly slower on the next lap, but then he was in a Ferrari sandwich, at one point tracking closely the Ferrari of Schumacher to determine how it would handle in the wet. Hill was by far the fastest though, Berger's first flying lap being 5 seconds slower.
Hill then caught up with Berger, also following it closely. Three corners befire the pits though and the car suddenly went into snap oversteer mid corner, pitching Hill into a couple of spins. He ended up facing the right way round and went back to the pits.
Drivers were now confident enough to start setting times, but no-one was yet close to Hill. The Ferrari of Schumacher was looking distinctly nervous about the conditions, frequently entering lurid slides, although he managed to catch it each time, setting a 1:44.219 for 2nd place. Olivier Panis was less lucky, entering a spin during a slow speed corner. He collected it together and was soon on his way. Rosset did likewise.
Nothing spectacular was happening, as most drivers were completing a single flying lap before heading pitwards. Alesi managed to set third fastest time mid-way through the session, but he was still 2.5s down on Hill. This time was quickly beaten by Olivier Panis, becoming something of a wet-weather specialist. Lamy though wasn't, and he lost it into the gravel at Ciet. Panis blotted his copybook a lap later, putting his car permanently into the gravel.
Seven minutes to go, and disaster struck, Frentzen destroying his Sauber on the pit straight, spewing debris across the track, bringing out the red flags. He hit the kerb on the exit of the final corner, and went backwards into a tyre wall lining the pit-wall, ripping the back of the car to pieces. Frentzen climbed out unhurt, but it would be the spare-car for the race. The session was declared over, and the team's only wet testing session halted. It would make for an interesting race.
Pos Driver Nat Constructor Time Gap To 1st 1. Damon Hill GB Williams-Renault 1:43.353 2. Michael Schumacher D Ferrari 1:44.219 0.866 0.866 3. Olivier Panis F Ligier-Mugen 1:45.824 1.605 2.471 4. Jean Alesi F Benetton-Renault 1:45.934 0.110 2.581 5. Eddie Irvine GB Ferrari 1:45.968 0.034 2.615 6. Heinz-Harald Frentzen D Sauber-Ford 1:46.132 0.164 2.779 7. David Coulthard GB McLaren-Mercedes 1:46.312 0.180 2.959 8. Rubens Barrichello BR Jordan-Peugeot 1:46.682 0.370 3.329 9. Johnny Herbert GB Sauber-Ford 1:46.687 0.005 3.334 10. Gerhard Berger A Benetton-Renault 1:47.064 0.377 3.711 11. Martin Brundle GB Jordan-Peugeot 1:47.114 0.050 3.761 12. Giancarlo Fisichella I Minardi-Ford ED 1:47.811 0.697 4.458 13. Jacques Villeneuve CDN Williams-Renault 1:47.910 0.099 4.557 14. Jos Verstappen NL Arrows-Hart 1:48.102 0.192 4.749 15. Mika Hakkinen FIN McLaren-Mercedes 1:48.344 0.242 4.991 16. Mika Salo FIN Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:49.266 0.922 5.913 17. Ukyo Katayama J Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:50.401 1.135 7.048 18. Pedro Lamy P Minardi-Ford ED 1:50.782 0.381 7.429 19. Pedro Diniz BR Ligier-Mugen 1:51.580 0.798 8.227 20. Ricardo Rosset BR Arrows-Hart 1:55.684 4.104 12.331