Formula One: Villeneuve fourth for BAR Honda in Belgaian free practice
25 August 2000
Spa-Francorchamps is the longest circuit on the Formula One calendar and today's free practice gave all the teams a chance to get to grips with the challenging 6.968km track. Today's high track temperatures and bright sunshine are unlikely to remain unchanged throughout the entire duration of the weekend as initial forecasts indicate a strong chance of rain during Sunday's race. Lucky Strike Reynard BAR Honda drivers Jacques Villeneuve and Ricardo Zonta completed a total of 57 laps, experimenting with the set-up of the cars in advance of Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix. Both drivers made good progress, experiencing no problems and finishing the day in fourth and 15th positions respectively. Jacques Villeneuve Position: 4th 1min 54.136sec "This is a beautiful track. I love driving here and so far it seems to be going quite well for me. The car was good from the first run today; we made some improvements and have done some good work. But it is still only Friday and qualifying is a long way off, but we seem to be in good shape. "I haven't taken Eau Rouge flat yet; I'm saving that for tomorrow. It is a corner you just can't explain to someone who has never driven it. It is actually a bit easier this year. They have taken the wall away from the inside, so visually it is a little less daunting." Ricardo Zonta Position: 15th 1min 55.546sec "I had a lot of oversteer this morning which I couldn't understand. We kept the set-up from the Mugello test but we had to go back and change some things. Then I made a big gain from some changes this afternoon but we still need to find more time. I am losing half a second to Jacques through Eau Rouge, so I need to get my confidence back through this corner after last year's accident." Takefumi Hosaka - Managing Director, Honda R&D "We are fairly pleased so far, but you cannot read too much into the times on Friday. It is good to come back after the disappointments of Hungary and we have analysed the data from the Mugello test to get the best settings for this track. Ricardo struggled with some oversteer, so there is work to do there, but Jacques likes it here and we are in a good position so far." Jordan Mugen-Honda should be among the front-running teams this weekend and good preparation work today left Jarno Trulli in 10th position and team mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen 17th at the circuit on which the team scored its maiden race win with Damon Hill back in 1998.