Hakkinen takes 100th pole for McLaren

Mika Hakkinen scored his eighth pole of the season and an historic 100th for the McLaren team by just 500ths of a second, a margin which he reckoned he could have made larger but for dirt on the circuit on his second run. " Somebody must have gone off because there was dirt all over the track on the second to last corner and there was no grip at all," said Hakkinen. David Coulthard ended up third fastest after a troubled session. He had to use the spare car for two runs when his race car threw a tread from a rear tyre and damaged the bodywork. He went back to the race car for a final run, but then found traffic.

Frentzen on the front row at home

"I am delighted to have been on the front row for my home race. We tried a new qualifying engine for the first time here and found a very good set-up for the car. All that helped get my first front row here," said Frentzen after taking second fastest time for Jordan. Damon Hill set a quick first run which was good enough for an eventual eighth place, but failed to improve on that when he made a mistake on his second run, hit debris on his third run and traffic on his last attempt.

Salo heads Irvine for Ferrari

After going off on his first rune, Eddie Irvine made changes to his Marlboro-Ferrari's set-up which didn't work as he had hoped. By the time he made a final change he found himself held up in slower traffic which spoiled any chance of bettering fifth place on the grid.

"The brake balance wasn't perfect and I had a lot of traffic which did me no favours. In terms of lap times we are closer than we were in Austria, but we did not get the most out of our car to-day," said Irvine. However, Mika Salo got a clean run nine minutes from the end of the session and took the fourth fastest time for Scuderia-Marlboro-Ferrari , the Finn delighted with his progress throughout the weekend and hoping for a strong race. "Fourth is good and I am hoping to do better tomorrow," says Salo.

Barrichello shares third row with Irvine

Rubens Barrichello was happy to be on the third row of the grid with Eddie Irvine, the Stewart team using a Series 4 development engine for qualifying, but will revert to a series 3 for the race. "It was a car that had the potential to be fourth , so I am optimistic for the race," said Barrichello.

Herbert was disappointed 17th overall, the Englishman suffering from his lack of laps this morning following his accident which also left him with a sore thumb.

Panis seventh for Prost

After removing downforce from his car, Olivier Panis improved his time to seventh fastest overall, his team-mate Trulli only ninth fastest to-day after his race car blew up, he switched to his T-car a then had further engine problems with that.

In brief....

Giancarlo Fisichella ended up a frustrated tenth quickest. He went off on his second run and knocked the front wing off his Benetton. He was so frustrated with traffic on his final run that he went off again and stopped out on the track. Villeneuve had to use his spare car when his race chassis had an engine problem. Zonta was unhappy with his car's set-up and went off at the Sachscurve. Gene was delighted with his 15th place for Minardi, the best for the team since 3 years.

Pos  Driver        Team                 Time                   
 1.  Hakkinen      McLaren Mercedes     1:42.950   238.590 kmph
 2.  Frentzen      Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:43.000   + 0.050     
 3.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes     1:43.288   + 0.338     
 4.  Salo          Ferrari              1:43.577   + 0.627     
 5.  Irvine        Ferrari              1:43.769   + 0.819     
 6.  Barrichello   Stewart Ford         1:43.938   + 0.988     
 7.  Panis         Prost Peugeot        1:43.979   + 1.029     
 8.  Hill          Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:44.001   + 1.051     
 9.  Trulli        Prost Peugeot        1:44.209   + 1.259     
10.  Fisichella    Benetton Playlife    1:44.338   + 1.388     
11.  R.Schumacher  Williams Supertec    1:44.468   + 1.518     
12.  Villeneuve    BAR Supertec         1:44.508   + 1.558     
13.  Wurz          Benetton Playlife    1:44.522   + 1.572     
14.  Zanardi       Williams Supertec    1:45.034   + 2.084     
15.  Gene          Minardi Ford         1:45.331   + 2.381     
16.  Diniz         Sauber Petronas      1:45.335   + 2.385     
17.  Herbert       Stewart Ford         1:45.454   + 2.504     
18.  Zonta         BAR Supertec         1:45.460   + 2.510     
19.  Badoer        Minardi Ford         1:45.917   + 2.967     
20.  de la Rosa    Arrows TWR           1:45.935   + 2.985     
21.  Alesi         Sauber Petronas      1:45.962   + 3.012     
22.  Takagi        Arrows TWR           1:46.209   + 3.259     

All timing unofficial