Hakkinen makes it three out of three

After a thrilling battle with his own team-mate David Coulthard, McLaren-Mercedes' Mika Hakkinen took his third pole in three races at Imola, the 13th pole position of his career.

Only two hundredth's of a second separated the two drivers for the pole at the end of the session, Hakkinen saying later that it had been very difficult. "Its not an easy track to get a fast time. You have to be very aggressive, but also very smooth. I could have gone a bit quicker, but on my final run I pushed too hard in the first part of the lap and the front tyres went off," said Mika. Coulthard also felt he could have had the pole, but said that his best lap was spoiled by Salo's BAR.

Mixed feeling for Michael

"Obviously I am happy to be so close to the McLarens after the gap in Brazil," said Michael Schumacher who put his Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro car just 15/100th's of a second away from the McLarens. "But I am also disappointed with myself as it was not a perfect run. If I had got everything right as I should have done it could have put me on the pole," he added, having slid wide on one corner pushing too hard on his final run.

"I am optimistic for the race which is always a different story with race tactics and pit stops." Eddie Irvine's qualifying was upset twice by yellow flags, but he admitted that it would have been hard to improve his grid position even though he could have improved his time which was almost half a second behind Schumacher's.

Impressive fifth fastest for Villeneuve

Jacques Villeneuve was very happy with fifth place on the grid for the BAR team, but Mika Salo was back in 19th place with the other car, the Finn only getting one flying lap because of hydraulic problems with his race car which forced him into Villeneuve's spare car that was not set up to his liking.

Barrichello reaches his target

"We reached out target which was a place in the top six," said Rubens Barrichello," who said he had managed to improve his car's turn-in problems from this morning. "I could have perhaps improved one place but I hit a kerb hard and was slowed by another car," said Rubens. Johnny Herbert was disappointed not to be able to do the same times he had set in the morning which left him twelfth on the grid.

Jordan share the fourth row

Frentzen and Hill took the fourth row of the grid, Frentzen's qualifying spoiled by a broken push-rod which cost him a set of tyres."The car feels good and I think we can do well tomorrow," predicted Frentzen. Hill was also happy with the balance of his car, but spoiled his chances of a third row place when he made a mistake and slid wide through a gravel trap on his last run.

In brief...

Panis did well to take 11th place for Prost after an engine failure on his first run forced him to use the spare chassis to set his time. Trulli was back fourteenth place, his car stopping out of the track with an electrical problem. Both the Sauber drivers were disappointed with 13th and 15th on the grid for Alesi and Diniz respectively, neither driver able to get the set-up of their cars to their liking.

San Marino Qualifying Times

Pos Driver        NAT  Team                 Time                  
 1  Hakkinen      FIN  Mclaren Mercedes     1'26"362   205.507 Km/H
 2  Coulthard     GBR  Mclaren Mercedes     1'26"384   + 0'00"022  
 3  M.Schum'      GER  Ferrari              1'26"538   + 0'00"176  
 4  Irvine        GBR  Ferrari              1'26"993   + 0'00"631  
 5  Villeneuve    CAN  BAR Supertec         1'27"313   + 0'00"951  
 6  Barrichello   BRA  Stewart Ford         1'27"409   + 0'01"047  
 7  Frentzen      GER  Jordan Mugen-Hond    1'27"613   + 0'01"251  
 8  Hill          GBR  Jordan Mugen-Hond    1'27"708   + 0'01"346  
 9  R.Schum'      GER  Williams Supertec    1'27"770   + 0'01"408  
10  Zanardi       ITA  Williams Supertec    1'28"142   + 0'01"780  
11  Panis         FRA  Prost Peugeot        1'28"205   + 0'01"843  
12  Herbert       GBR  Stewart Ford         1'28"246   + 0'01"884  
13  Alesi         FRA  Sauber Petronas      1'28"253   + 0'01"891  
14  Trulli        ITA  Prost Peugeot        1'28"403   + 0'02"041  
15  Diniz         BRA  Sauber Petronas      1'28"599   + 0'02"237  
16  Fisichella    ITA  Benetton Playlife    1'28"750   + 0'02"388  
17  Wurz          AUT  Benetton Playlife    1'28"765   + 0'02"403  
18  De La Rosa    SPN  Arrows TWR           1'29"293   + 0'02"931  
19  Salo          FIN  BAR Supertec         1'29"451   + 0'03"089  
20  Takagi        JPN  Arrows TWR           1'29"656   + 0'03"294  
21  Gene          SPN  Minardi Ford         1'30"035   + 0'03"673  
22  Badoer        ITA  Minardi Ford         1'30"945   + 0'04"583  

Weather: dry, sunny. 

All timing unofficial