AUGUST 10, 1998

Meanwhile at Silverstone...

BENETTON, Prost, Arrows, Stewart and Tyrrell decided not to bother with the long trip south to Jerez and did their preparation work for the Hungarian GP on the familiar sweeps of Silverstone. Although the weather across the south of Europe has been beautiful in recent days the northern parts of Britain have not been as good although the Silverstone test passed without any rain.

Fastest of the test was Giancarlo Fisichella who completed 170 laps of the track in the course of his three days of running with a best lap of 1m25.913s as he did Bridgestone development work and tried out the new long wheelbase Benetton B198. He lost some time on the first day of the test with clutch problems but was otherwise able to run reliably. Alexander Wurz also ran on all three days of the test, completing a total of 110 laps with a best of 1m26.465s - which was the third fastest time of the test.

The two Benettons were split by Toranosuke Takagi's Tyrrell which turned up on the final day of the test. The car - crashed heavily at Hockenheim - was repaired at the start of the week and Takagi managed to complete 42 untroubled laps on Thursday with a best of 1m26.170s.

Fourth fastest of the test was Prost's Jarno Trulli who ran on all three days, completing a total of 120 laps with a best of 1m26.630s as he developed the front suspension of the Prost and did tire development work for Bridgestone. His team mate Olivier Panis also ran on all three days of the test and managed 100 laps with a best of 1m27.512s.

Stewart Grand Prix turned up for the last two days of the test with Rubens Barrichello running on the Wednesday and JosÊVerstappen on the Thursday. Both drivers completed 32 laps of the track with Barrichello setting a best of 1m27.304s and Verstappen a 1m27.678s.

The TWR Arrows team continued its development program with one car running on all three days. Mika Salo ran the car on the Tuesday, completing 37 laps with a best lap of 1m27.461, while Pedro Diniz did the final two days, running 65 laps (including one off) with a best lap of 1m27.150s.

The Minardi team chose not to do any running but is planning to go to the big test which is due to take place at Monza in the week after the Hungarian GP.