Summary

Jacques Villeneuve dominated the qualifying session of today. He was constantly improving his time and he was the only driver in the 1m 38 with a 1m 38.909s. Damon Hill, who just needs a top six finish to be absolutely sure of the drivers championship title, could not keep up with the pace of the front runners until the last minute of the session when he improved 1,2 seconds on his previous best time, 1m 39.370s. Michael Schumacher was third with a 1m 40.071s.

Notes

• The mechanics of Damon Hill are wearing caps with the same design as the London rowing club, like Hill's helmet, to show their support.
• Herbert wrecked his Sauber when on the exit of a corner he lost control and slammed into the iron fence five minutes into the session. The session was then stopped and started again fifteen minutes later when the remains of Herbert's car were removed. He commented: "I just ran a bit wide, it was kind of damp there, so I lost control."
• There were puffs of smoke coming from Villeneuve's Williams, but this didn't slow him down.
• Diniz spins of the track the same was Herbert did, but he could still park his car beside the track, but was unable to continue in it.
• Coulthard spins off and stalls the engine.
• Hill enters the pit when he had set his fastest time out of gas.
• Lavaggi did not qualify because of the 107% rule.
• Berger was fined 5000 dollars because he exceeded the speed limit in the pits. Coulthard received twice this amount because he did it two times. The speed limit is a problem in Suzuka because there is no slow chicane before crossing the line into the pits, you can easily enter the pits in third gear and then the speed limiter does not work.

• Weather during session
  • Overcast
  • Dry
  • No wind
  • Warm

1. J. Villeneuve 1m 38.909s
2. D. Hill 1m 39.370s
3. M. Schumacher 1m 40.071s
4. G. Berger 1m 40.364s
5. M. Hakkinen 1m 40.458s
6. E. Irvine 1m 41.005s
7. H.H. Frentzen 1m 41.277s
8. D. Coulthard 1m 41.384s
9. J. Alesi 1m 41.562s
10. M. Brundle 1m 41.660s

Quotes

Villeneuve: "It's a pretty difficult track to overtake on and if we can have a good start and stay in front that's really a good part of the job done. (...) The track was very slippery, but the whole team did a great job and the car was very strong today."

Hill: "I have done exactly what I wanted to do and that it to get the car on the front row of the grid, and that's good enough for me. Everything has been going well over the last two days. I even have a good chance of beating Jacques into the first corner."

Hill on his tactics for the race:: "The best form of defence is still attack so I will be looking forward for a good race tomorrow."

Schumacher: "A fair result which I am happy with. I had to give up on my last attempt because during my "out" lap I felt something was wrong with the engine. This did not affect my starting position because, at the very most, I could only have improved my time by a few tenths. Nevertheless the car is quite good and I think I know what to do to improve it for the race. My objective, as always, is to get the best possible result. The rest doesn't concern me."