Hungaroring 15th August
Ricardo Zonta worked hard to find a decent balance on the car in the slippery conditions. He finished 17th fastest but at least there had been no major mechanical problems this time.
"I started this morning with the same basic setup as Jacques, and we tried the different compound tyres to see which was better. In the afternoon we stayed on the same tyres as first practice and concentrated on working on the settings for Saturday. The track was very slippery this afternoon but apart from that, no problems."
Friday 1st practice:
14th, 1:22.731 +2.598
Friday combined practice:
17th, 1:22.290 +2.814, 39 laps
Ricardo was 16th in free practice after having touched a tyre wall. During qualifying he did times of 1:21.515, 1:21.318, 1:20.060, and then failed to improve on his last attempt. Ricardo still found it very difficult to get a set-up to his liking.
"The car was fine mechanically and we managed to do a lot of laps, so I feel I should be higher up the grid. This morning the balance of the car seemed quite good, but in qualifying I was losing speed in the second sector."
Saturday practice:
16th, 1:20.152 +1.933, 31 laps
Qualifying:
17th, 1:20.060 +1.904, 12 laps
Ricardo gained a few positions at the start and followed Villeneuve for the first laps in 14th position. He climbed to 13th when Diniz (Sauber) spun off on lap 19 and he gained another position when Villenueve pitted on lap 23. On lap 29 Ricardo came in for the first of two planned pit stops but the refueling hose failed to work and Ricardo had to return to the pit for refueling 4 laps later, rejoining 17th, a lap behind leader Häkkinen (McLaren). Ricardo passed Badoer (Minardi) when the latter made his pit stop and gained another position when Villeneuve retired with clutch problems. Ricardo made his final pit stop on lap 60 rejoining in 14th position and he started chasing Salo (Ferrari). Then an overheating engine forced him to back off in order to make sure of the finish and he took the flag in 13th position after Alesi (Sauber) had run out of fuel.
"The race was OK and the car performed well. I was catching Mika Salo in the Ferrari at the end but the team told me to drop the revs because of the high engine temperature. It's a shame about the extra pit stop because maybe I could have finished in the top 10."
Warmup:
17th, 1:22.889 +2.469, 11 laps
Race:
13th, -2 laps
FL: 1:21.343 on lap 32 (7th, +0.644)
Winner: Mika Häkkinen (McLaren-Mercedes)