Spa-Francorchamps 29th August
Ricardo was 18th fastest during Friday first practice. Then in the afternoon Villeneuve
destroyed his car in a huge crash at Les Combes after the right front suspension collapsed and the team did not allow Ricardo out on the track after that.
Friday 1st practice:
18th, 1:57.717 +3.321
Friday combined practice:
22th, 1:57.717 +4.140
Ricardo lost time at Saturday practice after a spin at the bus stop chicane that made the engine to stall. At qualifying Ricardo was early out to make a lap of 1:53.926. Then Villeneuve had a huge accident at Eau Rouge and the qualifying was red flagged.
"I was shaking my head when I saw Jacques accident and thinking that the guy must be mad to try to go through there flat out. I decided to take a careful approach on my next run because the track was dirty".
Reaching Eau Rouge with a speed of 290 km/h Ricardo's car went over a kerb and went into the air and flipped and went upside down and nose first into the barrier. Then it righted itself and spun some 7 times in a cloud of flying debris. Luckily Ricardo was able to walk away from the crash but the car was totally destroyed with only the monocoque remaining intact. The team re-routed the cars on the way to a Monza test to Spa.
"The accident happened very quickly and I really don't know why. I was adjusting slightly for the corner, I didn't feel any oversteer, but then the back came round so quickly I had no chance to correct it."
Saturday practice:
17th, 1:53.926 +2.879
Qualifying:
14th, 1:52.840 +2.511
Troubles were not yet over for the weekend. Ricardo stalled at the start when the clutch failed and when he finally was able to join the race he was almost a lap down. He was lapped by race leader Coulthard on lap 2 and pitted on lap 21.
On lap 33 3rd gear suddenly disappeared and Ricardo went out in the grass. He returned to the track and drove slowly back into the pit to retire.
Warmup:
22th, 1:58.442 +4.423
Race:
19th on lap 33 gearbox
FL:
Winner: David Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes)