By Huw Alban
April 29 2002

A small spin into the gravel ruined Enrique Bernoldis strong show of form in free practice in Malaysia today. At the start of the session the Brazilian was placed 4th, but his resultant reduced track time dropped him down the order to 15th. Frentzen continued to bob into the top 6, but finished 13th The team managed to recover Enrique Bernoldi's grass bound A23 in time for the second free practice session. It transpired that an engine software problem had stopped his car in the first session, but the team were confident that they had solved the issue.

The session was largely dominated at the start by the retirement of Mark Webber's Minardi in a cloud of smoke, the improvement of Jaguar's Pedro de la Rosa to 10th position, and the fastest lap set by McLaren's Kimi Raikonen.

A little over half way into the session, Enrique Bernoldi's strong progress is spoiled by a spin into the gravel at turn 13 ending his day. Heinz-Harald Frentzen continues to progress and for the second time this weekend moves his A23 up into the top 6. Jaguar's Pedro de la Rosa also continues to improve taking 7th spot, just behind Frentzen.

The last ten minutes of the session saw a good tussle for the top spots between Juan Pablo Montoya, David Coulthard and Kimi Raikonnen. During the scrap for the quicker times, Pedro de la Rosa's time comes to a dramatic end with smoke pouring from the back of his Jaguar R3.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen ended free practice in 13th position just behind the improving Jaguar of Pedro de la Rosa. Enrique Bernoldi's early spin in the session hides the massive progress being made by the Brazilian. His reduced track time push him down the order to 15th.

Despite the lower time sheet positions, this is still a competitive show from the team and a vast improvement on the 2001 performance. The team have not suffered many technical problems which is very encouraging in these hot difficult conditions.