Japanese Grand Prix - Free Practice

ALESI AIMS TO GO OUT ON A HIGH
Jordan Honda driver fastest in his final Friday free practice


Jean Alesi finished his final session of Formula One Friday free practice
fastest today at Suzuka in preparation for the Japanese Grand Prix,
Honda’s home race, in his Benson and Hedges Jordan Honda.  Alesi, who will
start his 201st and final grand prix on Sunday after confirming his
retirement from Formula One racing yesterday, was over half a second
quicker than the Williams BMW of Juan Pablo Montoya.  His team-mate Jarno
Trulli was 11th fastest, while the Lucky Strike B.A.R Hondas of Jacques
Villeneuve and Olivier Panis were 14th and 18th respectively.

Beautiful summer conditions greeted the drivers as they emerged for
today’s two one-hour sessions, with the ambient temperatures in the
mid-20s Celsius and Alesi was clearly enjoying his time in the car, waving
to the enthusiastic Suzuka crowd after setting his time.  The two sessions
were marked by spectacular accidents, to Tomas Enge’s Prost in the morning
and Nick Heidfeld’s Sauber in the afternoon, fortunately neither of which
caused injury to either driver but brought out the red flags for a time.


Jean Alesi	Position: 1st
“Things cannot be better than finishing first for my last Friday. I really
enjoyed the session!  From first thing this morning the car felt really
competitive, and then, working with my race engineer, we made even more
progress. I find it so enjoyable to drive on this circuit – it’s so
exciting because the track gives you so much feel for what you are doing. 
On most circuits you reach the limit of what the car can do so quickly
whereas here you can keep pushing the boundaries out.  It was really fun
out there today.”


Kazutoshi Nishizawa – Technical Director, Honda Racing Development
“A normal Friday session for us.  We were able to carry out our normal
programme of set-up work as usual.  However, we ended up with a yellow car
in a very good position, which is always good to see.  Being Jean’s last
race, I really wish to see him perform well.”


Tim Holloway, Head of Engineering, Jordan Honda
“No dramas today.  It was good to see Jean at the top of the tree on his
last race weekend.  He drove very consistently but there’s still more to
come from him.”


Malcolm Oastler, Technical Director, B.A.R Honda
“The team are working hard to do the best job we can for the last race of
the season.  The weekend started quite well although Olivier’s car has a
minor technical problem that we need to correct before the second session
tomorrow.   Then our focus will be in qualifying better than we have of
late to give us the best possible chance for the race.”


Today’s results
Pos	Driver        			Chassis – Engine	Time 
1	ALESI         		Jordan Honda		1'35"454 
2	MONTOYA      		Williams BMW        	1'35"977 
3	DE LA ROSA    		Jaguar              		1'36"225 
4	HAKKINEN      		McLaren Mercedes    	1'36"430 
5	FRENTZEN      		Prost Acer          		1'36"439 
6	IRVINE        		Jaguar              		1'36"589 
7	COULTHARD     		McLaren Mercedes    	1'36"638 
8	M.SCHUMACHER  	Ferrari            		1'36"727 
9	R.SCHUMACHER  	Williams BMW        	1'36"874 
10	BARRICHELLO   	Ferrari            		1'36"994 
11	TRULLI        		Jordan Honda        	1'37"564
12	BUTTON        		Benetton Renault    	1'37"645 
13	HEIDFELD      		Sauber Petronas     	1'37"665 
14	VILLENEUVE   		B.A.R Honda           	1'38"312 
15	RAIKKONEN     		Sauber Petronas     	1'38"315 
16	FISICHELLA    		Benetton Renault    	1'38"398 
17	ALONSO        		Minardi European    	1'38"961 
18	PANIS         		B.A.R Honda		1'39"108 
19	VERSTAPPEN    		Arrows Asiatech		1'39"511 
20	BERNOLDI      		Arrows Asiatech		1'39"744 
21	YOONG         		Minardi European    	1'39"952 
22	ENGE          		Prost Acer         		1'41"216