Saturday September 25th, 1999
Amazing Pole for Frentzen
A two day nightmare, when engine and gearbox problems prevented him from getting hardly any running during the free practice sessions, turned into a dream in qualifying for Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who took the second pole position of his career for his home race on Sunday.
On a track that started wet and finished dry, it as a nail-biting battle for the pole where timing was everything. "We had an argument in the pit lane about when to go out and when I finally set my best lap, I had 5 laps too much fuel on board, but it all worked out OK. It seems funny now, but it was pretty tense at the time," said Frentzen. Damon Hill was one of a dozen drivers to hold the pole briefly, but unlike Frentzen he set his time too early and watched hopelessly as he slipped back to seventh by the flag.
McLaren second and third
After dominating all the free practice sessions, Mika Hakkinen ended up third on the grid behind his team mate David Coulthard providing an interesting situation for the two team-mates regarding the Championship positions. "We shall wait and see what happens in the race. It's a long way," says Coulthard who said he owed his second place to the fact that his engineer refused to change his car for a wet set-up as he had asked him half way through the session. Hakkinen was delighted to be so close to the front in this qualifying lottery. "I don't think I could have been much better," he said.
Schumacher takes row two for Williams
A delighted Ralf Schumacher took a second row spot for Williams having his spare car set for the wet and his race car for the dry. "It was all a gamble, but I ended up where I hoped to be," said Ralf, unlike his team-mate Zanardi who got it all wrong and was back in 18th place on the grid.
Panis heads row three for Prost
Olivier Panis was delighted with his fifth place on the grid for Prost, but a mistake by his teammate Jarno Trulli on the final sector of his quick lap saw him starting the race back in tenth place.
Irvine a disappointed ninth
With the other three title contenders in the first three places on the grid, Eddie Irvine was disappointed to be starting the race in ninth place after sliding off the track on his quick lap. "I had traffic on my first quick lap and then on my second hit a patch of water and the car slid wide and put me through the gravel trap," said Eddie. Mika Salo was also frustrated to be starting back in 12th place in the second Marlboro-Ferrari, the Finn slowed by traffic on his best laps.
In brief...
Despite a straight on in the wetter part of the session, Giancarlo Fisichella came back to take sixth fastest time, the Italian happy to be so well up considering his troubled practice. Wurz's hopes of a better spot was spoiled by a McLaren driving slowly which saw him end up 11th.
Sauber's Alesi went out too early and ended up 16th fastest. Diniz was heading for a top 10 place, but had his efforts frustrated by Irvine when he went off ahead of him.
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:19.910 205.251 kmph
2. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes 1:20.176 + 0.266
3. Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes 1:20.376 + 0.466
4. R.Schumacher Williams Supertec 1:20.444 + 0.534
5. Panis Prost Peugeot 1:20.638 + 0.728
6. Fisichella Benetton Supertec 1:20.781 + 0.871
7. Hill Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:20.818 + 0.908
8. Villeneuve BAR Supertec 1:20.825 + 0.915
9. Irvine Ferrari 1:20.842 + 0.932
10. Trulli Prost Peugeot 1:20.965 + 1.055
11. Wurz Benetton Supertec 1:21.144 + 1.234
12. Salo Ferrari 1:21.314 + 1.404
13. Diniz Sauber Petronas 1:21.345 + 1.435
14. Herbert Stewart Ford 1:21.379 + 1.469
15. Barrichello Stewart Ford 1:21.490 + 1.580
16. Alesi Sauber Petronas 1:21.634 + 1.724
17. Zonta BAR Supertec 1:22.267 + 2.357
18. Zanardi Williams Supertec 1:22.284 + 2.374
19. Badoer Minardi Ford 1:22.631 + 2.721
20. Gene Minardi Ford 1:22.760 + 2.850
21. Takagi Arrows TWR 1:23.401 + 3.491
22. de la Rosa Arrows TWR 1:23.698 + 3.788
All Timing Unofficial