McLaren take front row for first race of the year.

The McLaren-Mercedes team continued to dominate this afternoon's qualifying session as they had in the three previous free practice sessions. Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard traded places for the pole with Coulthard finally losing out during Hakkinen's last flying lap which was almost half a second quicker than Coulthard's previous best. "There was a lot of pressure on that last lap and it rarely works out that you can make a better time. This time it worked out well," said Hakkinen. Coulthard, who at one stage spun off into a gravel trap, managed to get going again, but ran out of time for a final flyer.

Schumacher saves third for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro.

Michael Schumacher repeated his third place on the grid from last year, but was disappointed at the 1,3 seconds gap between himself and the pole position. " I thought we were going to be closer, but we are not getting the performance from the car we had over the winter which we will have to work on. We are working hard to improve the car, but I don't think we are going to find a fix overnight," said Schumacher, who was not expecting to challenge the McLarens in the race. Eddie Irvine's first run on low fuel and new tyres saw him take sixth fastest place. He had hoped to improve slightly on his time and place, but a mistake on his best lap cost him his last chance.

Barrichello fourth fastest for Stewart.

Rubens Barrichello took an impressive fourth fastest for the Stewart-For team, the Brazilian speculating that he could have gone quicker had he warmed up the tyres longer. Johnny Herbert slipped back to a disappointing 13th place on the grid, the Englishman suspecting a front shock absorber problem which was also causing a locking front brake.

Frentzen heads third row.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen had a fresh engine fitted for qualifying, but like Barrichello did not take two laps to warm up his tyres before going for a flying lap. "I never got into the window where the tyres were warmed up properly," said Frentzen, who still managed fifth fastest time. Damon Hill ran more laps to warm his tyres, but found yellow flag and traffic on his quickest laps. He ended up back in ninth place on the grid.

Fisichella fastest for Benetton.

Traffic, yellow flags and a mistake on his last flying lap saw Giancarlo Fisichella finish back in seventh place when he thought he could have done better for Benetton. Alexander Wurz had to use his spare car after his morning crash. He took two runs to set it up as he liked it and then found traffic on his final run which left him in tenth spot.

In Brief...

The two Prost drivers were a disappointing 12th and 10th on the grid. Olivier Panis was slowest after his car suffered gearbox trouble and Trulli complained of bad traction and grip from the rear end. Sauber were also in trouble, Alesi complaining of no balance and no power from his car following an engine change before the session. Diniz had to take the spare car, set up for Alesi, after his own had fuel pressure trouble. He was 14th fastest and Alesi 16th. Zonta managed to qualify his BAR a respectable 19th after very few practice laps in previous sessions. Villeneuve was disappointed with 11th spot. "I could have gone better, but spun on my second run and had traffic on my third. My last lap could have been the best, but a yellow flag for another car that spun meant I had to slow down," he said. Ralf Schumacher was having trouble finding a balance for his car and could not better eighth fastest. Zanardi did only two long runs because of his lack of track time, but did not better 15th fastest time. Marc Gene failed to qualify the second Minardi after he spun off on his final run.

Qualifying Results


POS DRIVER            NAT  TEAM                  TIME
 1  Hakkinen          FIN  McLaren-Mercedes      1:30.462
 2  Coulthard         GBR  McLaren-Mercedes      1:30.946
 3  M. Schumacher     GER  Ferrari               1:31.781
 4  Barrichello       BRA  Stewart-Ford          1:32.148
 5  Frentzen          GER  Jordan-Mugen Honda    1:32.276
 6  Irvine            GBR  Ferrari               1:32.289
 7  Fisichella        ITA  Benetton-Playlife     1:32.540
 8  R Schumacher      GER  Williams-Mecachrome   1:32.691
 9  Hill              GBR  Jordan-Mugen Honda    1:32.695
10  Wurz              AUT  Benetton-Playlife     1:32.789
11  Villeneuve        CAN  BAR-Supertec          1:32.888
12  Trulli            ITA  Prost-Peugeot         1:32.971
13  Herbert           GBR  Stewart-Ford          1:32.991
14  Diniz             BRA  Sauber-Petronas       1:33.374
15  Zanardi           ITA  Williams-Mecachrome   1:33.549
16  Alesi             FRA  Sauber-Petronas       1:33.910
17  Takagi            JPN  Arrows                1:34.182
18  De La Rosa        SPA  Arrows                1:34.244
19  Zonta             BRA  BAR-Supertec          1:34.412
20  Panis             FRA  Prost-Peugeot         1:35.068
21  Badoer            ITA  Minardi-Ford          1:35.316
--- 107% --------------------------------------- 1:36.794 
22  Gene              SPA  Minardi-Ford          1:37.875

All Times Unofficial

Commentary on today's qualifying session, by Michele Lupini:

Besides the much expected results of today's qualifying - Mika Hakkine on pole, David Coulthard second and Michael Schumacher third - there are some pointers to a great race and a fantastic season.

Most of the world was shocked by Rubens Barrichello's consistent pace over the weekend in the Stewart Ford. But to those who kept an eye on that team's progress through winter, Rubens' pace justifies their effort. Everyone's carrying on about the other factory-assisted teams, but forgotten about the Ford and Peugeot efforts, both headed by multiple World Champion drivers. It's clear that Prost have found their way back too.

Jarno Trulli's grid position is the worst he's been all weekend so far, but the Prost Peugeot, like the Stewart has found form. As the season progresses, both these teams have the promise to re-establish the F1 pecking order behind McLaren and Ferrari. But to achieve that, by the end of the weekend, perhaps Prost may want start looking at their driver line-up, their second pilot's been way off all winter - and all weekend...

Jordan's promise was well heralded, and they may even be a little upset about their fine performance in the light of Frentzen being "only" fifth and ahead of one of the Ferraris. But the Playlife-Supertech-Mecachrome trio surely find themselves behind their projected positions on the grid. Zanardi, in particular, has had an up-and-down weekend on his comeback so far, while Ralf's looking good. Fisichella too, has moved about the timesheets somewhat, like his team mate, but he ended up good.

Pedro Diniz overcame a troubled session to end up ahead of his usually unpredictable team mate, while the Arrows showed well. Minardi were the only team to really fall short of expectations.

Up front, it's business as usual, but don't underestimate Michael Schumacher. He's at his most dangerous from the position he's in on the grid, and Ferrari's become renowned for preparing cars that win races rather than qualify on pole. Add to that McLaren's difficult winter reliability and some dark outsiders looming up the grid, and we have all the trimmings for a great race.

But perhaps the most significant impression one gets of the 1999 F1 circus, is that the FIA is doing their utmost to make the greatest drivers on earth look like a bunch of fools. No-one escaped at least falling off the Tarmac at least once, in cars that appear dreadful to drive. Hakkinen led the crashers, as the entire grid came to gips with what appears to be an impossible to perfect set of rules.

If crashing, spinning and falling off is what these apparently safety-first rules achieve most noticeably, then they must surely shoot themselves in the foot. It just isn't what the world expects from the pinnacle on motor sport.