Imola, 9 April
It was Ricardo's first visit to Imola but he adopted fast to the track even if he found the curbs hard for the car.He put in 37 laps and spent most of the day setting up the chassis for the race.
Villeneuve had a lot of problems including an engine and gearbox change.
"My lap times were quite good in the morning and we particularly improved in the slow corners. I'm reasonably happy with the balance of the car, but on my fastest lap today I made a mistake that cost six-tenths of a second, so we should have finished higher up the time
sheets."
Friday 1st practice: 13th, 1:29.713
Friday combined practice: 17th, 1:29.097, 37 laps
On Saturday it was Ricardo's turn to need an engine change between the practice sessions.
Qualifying times of 1.27.761, 1:27.408 & 1:26.814 gave him a 14th position on the grid.
"I would have liked to have qualified higher, but we lost quite a lot of practice time this morning when we had to stop for an engine change. Also, we weren't able to do a back-to-back tyre comparison and my engineer, Dave Lloyd, and I had to make a guess as to which of the Bridgestone tyre compounds to use. In the end, the car felt well balanced so I think we made the right decision."
Saturday practice: 20th, 1:27.791, 15 laps
Qualifying: 14th, 1:26.814, 11 laps
Ricardo made a good start and then unfortunately moved to the center of the track which gave Verstappen (Arrows) an opportunity to pass. However Zonta passed de la Rosa (Arrows) and Wurz (Benetton) and after some racing side by side also Diniz (Sauber) so Ricardo was 12th after the first lap. Ricardo gained a position when Frentzen (Jordan) retired on lap 4 and another when Verstappen in front of him made a pit stop on lap 11. On lap 24 Ricardo went wide entering Tamburello and Diniz went by. As the pit stops started Ricardo moved up to 6th before he made his own stop on lap 29, falling back to 10th. He continued behind Irvine (Jaguar) but on lap 38 Ricardo hit the kerb in Villeneuve curve and did a 360° right spin. Ricardo rallied immediately but once again Diniz got a position for free and Wurz also managed to get by but the latter went for a pit stop on the next lap. Ricardo made his second stop in 10th position on lap 45 dropping down to 14th. He then suffered an engine problem and had to back up but still gained two positions when de la Rosa and Trulli (Jordan) retired so Ricardo's final position was a disappointing 12th.
Warmup: 15th, 1:28.929, 12 laps
Race: 12th, -1 lap
FL: 1:28.787 on lap 28 (+2.264, 10th)
Winner: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari)