McLaren

Mika Hakkinen: It was a good qualifying session and I enjoyed it. However, I think I could have done better. Things on my second to last run were going exceptionally well until the second to last corner, when I arrived there I found a lot of dust on the circuit and I lost three tenths of a second at that point. But I am still on pole and that is the most important thing."

David Coulthard: "I was on the in-lap of my first run and just between the first and second chicanes when the tread came off the tyre which was a rather attention grabbing moment because when the tread flies off it makes the tyre act in a funny way. I thought I had broken the suspension but that was not the case, it did however, cause some damage to the car and as a result I used the T car for my second run. My mechanics did a great job in fixing the car and I was able to use it for the remainder of the session."

Ron Dennis: "A very close qualifying session. Neither of the drivers had optimum laps and David's performance was significantly hampered by a tyre related problem. This saw him take the T car for one of his qualifying runs. A normal and very traditional end of practice with city centre style congestion, but we are now looking forward to the race."

Norbert Haug: "A very close qualifying. Mika finally made it his eighth pole this year. David has a good base by being third, closer to his team mate than he was last year."

Jordan

Heinz-Harald Frentzen: "I am very happy to have qualified second. My dream has always been to be quick at Hockenheim and for the first time I am on the front row, so I am delighted. I said earlier this week that I expected us to be more competitive here than in Zeltweg, and this has been the case. The team did a superb job - they helped me to find the right set-up and they have made a lot of improvements to the car. It is great to be so close to the McLarens and be in a position to fight for pole. The new engine from Mugen-Honda has been a big help. The reaction from the crowds gave me a really good feeling."

Eddie Jordan: "This was a great result and a fantastic performance by Heinz who has shown his home fans that he is a top class driver. He has been driving superbly all year and to be five hundredths off the pole position time shows what a good job he did. The new engine we ran today in qualifying made a big difference and gave us the extra horsepower to place us on the front row of the starting grid. It gives us the opportunity to fight more in the race with McLaren and Ferrari. Damon was unlucky not to finish higher, but has a good chance of winning points tomorrow."

Ferrari

Mika Salo: "I am not surprised at my performance as I am more comfortable with the car now. I am happy that we made progress throughout the weekend. I did not make any mistakes and I got what I wanted. I still have more to learn so I think there is more to come in terms of performance. The combination of me and the car is still not perfect, but I am getting closer all the time. The braking is unbelievably good on this car. Our new aero package has helped the straight line speed. On my last run I had backed off for yellow flags and then I tried to brake very late, but it was too late and I went off! Fourth is good and I hope to do better tomorrow."

Eddie Irvine: "At least it is better to be fifth than fourth, as the outside of the track is a big advantage here. We went the wrong way with a set-up change in the middle of the session and there was no time to change it back again for my last two runs. I had a lot of traffic on my final run, which obviously did me no favours. In terms of lap time, we are closer to the front than in Austria, but we did not get the best out of the car today. We must have a good look at our qualifying performance for future races. Once again the brake balance was not perfect. But we will not have this problem in race trim. Tomorrow, if I make a good start then I can catch the front two very quickly. The rest will depend on strategy."

Jean Todt: "It was a shame for Eddie, who for various reasons, was unable to get a single perfect lap. Salo did a good job to get on the second row of the grid. Given that our cars are better in race trim than in qualifying, I think we should see an open race tomorrow. With these high temperatures, strategy, tyres and brakes will be determining factors."

Stewart

Rubens Barrichello: "I have kept up my average for the year. My target was the second row but I guess we didn't improve as much as our rivals in the afternoon. After this morning I was expecting to be closer to the front. The car has run well on heavy fuel loads so I think we're in good shape for the race. It's a long race so anything can happen."

Johnny Herbert: "In the first practice I was just about to start my first timed lap when I had to stop with an electrical problem. Then I had a rear wing failure in the second session and went off the circuit. There was some damage to the car and I also hurt my thumb. As a result was playing 'catch up' during qualifying and was unable to clock a good time. I haven't even thought about race strategy yet, but starting from 17th is going to make things tough for me. I have only got 30 minutes tomorrow morning, probably just 10 laps, to get the car in some sort of race trim."

Paul Stewart, Chief Operating Officer: "We're pleased that Rubens is on the third row. Had he not encountered traffic on his final run there was the prospect of a higher qualifying position. Johnny's lowly starting position is all down to the problems he had this morning which were not of his own making."

Jac Nasser, CEO & President, Ford Motor Company: "It's fabulous to be at a Grand Prix again, and I'm certainly planning to spend more time at Formula One races in the future. We're satisfied with Rubens' qualifying position, although I know he was hoping for a top four grid spot. Johnny has had more bad luck - the poor guy really is due for a change in fortune. We ran the new Series 4 Ford Cosworth CR-1 engine for the first time in qualifying, and Rubens reported a useful improvement in power and driveability."

Williams

Ralf Schumacher: "I must say that here at Hockenheim the complete package of our FW21 is not as competitive as it normally should be. Today I had some problems with my car, especially with the braking area and also coming into the corners. To fix this, we decided to use more wing, which eventually meant that we lost too much speed on the long straight. The Winfield WilliamsF1 team will work very hard tonight to find a good set up for tomorrow's race and I hope that together we can do a better job."

Alex Zanardi: "It was a reasonably good qualifying session, mostly because we made more improvement to the car than we could do this morning. It was a shame that we miscalculated on the last lap and went out of the garage at the wrong moment. I found a lot of traffic out on the track and I am sure I could have been even half a second faster."

Patrick Head, Technical Director: "I think that both drivers made the best of the car. Unfortunately, in this case I didn't help Ralf on his third run because I thought I was speaking to Alex on the radio but in fact I was on the wrong channel. I was actually talking to Ralf when he came into the Stadium section. Anyway, I think he recovered on his last lap and probably did about the time he would have done on his third run. I think the car is not as efficient as it should be to be competitive with such low downforce but anyway, it's a long race tomorrow and we will try to make a good job of it."

BAR

Jacques Villeneuve: "We know we're not among the fastest on the track, but today we didn't show our true colours. My race car was losing power, the spare has a very different set-up, but when I came back from the installation lap the officials decided to weigh me even though there was only about 10 minutes to go, so we didn't really have time to make any changes. Ricardo helped me a lot in the straights when I was following him, by giving me a tow, so that was nice of him. We're not good on high speed here, but the race should be exciting because you can overtake more easily than some other circuits. I've always qualified badly here and done better in the race, so why not on Sunday?"

Ricardo Zonta: "I want to say 'thank you' to my mechanics. They worked really hard to help me today and Friday, and I'm sorry that I am not higher up the grid, for them, as well as me. Still, we are in the race Sunday, and a lot can happen."

Malcolm Oastler, Technical Director: "We are disappointed with our qualifying performance. Jacques did the best he could in the T-car in the short amount of time he had after his race engine lost power and he had to switch. Ricardo could only put in 27 practice laps this weekend, and although he did not have any particular problems this afternoon, he found it difficult to get the right set-up."

Minardi

Marc Gene: "We did an excellent job today. The car felt very well and I mainly concentrated to improve my lap times. I am very satisfied with the today's result. Here is my car and you can see it. Both our cars are now ahead of other singleseaters that were often in front of us in the course of the season. I also am very happy for the Team and I would like to thank all the lads because they did an excellent job and particularly my race engineer."

Luca Badoer: "This is a troubled weekend for me: yesterday I lost my free practice session due to the engine failure and the today's spin made me waste further time. As a result, we couldn't fully concentrate on the set-up work and this affected also our performances during the qualifying session. Now we are working for the race, where we are usually better."

Cesare Fiorio: "That's a great satisfaction for the Team because the today's result is a reward to the technical staff for their job confirming the good performances carried out at Zeltweg. This is a clear sign that we are working in the right direction, both our drivers and the Team itself are getting more mature. We are therefore hopeful to do a good race tomorrow."