Summary

Jacques Villeneuve took pole early in the session and only improved. Michael Schumacher was second with the Ferrari. Heinz-Harald Frentzen didn't do well today: he ended up eight. He had problems setting up the car.

Damon Hill is bringing the Arrows to the front of the field with a ninth spot in the grid.

Notes

• Salo's Tyrrell brakes down early in the session.
• Larini spun but could continue after a push from a marshal because he got stuck on a kerbstone.
• Fisichella crashed at high speed but could walk away unhurt. The session was stopped for a couple of minutes to take away the wreck of his car.
• The Arrows team will have a new car engine and electronics at the Spanish Grand Prix in May. Hill was hoping that the new engine would be ready for the San Marino Grand Prix but it will not.
• Alesi and Coulthard ran out of fuel when the session was over.
• All drivers within the 107% rule time.

• Weather during session: Sunny

1. Villeneuve (Williams) 1m 16.004s
2. Schumacher (Ferrari) 1m 16.594s
3. Berger (Benetton) 1m 16.664s
4. Hakkinen (McLaren) 1m 16.692s
5. Panis (Prost) 1m 16.756s
6. Alesi (Benetton) 1m 16.757s
7. Fisichella (Jordan) 1m 16.912s
8. Frentzen (Williams) 1m 16.924s
9. Hill (Arrows) 1m 17.090s
10. R. Schumacher (Jordan) 1m 17.175s
11. Barrichello (Stewart) 1m 17.259s
12. Coulthard (McLaren) 1m 17.262s
13. Herbert (Sauber) 1m 17.409s
14. Irvine (Ferrari) 1m 17.527s
15. Nakano (Prost) 1m 17.999s
16. Diniz (Arrows) 1m 18.095s
17. Trulli (Minardi) 1m 18.336s
18. Katayama (Minardi) 1m 18.557s
19. Larini (Sauber) 1m 18.664s
20. Magnussen (Stewart) 1m 18.773s
21. Verstappen (Tyrrell) 1m 18.885s
22. Salo (Tyrrell) 1m 19.274s

Quotes

• Villeneuve:"My race car went well, but when I switched to the spare car at the end it was set up for Heinz-Harald and not for me. I may have gone a little faster, but there was not much left for me."

• Berger:"It is unbelievably competitive at the moment. I can never remember it being so tight in all my years in Formula One. You can be second one minute and eighth the next, but it is good for the sport and it means there will be a very close race."

• M. Schumacher:"I did not expect to be second and so I am happy. Starting from the front row is certainly a help and in tomorrow's race I will try and defend this position. However, it will be a difficult race for us as it will not be easy to keep the tyres together tomorrow."

• Irvine:"This was not a good day for me and I was not able to 'lean' on the car as it tended to get away from me and the front and the back. We chose the hard tyres, which should put us in a better position for the race. With a heavier fuel load the car works better and this is encouraging for tomorrow, especially if it is very hot."

• Hill:"I feel 500 per cent better than I did in Melbourne. Apart from a small problem we have has three days where everything has run beatutifully. I consider this a major achievement and a truly impressive one. Now I am starting this high I have a chance of finishing high up in the points. We can't think about a win, unless, of course, it rains."

• Salo:"The engine had already misfired a couple of times and then it just cut out on the back straight during my first out lap. The spare car was set up for Jos this weekend, as I had had priority in Australia., and although the handling was not too bad, the gears, the brakes and the throttle settings were all different from my car - it was one of those days. "

• Verstappen:"We had made some progress this morning, but we did not seem to be able to repeat this during qualifying, although each timed lap was quicker than the last. We will analyse the data from the car this evening and pinpoint the reason."