From the verdant Imola parkland, near Bologna, to a dusty, sunbaked hillside 12 miles north of Barcelona, Formula One motor racing treks west to Catalunya this weekend for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Inevitably the main world title protagonists, Mika Hakkinen, David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher are unlikely to make the time to soak up the local Catalan culture or the stunning architecture which characterises the Basque region.

Instead they will be shutting out external distractions as they strive to eke out marginal advantages in speed and time over each other and the rest of the pursuing pack.

From yesterday's practice to tomorrow's warm-up, telemetry readings, listing measurements of the cars' vital functions and performance will be painstakingly pored over, and translated into technical adjustments.

If conventional pit-lane wisdom is proved correct the silver and black McLaren-Mercedes of Hakkinen and Coulthard should maintain their advantage over the tomato-soup red Ferrari of Schumacher. The timing screens at last week's Barcelona test session displayed that continuing ascendancy.

Circuit de Catalunya measures a shade under three miles long and, by virtue of a fairly long start and finish straight, it should generate a dry weather race average speed approaching 125mph.

Also packed into the circuit are a sequence of high speed curves, whose F1 cornering forces would reduce the neck muscles of reasonably fit mortals to blubber. Even Coulthard, fitness freak among fitness freaks, acknowledged that 65 laps round the Spanish track will be ''physically tough.''

Add to this on-board battering traditionally high temperatures and you understand why rival drivers look on in envy at the McLarens. Their more supple chassis and muscular engines make going faster on Sunday afternoon drives less arduous for the Finn and Scot.

Coulthard, wary of Schum-acher's comments that Ferrari will struggle to keep pace, said: ''You can never discount Michael. The Ferraris will be there or thereabouts. Michael has developed the ability to make a great deal out of very little into an art form.''

Two years ago on a streaming wet Barcelona circuit, Schum-acher's virtuosity simply mesmerised the opposition with a rain dance over the puddles to win by a yawning 45-second advantage from Jean Alesi's Benetton.

''I would prefer a dry race,'' said Coulthard, ''not just because rain improves Michael's chances, but dryer races are safer for everyone.'' Imola was dry and hot, conditions which produced the first McLaren retirement this year when Hakkinen's gearbox failed and Coulthard's transmission temperatures climbed uncomfortably high as he kept Schumacher at bay.

Coulthard is also keenly aware that the next race on the calendar after Spain is at Monaco, something of a speciality for the German. Having a points buffer when they race round the houses will be prudent.

If the McLarens disappear into the distance again tomorrow it will be intriguing to see if the pay-back, promised after Coulthard gifted the Australian race to Hakkinen, materialises.

To avoid the wrath of motorsport's FIA governing body the returned compliment will have to be a gift, subtly presented.

It could and should have happened in Brazil, but now that there are just three points between the less than symbiotic team mates, Coulthard is not holding his breath.

Coulthard made his Grand Prix debut in Barcelona four years ago, in the tumult which followed Ayrton Senna's death in a Williams, but claimed the Spanish venue offers no particular poig-nancy despite his graduation to F1.

He said: ''I am not being callous, but I remember being very calm because I had a job to do. I knew the (Williams) team as a test driver. It was another track and another race, even if it was my F1 debut.''

He qualified ninth and ran in the top five before an electronic glitch rendered the transmission inoperative. In the same race team-mate Damon Hill led Williams out of the post-Imola wilderness to win.

When the interview ended Coulthard planned to maintain his own sense of balance on the saddle of a mountain bike, on the two streets near his Monaco flat, to add another layer of stamina come rain or shine in Catalunya.

Hakkinen, meanwhile, roared out a warning to Coulthard yesterday. The Finn swept to the top of the practice standings just a day after Coulthard had vowed to turn up the heat. Hakkinen was eight-tenths-of-a-second quicker than Coulthard.

The McLaren duo again dominated the opening practice sessions to suggest they could storm to another one-two today.

Johnny Herbert finished an impressive third fastest for Sauber - just over a second adrift of Hakkinen - though first day times often prove misleading.

Eddie Irvine made it three Brits in the top four in the Ferrari, though Damon Hill will need a major improvement if he is to score Jordan's first points of the season after finishing fourteenth quickest.

Two-time champion Michael Schumacher was fifth fastest in the other Ferrari, with fellow German Heinz-Harald Frentzen sixth for Williams and team-mate and world champion Jacques Villeneuve eighth.

The Williams duo were split by Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, who brought some much-needed relief to the struggling team headed by three-time drivers' champion Jackie Stewart.

Barrichello was lying twenty-first at one stage before leaping up the standings but it does not get any better for Denmark's Jan Magnussen - his place already under threat - after he finished last having spun into the gravel.

q Know Your Sport - Page 15