Saturday April 8th, 2000

Hakkinen Takes Brilliant Pole

For the third time in the last three races, Mika Hakkinen took pole position for Sunday's San Marino GP, the Finn driving a brilliant final lap to claim a short lived pole from Ferrari's Michael Schumacher by less than one-tenth of a second as the flag fell. It was his 24th career pole, now one more than Schumacher's total. David Coulthard was third quickest in the second McLaren, three tenth's off his team-mates time. "The car and driver was capable of going quicker, but I didn't get it together for an entire lap. On my best lap, I made a mistake at Rivazza corner," said Coulthard.

Schumacher Blames Himself

Michael Schumacher blamed nobody but himself for not taking the pole at this race. "I made a bad mistake at Rivazza on my third run which cost me around 4-tenth's of a second. I could have taken the pole easily. It's a shame because I wanted to take the pole here for all the Tifosi and the team that have worked so hard. My fourth run was not so good," said Michael. Rubens Barrichello was a disappointed fourth. "I had problems in the morning and could not find the right balance for my car. On my last run , I did a lap on the limit, although I had to lift off because of a yellow and I still managed to get a good grid position. I am not worried about the race as we have tonight to think about a better set-up," explained Barrichello.

Ralf Schumacher Takes Fifth Spot for Williams

Ralf Schumacher set an impressive fifth fastest time for Williams-BMW , but didn't get the chance to improve on that when his engine blew up while on a quicker lap on his final run. Jenson Button was well back in 18th place, the young Englishman still not comfortable with the track or his car after his problems in practice.

Frentzen Shares Row Three

Heinz-Harald Frentzen took sixth place for Jordan in his final qualifying run. " I had to fight for every thousandth of a second," said Frentzen, the car is still lacking a bit," said Frentzen, who is still awaiting news of the birth of his first child. Jarno Trulli was hoping to better eighth place on te grid, but had two runs spoiled when he found traffic on one and a yellow flag on his final run.

Irvine Heads Row Four for Jaguar

Eddie Irvine used soft tyres to set the quickest time for Jaguar and seventh on the grid. Herbert went for the harder tyres and learned the hard way that they were slower when he could not better 17th time.

In Brief...

Villeneuve set a creditable 9th for BAR after missing Friday's practice. Zonta could not better 14th.

Diniz made a top ten spot for Sauber, Salo back in 12th place saying that he was losing all his time with traction problems at the last chicane.

Wurz was happy with his eleventh place for Benetton, however Fisichella, another to choose the hard tyre option, complained of a lack of grip and balance from his car with which he was well down in 19th spot.

Gene went off after a problem with his spare car. After wrecking his race car this morning, he had to wait for Mazzacane's Minardi, the two drivers taking 20th and 21st on the grid.

Alesi took 15th spot on the grid, Heidfeld last after a mistake on his first run and then his engine would not start for his second. He had to take Alesi's T-car and managed just 8 laps running for last place.

Pos  Driver        Team                 Time                  
 1.  Hakkinen      McLaren Mercedes     1:24.714
 2.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari              1:24.805   +  0.091
 3.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes     1:25.014   +  0.300
 4.  Barrichello   Ferrari              1:25.242   +  0.528
 5.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW         1:25.871   +  1.157
 6.  Frentzen      Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:25.892   +  1.178
 7.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth      1:25.929   +  1.215
 8.  Trulli        Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:26.002   +  1.288
 9.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda            1:26.124   +  1.410
10.  Diniz         Sauber Petronas      1:26.238   +  1.524
11.  Wurz          Benetton Playlife    1:26.281   +  1.567
12.  Salo          Sauber Petronas      1:26.336   +  1.622
13.  de la Rosa    Arrows Supertec      1:26.349   +  1.635
14.  Alesi         Prost Peugeot        1:26.824   +  2.110
15.  Verstappen    Arrows Supertec      1:26.845   +  2.131
16.  Herbert       Jaguar Cosworth      1:27.051   +  2.337
17.  Button        Williams BMW         1:27.135   +  2.421
18.  Fisichella    Benetton Playlife    1:27.253   +  2.539
19.  Zonta         BAR Honda            1:27.408   +  2.694
20.  Mazzacane     Minardi Fondmetal    1:28.161   +  3.447
21.  Gene          Minardi Fondmetal    1:28.333   +  3.619
22.  Heidfeld      Prost Peugeot        1:28.361   +  3.647

All timing unofficial