At the second free practice session of ...

Published on 08 May 1997 by Verstappen Info Page

At the second free practice session of the Monaco Grand Prix that was being held this afternoon from 13.00 to 14.00 hrs. Jos set a 16th time and Salo an 18th time. The time difference between Jos and Mika is 0,4 seconds. Johnny Herbert did an incredible job and clocked the best time of today, 1:21.188. In the first 15 minutes of the second session both Jos and Mika can't improve their times. Hakkinen now sets the fastest lap. After 16 minutes Ukyo Katayama slowly drives to the pit, he doesn't make it there and his car stops on the track. Villeneuve has a leaking radiator and Jos gets an extra flap on his rear wing to improve downforce. Frentzen now steals base and has the fastest lap, Panis is third.

At 13.23 a code red is given. Ukyo Katayama's car has stopped in the tunnel, a dangerous position. At 13.31 the pitlane is open again en Jos goes out on new tyres. Jos drives to position 11 at 1,6 seconds from Frentzen. Two minutes Ralf Schumacher sets the fastest lap, immediately followed by Frentzen who betters the time with 0,008 seconds. At 13.40 the situation is: Villeneuve 1, Jos 13 and Salo 15th at 0,4 seconds of Jos. At 13.58 Herbert drives a super lap and sets the pole for today definitively. Barrichello goes out in the Rascasse corner and Jos inmproves his time to settle on a 14th position, on 1.8 seconds from Herbert. In the mean time Frentzen crashes while coming onto the pit straight.

The final result of today is Herbert (1:21.188), Michael Schumacher, Villeneuve, Fisichella, Berger and Hakkinen. Jos finally settles on a 16th spot with 1:23.056. Salo ends the day on place 18 with 1:23.483. A complete overview of the times can be found on our season page.

Jos was quite pleased with today's results. Goodyear has further developed their tyres: Jos' car now has less understeer and he is able to steer the car into corners a bit better. Two types of tyres were tested today. The Tyrrell again has got some extra wings. The latest addition in wings are a small pair of wings just in front of the rear wheels.

From the overview on our prize contest it seems that Schumacher is the big favourite this race (7606 points compared to 7183 points for Villeneuve)!! The faith in Jos has risen again and you have granted him an average highest position of 8,16. Besides that all drivers have received points this time. The complete overview can be found on our contest page.