Summary:

Barrichello took provisional pole early in the qualifying session only to lose it 20 minutes later to Damon Hill. During his laps, Hill dominated the qualifying and morning session today. With just two runs he took his 12th career pole with the time of 1:18.111, almost a second faster than runner up Brazilian Barrichello with a 1:19.092. Hill's teammate Jacques Villeneuve improved immensely over yesterday's time with a third position. Schumacher aquired 4th place with a newly fitted V10 Ferrari engine. New-boy at Minardi, Tarso Marques, out paced his team-mate Lamy again.

Notes:

Eddie Irvine's engine caught fire when it was started at the beginning of qualifying and was forced to use the T-car instead. Diniz went through the gravel and stalled his engine and had to be pushed by the marshals. Alesi nearly missed a Ligier and had to battle through the gravel resulting in the session being stopped. Berger had troubles getting within the 107% rule. Villeneuve went wide in a corner and went beside the track, ripping his front wing of the Williams-Renault at a speed of 140 mph.

Alesi had gone off track in the morning session and damaged his car while Berger did not drive at all. Schumacher had a water leak in his Ferrari.

Quotes:

Hill: "I have to thank the engineers at Williams who did a brilliant job sorting out the car for the circuit and, all at Renault. The car behaved itself very well. We have done a lot of homework over the last few days but the race will be a different matter."

Barrichello: "I expected third. I thought Jacques Villeneuve would take second."

Schumacher: "The setup of the car didn't go well." "If we can end the race, I will be on the podium."

The Total-Jordan-Peugeot team have signed Gianni Morbidelli as their test and replacement driver for the remainder of the season. Morbidelli, last year at Arrows, will assist Jordan drivers Martin Brundle and Rubens Barrichello in an expanded 1996 test program.