Mclaren

Mika Hakkinen: "Qualifying today was excellent. The engineers and mechanics worked really hard developing the car throughout the session, they did outstanding work making the car quicker and quicker all the time and the last lap was brilliant."

David Coulthard: "I am very happy to have jumped so far forward at the end of the session - so I am feeling very relieved rather than disappointed to be in third position. As a result of my `off` this morning I missed out on a lot of track time which meant I had a lot of work to do to catch up. We worked at this bit by bit and the end result is very satisfying."

Ron Dennis: "Getting pole at Monaco is like winning a Grand Prix. The weekend got off to a bad start but we have pulled everything together and got the right result. Today`s performance was a tremendous achievement from both Mika and David and I am extremely pleased for the whole team. Now we will concentrate on Sunday`s race."

Norbert Haug: "A great result for the whole team. Mika put in an amazing lap to get pole and David got third place just seconds later. This again was proof for me that our drivers do a perfect job even when under pressure. The team adjusted both cars throughout the session which was the base for this improvement at the very end of this Monaco qualifying."

Ferrari

Michael Schumacher: "It was unfortunate that I damaged my car at the end of the morning session as the spare car wasn't quite as good. But the difference between them was very small as we improved it through the session. I was blocked by another car on my third run and on my fourth run I had to slow down at the Tabac corner because of yellow flags, so I could not improve. I am pretty satisfied as the car has worked well all weekend. So I am quite confident for tomorrow's race."

Eddie Irvine: "I made a mistake on my penultimate run but my last one was very good. But not good enough. I was losing time in the first section as I had a lot of understeer though Casino Square. We are much closer to our main competitors and we are running at their pace. Usually, I make very good starts, but on this circuit it is difficult to make up any places as the track is so narrow."

Jean Todt: "It was a great qualifying session. Michael did his best time on his second run, but was slowed on his third by another car. Then on his final run, with Hill stopped on the track and the yellow flags being waved, it was obvious he could not improve and Michael drove a cautious lap. The cars worked well and the team did a good job to get Michael out on the track in the spare car. Eddie also had a good qualifying session to get onto the second row of the grid. The race will be hard and intense, but I think we can get a good result."

Stewart

Rubens Barrichello: "I was pretty content with fourth place for most of the session so to finish fifth is slightly worse than I was hoping for. Still, at the end of the day, to be beaten only be the McLarens and Ferraris again is a good performance by the team. I'm happy with my tyre choice, so if I have a trouble free race I'm looking for a podium finish for the second consecutive race."

Johnny Herbert: "I'm disappointed to end up 13th. My times showed that on my last flying lap I could have clinched eighth spot but I had to back off in the last sector when the yellow flag came out after Damon Hill had his problem. The car felt very good this morning on full tanks so I have to be confident about my chances in the race."

Paul Stewart: "Another great job by the whole team. It's nice to be battling away with the McLarens and Ferraris again. Rubens drove well again to secure a spot in the top five for the third straight race, which shows that we are consistently on the pace of the front runners. Johnny was three tenths up on his previous best lap when he encountered the yellow flags so he wasn't rewarded with the higher place on the grid he certainly deserved. Still, having a lap spoiled like that, is part of the lottery of qualifying at Monaco."

Jordan

Heinz-Harald Frentzen: "I found this a very exciting qualifying session. It was full of incidents, the first of which could have been nasty; I was coming up the hill to the casino and suddenly Pedro de la Rosa was in front of me going extremely slowly. The speed difference was about 200km and had I hit him it would have been bad - we were lucky. On my second run I went straight over the kerbs at the swimming pool. The whole car went up in the air, but I managed to get it back just before hitting the armco. On my last run, I was shifting down in the chicane and for the first time I got my finger stuck between the gear paddle and the monocoque and I could not steer the car properly. I lost a couple of metres and I think I would have made a better time otherwise. Overall though, our performance was good and although I thought I could have been a little quicker, third row of the grid is not bad for tomorrow's race."

Damon Hill: "Qualifying 17th was not what I wanted. There is not much more I want to say about it! My shunt this morning was bad and it meant we lost most of the running time, even though my mechanics did a fantastic job to get me out again on the track for some laps. The Monaco Grand Prix is always a lottery though, so who knows what will happen in the race."

Eddie Jordan: "This place is about building up confidence and if you break that momentum just before qualifying as Damon did with his big shunt at Rascasse, it can be difficult to get it back. I think Damon's result today reflects that. He will have a difficult race tomorrow but we will just have to hope for the best. Heinz-Harald did another good job to qualify on the third row of the grid, so we still have a lot to play for."

Prost

Jarno Trulli: "It is the first time this season that I have gone through a qualifying session without having any technical problems. I am very happy as for the Monaco Grand Prix qualifying is an essential element. I felt very good in the car today and it gave me the chance to give everything. I clocked my best time in being very precise all the way. At the entry to the swimming pool complex, I was almost at the limit of the accelerator....it was very exciting. I truly want to thank the whole team."

Olivier Panis: "In free practice this morning, I had a big understeer problem which the team worked very hard to fix between the two sessions. The car was well balanced for qualifying. Unfortunately, I drove straight on at Ste Devote without stalling, the marshalls did their job in pushing the car quickly for safety reasons, and I rejoined. The sporting regulations are very hard in this case - the loss of the best time in the session. I find this very severe taking into account the risks that the drivers all take in driving, above all at a circuit like Monaco. This judgement clearly upset my qualifying session. In my last run, I succeeded in improving my time in the first two sections, but I was slowed in the final part by a car which had stopped the yellow flags. It is a pity, we could have had both cars in the top ten."

Alain Prost: "The Gauloises Prost Peugeot team can be satisfied in having achieved today our best qualifying position. It is the result of a tremendous effort by the whole team during the last few weeks. Jarno drove beautifully throughout the session, Olivier has had a little less success this afternoon, but both of them are going to fight to bring their cars to the finish."

Bar

Jacques Villeneuve: "I am quite satisfied with eighth place. The car went well, allowed me to push hard and was fun to drive. Unfortunately it is difficult to find the right set up in this circuit and we didn't manage to improve during qualifying and stayed at the same level as (practice) this morning. I think that the race is going to be difficult, but we all know that anything is possible here and we will need to be patient and not make any mistakes, to finish the race."

Mika Salo: "I missed the entire morning session because of a gear selection problem. That affected qualifying because I could not get a good set-up. It's too bad because the car's performance is good. It was just a matter of getting more laps. I am very confident for the race on Sunday because now we have a good set-up."

Craig Pollock: "It has been a very good weekend. Both cars are in one piece, which is an accomplishment in Monaco. The drivers have done a brilliant job and so has the team. We could have had a better qualifying position, but overall I am very satisfied."

Benetton

Giancarlo Fisichella: "We had hoped for better than 9th and 10th place, but we made an important tyre choice for the race and we then decided to make a sacrifice in qualifying. The race is far from compromised as there are three drivers on soft tyres ahead of us and I think the race will be difficult for them."

Alexander Wurz: "Qualifying went OK and I am quite happy with my performance/ On my last flying lap there was a yellow flag so I had to slow down which is a pity as I could have improved my position. It is very close between Giancarlo and me as we are both driving the car on the limit. This can be exciting for driving, but it would be more exciting if we were at the front of the grid."

Pat Symonds: "It was a normal difficult qualifying session at Monaco where we felt that we could have got a little bit more the lap time. We had problems with traffic and yellow flags, but this is a problem that applies to everyone. After trying hard during the morning to run the extra soft tyres we finally decided that we had to sacrifice some of the qualifying potential to get a better race solution for tomorrow."

Williams

Alex Zanardi: "I am reasonably satisfied. Unfortunately the team has qualified in the "hell" of the central part of the Monaco grid. Gaining or losing only a tenth of a second when you are in that position can mean losing or gaining many places. I am disappointed because we could have got something more out of the car but I have to be patient. I am still not driving the car the way I would like. Anyway, every time we go out there, we make a little step forward."

Ralf Schumacher: "I am very disappointed by the 16th position. I expected to be much further up the grid, but we struggled with less grip and therefore could not achieve a better lap. Furthermore, in the last part of the session there were some yellow flags and I could not improve my time. Hopefully, we can set up the car better for the race and do a better job tomorrow."

Patrik Head: "We were fairly happy with the cars this morning but we just didn't seem to have the grip this afternoon; therefore we have very disappointing grid positions. We have a fair amount of homework to do in order to decide what set up we are going to run tomorrow. Anyway, we are not very impressed with ourselves."

Minardi

Luca Badoer: "My car is good balanced for a faster lap now, in comparison with this morning when the set up was still to be found. Generally speaking, I experienced a pretty positive day. And I am confident for tomorrow."

Marc Gene: "I am very disappointed today. In the first incident something happened which is not clear to me, yet. At the chicane my car was out of control and I smashed against the barrier.I think it has been the strongest shunt I experienced so far. I switched to the T-car and I managed to improve my time. Furtherly, I made a mistake and I spun off at the Tabac corner. It was a very unlucky day!"

Cesare Fiorio: "Again the Fondmetal Minardi improved its time in comparison with last year, whereas this year's Pole position has increased by eight tenth. This means that we are more than one second closer to the top of the grid. This is a proof we are going in the right direction."