Monza 12th September
Once again there were technical problems, this time with the brakes, and Ricardo had great troubles finding
a decent set up.
"This morning the rear of the car was very nervous under braking, and also under acceleration on the exits to the corners, plus the brakes were overheating, so it was difficult to start with. This afternoon we made some changes which probably went a little too far the other way, because that gave me too much understeer. I think for Saturday we will go back a little on this afternoon's settings, and then I am sure I will be able to move closer to Jacques."
Friday 1st practice:
?
Combined practice
19th 1:26.181 +1.674, 29 laps
Ricardo only managed to do eight laps during Saturday first free practice due to a fuel pump failure.Overnight changes to the car had improved the handling to "fairly good" even if it still oversteered.During qualifying Ricardo did laps of 1:25.955, 1:25.332, 1:25.114 and then failed to improve on the last attempt.
"We made some small changes between each run during qualifying and I was able to improve each time.Unfortunately my last run was spoiled when I went wide on the dirt at one of the chicanes, and then
I came up behind one of the Jordans on a slowing lap."
Saturday practice:
20th, 1:25.761 +2.619, 8 laps
Qualifying:
18th, 1:25.114 +2.682, 12 laps
At the start Ricardo managed to avoid the accidents involving Gene (Minardi), Fisichella (Benetton) and Diniz (Sauber)and on lap 2 he was up to 15th position behind Panis (Prost). On lap 10 Ricardo had to let Herbert (Stewart) by but he kept his position as Wurz (Benetton) was falling back with electronics problems. On lap 16-17 Ricardo gained two positions as the Prost duo who had started off on light fuel load pitted. Then on lap 27 white flags were waved as Ricardo came slowly back to the pits suffering from a bad vibration in the right front tyre. The mechanics were unable to cure the problem and Ricardo was sent out again but he parked the car up in the grass on the next lap.
"I moved up a place at the start and everything seemed to be going well and I had no problems with the car. Then at about half distance, I started to get a vibration in the front wheels and the brakes felt very spongy. The team decided to bring me in for an early pit stop and to check the car, but they couldn't find a problem so they sent me out again. I could tell immediately there was no difference, and was forced to stop on the next lap."
Pollock:
"I am very sorry that Ricardo had to retire, as he was running as quickly as Jacques, and could have finished well."
Warm up:
12th, 1:26.704 +1.307, 12 laps
Race:
DNF on lap 26 Wheel bearing/Front suspension
FL: 1:26.945 on lap 24 (15th, +1.634)
Winner: Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Jordan-Honda