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2000 Japanese GP News 
6 - 8 October  2000  

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Japanese GP Practice timed results
Japanese GP Qualifying and Race timed results

Japanese Grand Prix Friday Practice Sessions

First Practice Session:

Michael Schumacher sets the fastest time of the session ahead of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard. Rubens Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella make the top 6.

All the drivers went out early which is unusual for Friday practice. The BAR team topped the timesheets early in the session with Jacques Villeneuve setting fastest times early in the session. Once the McLaren's and Ferrari's were out though, they occupied the first 4 spots almost immediately. The fastest time changed between the 4 drivers in the last 30 minutes of the session more than 8 times and Michael Schumacher ended up fastest of all and almost half a second ahead of Hakkinen. Coulthard is over a second slower than Schumacher while Barrichello is over 1.5 seconds behind his team-mate. Barrichello spun out on his last run so he may have improved his time.

Nick Heidfeld and Jenson Button did the most number of laps with 17 (they are both learning the track in a Formula 1 car) while Zonta and Villeneuve both did 16 laps each. Alexander Wurz had problems with his car and only managed 3 laps. Most drivers completed between 8 and 12 laps each.

Michael Schumacher's time is just over a second slower than the pole time set here last year and there are 3 more sessions to go before qualifying even starts!

An interesting start to the weekend!

Click here for the history of the session
Click here for the timed results

 Second Practice Session:

Michael Schumacher continued his dominance during the second session setting the fastest time of the day and the only driver to go under the 1:38 mark. Schumacher's time is just 0.268 seconds off the pole position time of last year.

Mika Hakkinen was second 0.611 seconds behind Schumacher while Rubens Barrichello was 3rd 0.809 seconds behind Schumacher. David Coulthard is in 4th place over a second off the pace followed by Button and Trulli.

Midway through the session, the area was hit by an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale at it's epicentre in the city of Kobe 150 km away. The quake registered 7.1 at Suzuka and everyone at the track felt the vibration but no damage was reported and the session continued normally.
Apart from the earthquake, no major problems during the session. Mazzacane had another problem and had to stop on the track after completing just one lap. Jean Alesi slowed down suffering a problem but managed to get back to the pits while Jacques Villeneuve spun on his final run and stopped on the track forcing a yellow flag situation.

Ricardo Zonta managed to complete the most number of laps this session with 21 while Fisichella, Heidfeld and Button all did 20 laps each. Gaston Mazzacane only completed one lap as he stopped on the track while Alexander Wurz managed 7 laps in the last 15 minutes of the session. Most drivers completed between 15 and 19 laps.
Jenson Button, Ricardo Zonta and Nick Heidfeld did the most laps in both sessions with 37 laps each.

Just over 1.5 seconds separate the top 6 and over 2 seconds separate the top 10. If the gaps don't shrink, a lot of cars will be lapped on race day !

Click here for the history of the session
Click here for the timed results
Saturday Practice and Qualifying Reports
Race Report
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