Enrique 6th

Trackside commentary was expecting a lot of action today, as the track (which is only used once a year) would be very dusty and the weather forecasters were predicting rain for the second session. In addition, the teams have found in the past that the downforce levels required for a competitive qualifying and the race are quite different so running time will be of great importance to them. The only other pre-session item worth noting is that both Bridgestone and Michelin have brought extra soft tyre compounds to the Austrian Grand Prix in order to cope with the smooth track surface here.

The 1st session got under way in bright and sunny conditions, with Minardi's Mark Webber the first out. The majority of the grid, including OrangeArrows, got their installation laps completed within the first 5 minutes.

The team then had a relatively quiet first session completing a total of 25 laps in all. Enrique Bernoldi immediately impressed setting the quickest time on his first flying run in the 20th minute. By comparison Heinz-Harald Frentzen looked to be struggling in the early part of the session, lining up 10th after his first run which rapidly became 17th in the improving pack.

At the half way point Enrique was 11th fastest after 11 laps, and Heinz-Harald 17th after 4 laps and at the time both cars were still in the garage. Enrique came back out for a last run in the 36th minute and managed to improve to 7th. He was joined by Heinz-Harald, who put in two further runs, the first taking him to 15th. In his second and last run Frentzen suddenly found some form and moved up to 11th and then 7th fastest.

Because of a lack of track time late in this session Enrique Bernoldi ended the first practice session in 16th, with team mate Frentzen slipping a place to 8th.

Despite dark clouds threatening the end of the first session, the second got started under dry conditions. Heinz-Harald was the first Arrows driver on circuit, and made an immediate improvment moving up to 4th. Enrique wasn't far behind, pinching the position from Frentzen 10 minutes later.

The rest of the second session became distinctly incident packed for Heinz-Harald starting with a trip through the gravel at the Remus curve. Frentzen nearly spun his A23 in trying to get back onto the circuit, and in doing so collected an awful lot gravel in his sidepods. Trackside observers commented that his A23 spread the all over the track every time he braked after the incident. The German then spun again at the last corner, sliding backwards across the grass. He must have recovered from there as he then set the 11th fastest time in the 41st minute. Frentzen's A23 then sat in the Arrows garage, with mechanics swarming all over it, until the last minutes of the session. Unfortunately whatever issue the team were working on didn't improve Frentzen's car as he spun off again on his very first lap.

In contrast Enrique Bernoldi had an incident free session, moving up to 5th by half way through the session. A wide moment at the 1st turn in the dying minutes of the session was Enrique's only excitement, and he finished the Friday practices in a well deserved 6th fastest position. Frentzen's antics dropped him down the order to a slightly disappointing 13th.

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