Summary

Jacques Villeneuve has taken the first pole of the season in a way that shows that the Williams car is still by far the car to beat. The Canadian took pole early in the session and only improved. Heinz-Harald Frentzen could not set the pace like Villeneuve did and just managed a quick lap at the end of the session getting him second on the grid.

Damon Hill had a though time getting in the race at all. He suffered gearbox problems in the morning free session, which ended after just nine laps. During qualifying he could not get the Arrows car in until his last flying laps. It was clear that Hill wrestled the Arrows on the grid.

The winners of today are: Herbert 7th spot, Panis 9th and Barrichello in the Stewart-Ford (11th).

The losers of today are the new Lola-Ford team who came in miles behind everyone else.

Notes

• Hill doesn't get his Arrows race car ready because of technical difficulties. He uses the T car but it is not set up right.
• Herbert spins off but keeps the car running.
• Larini spins off and hits the wall: damage to the left rear side of his Sauber-Petronas.
• Berger's Benetton comes to a halt. The session is stopped two minutes before the flag. The session continues after a couple of minutes.
• Panis spins and in his affort to get out of the way as fast as possible he almost hits a Minardi.
• Michael Schumacher comes to a halt after running out of fuel when the session was already over.
• Ralf Schumacher spins off and doesn't return his steering wheel which results in a 5000 dollar fine.
• Diniz, Sospiri and Rosset fail to qualify.

• Weather during sessions: Sunny and warm (24 degrees).

1. Villeneuve (Williams) 1m 29.369s
2. Frentzen (Williams) 1m 31.123s
3. Schumacher (Ferrari) 1m 31.472s
4. Coulthard (McLaren) 1m 31.531s
5. Irvine (Ferrari) 1m 31.881s
6. Hakkinen (McLaren) 1m 31.971s
7. Herbert (Sauber) 1m 32.287s
8. Alesi (Benetton) 1m 32.593s
9. Panis (Prost) 1m 32.842s
10. Berger (Benetton) 1m 32.870s
11. Barrichello (Stewart) 1m 33.075s
12. R. Schumacher (Jordan) 1m 33.130s
13. Larini (Sauber) 1m 33.327s
14. Fisichella (Jordan) 1m 33.552s
15. Katayama (Minardi) 1m 33.798s
16. Nakano (Prost) 1m 33.989s
17. Trulli (Minardi) 1m 34.120s
18. Salo (Tyrrell) 1m 34.229
19. Magnussen (Stewart) 1m 34.623s
20. Hill (Arrows) 1m 34.806s
21. Verstappen (Tyrrell) 1m 34.943s
    • 107 % rule time: 1m 35.625

22. Diniz (Arrows) 1m 35.972s
23. Sospiri (Lola) 1m 40.972s
24. Rosset (Lola) 1m 42.086s

Quotes

• Hill on his quantifying spot: "I feel it is more disappointing than embarrassing. I feel I am a front row driver and I feel a bit uncomfortable about being on the 20th row on the grid.

  Villeneuve's reaction to Hill grid position: "I thought of Damon. He was my team-mate and he is the champion. He is not one of those guys who are five laps behind everyone else all the time and should not be there. It is difficult for me to see him back there."

  Schumacher on Hill: "Yes, I do feel sorry for him. I thought of him this morning when I looked and saw where he was and when his car stopped. I felt sorry."

• Schumacher: "I am quite happy. Third place is a little bit better than I expected. It is quite close between us and McLaren so I am looking forward to a good race tomorrow. However, looking at the gap between the two Williams, almost two seconds a lap, I will expect Villeneuve to disappear into the distance tomorrow and I will be fighting for a place on the podium. On the last lap I stopped on the track when I ran out of fuel."

• Irvine: "I was struggling on my first two runs and it felt as though I was driving on ice. Then I switched to Michael's settings and found a lot more grip. On my first run with those settings I made a few mistakes, then on my final run I did not push too hard and it all came together a bit better. I am still not sure why I had no grip at first, but I am happy to be fifth ad, up until that point I had been struggling."

• Salo: "Obviously I am unhappy with the grid position. I struggled to find any grip on the circuit at all, although the set up of the car was much better than this morning. It is not the best qualifying session of my career."

• Verstappen: "I'm not happy at all at being on the back of the grid. The handling of the car was better at the end of the session, but the red flag came out when I was on my last flying lap. We lost grip this afternoon and I hope it will be better in the race."

• Ralf Schumacher was not very happy with his result: "I don't understand what was wrong. The car was totally different. The slow corners were especially hard."