Summary

Mika Hakkinen took the pole for tomorrows Brazilian Grand Prix today. This was not surprising because he had been the fastest all weekend. David Coulthard completed the McLaren front row.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen took third from Michael Schumacher in the last minutes of the session.

Notes

• Prost, Tyrrell and Sauber all use the extra wing construction.
• Villeneuve uses the T-car because he damaged his race car in the morning session.
• Hakkinen, Irvine, Panis, Diniz, Wurz and Hill all ignored a yellow flag in the morning session. They all could have lost their fastest time but "the stewards decided not to issue any penalty in this case and have instructed the race director to increase the number of marshals in this location."
• Spins were there by: Rosset, Fisichella and Villeneuve. The first two had to get into the spare car.
• The Minardi of Tuero breaks down in front of the pits just before the end of qualifying.
• The braking system of the McLaren team had been found illegal, which Alain Prost said to be a good thing: "Technically, the system is very interesting and in a way that is what Formula One is about. On the other hand, it goes against the spirit of what we wanted to have a few months ago which was to reduce costs, improve overtaking and make the sport more spectacular to watch." He also added: "The problem is that it is not black and white, there is a huge grey area. That was bad and I'm pleased it's been settled. I hope it will be more clear for the future."

  The McLaren team will not protest against the decision.

  • Weather during qualifying: Sunny: 28°C/82°F

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

Hakkinen (McLaren-Mercedes) B Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes) B Frentzen (Williams-Mecachrome) G M. Schumacher (Ferrari) G Wurz (Benetton-Mecachrome) B Irvine (Ferrari) G Fisichella (Benetton-Mecachrome) B R. Schumacher (Jordan-Mugen) G Panis (Prost-Peugeot) B Villeneuve (Williams-Mecachrome) G Hill (Jordan-Mugen) G Trulli (Prost-Peugeot) B Barrichello (Stewart-Ford) B Herbert (Sauber-Petronas) G Alesi (Sauber-Petronas) G Magnussen (Stewart-Ford) B Takagi (Tyrrell-Ford) G Nakano (Minardi-Ford) B Tuero (Minardi-Ford) B Salo (Arrows) G Rosset (Tyrrell-Ford)B Diniz (Arrows) B 107% rule B: Bridgestone G: Goodyear

1m 17.092s 1m 17.757s 1m 18.109s 1m 18.250s 1m 18.261s 1m 18.449s 1m 18.652s 1m 18.735s 1m 18.753s 1m 18.761s 1m 18.988s 1m 19.069s 1m 19.344s 1m 19.375s 1m 19.449s 1m 19.644s 1m 20.203s 1m 20.390s 1m 20.459s 1m 20.481s 1m 20.748s 1m 20.847s 1m 22.488s

The Quotes

• Hakkinen: "I just hope I can start winning normally now. It would mean that we wouldn't have to keep discussing the matter. But I still must say again that what David did in Melbourne was absolutely fantastic, and I will never forget that."

• M. Schumacher: "I had hoped to be in third place on the grid today, but unfortunately things did not go quite according to plan as Heinz-Harald went just a little bit quicker than me right at the end. Before my last run we made a change to the car's set-up, which did not have the expected effect and I was unable to improve my time. It will be very important to make a good start tomorrow. Our tyres should perform better in the race than in qualifying where today, the Bridgestone runners seemed to have an advantage on this track. I think the McLarens will be unbeatable under normal circumstances tomorrow, but we should be able to be the best of the rest."

• Irvine: "I am very happy with my performance today, especially as my car had a misfire which slowed me down a bit so sixth is not bad. We changed all the spark plugs but after a while it came back again. But I am pleased my lap time is close to Michael's. I am confident for the race and our tyres should hold up well. McLarens should be unbeatable tomorrow, but I think we can beat the rest. My only worry is that I am not feeling very well and I am sweating a lot."

• Herbert: "As if losing all of yesterday wasn't bad enough, my throttle stuck open at the start of my third run this morning, and I hit the tyre wall fairly hard in the right-hander after Pinheirinho. Luckily I was able to duck down in the monocoque, so I was okay. Up until that point I was relatively pleased to be so close to Jean, given yesterday's circumstances, but the car wasn't very nice because we had no real time to try honing the set-up. I had too much mid-corner understeer, which meant I was always waiting for the car to settle itself before I could get back on the power. It felt similar this afternoon as we had to revert to my initial set-up from this morning to give us a baseline with the spare car. I'm pleased to have made up so much ground relative to Jean, but overall the steps we took today weren't quite big enough. With more time I'm sure we could have changed that."

• Tuero: "Unfortunately I couldn't run until the end in qualifying session due to my engine's failure, 5 minutes before the end of the session. Perhaps I could have made an even better time, but I don't think a much better one. Tomorrow I will be at the start of my second Grand Prix and the most important thing will be to finish it."

• Takagi: "I am a little unhappy with our performance today, however, I have never been on the circuit before and it is difficult to get the car set up to work over the bumps. We accomplished that today, and also did some useful work on our race set-up this morning. The car feels very good in race trim, so I feel confident that we can do a good job tomorrow. I will just concentrate on getting a good start and try to avoid any accidents at the beginning of the race. More than anything, I want to finish a Grand Prix right now, and our strategy will be aimed at doing just that tomorrow."

• Alesi: "For me the car felt exactly as it did yesterday. We reached a level of performance very quickly, but then we just seemed to get stuck there as others improved today. I cannot say I had anything dramatic in qualifying, I had no wheelspin or big understeer. It's just that the level of grip was not sufficient, and there was just enough understeer still in mid-corner to hold me back and stop me pushing. I hate understeer!"

• Rosset: "I'm obviously disappointed by the fact I wasn't able to secure a better grid position, but this is a very difficult circuit, particularly because of the very bumpy surface. Now what I must do is concentrate on having a good race. Seventy-two laps of this place is a lot of racing, and if I race well, we have good pit stops and avoid any problems, I think there is a chance to get a good finish."