Fisichella was the first out in what was to be a slow starting but electrifying qualifying session, Fisichella managing a 1:24.283. We had to wait another six minutes for the next car, which as the sister car of Lamy, who set a 1:25.555 (+1.272), followed by a 1:24.512 (+0.229). Lamy had never raced on this circuit before.

The two Forti's were next out, Badoer setting a 1:25.012 (3rd), and Montermini a 1:26.109 (+1.826), fourth. Booting it out of the hairpin, and Montermini's car started belching out oil smoke. He completed the lap, and trundled around to the pits. As he made it around the lap, it would seem that he had an oil leak rather than anything too major, but he wasn't seen again this session.

Eighteen minutes, and Salo emerged, locking his wheels occasionally on his installation lap. His first flyer was a 1:23.843 (-0.440s), followed by a 1:23.441 (-0.402s) to take first, Yamaha power proving superior to Ford ED, despite Salo's lack of track time.

Twenty-two minutes in, and qualifying proper started, Villeneuve emerging, followed by Schumacher, although Schumacher just went out to assess the conditions, coming back in to the pits without recording a time. Villeneuve though did, setting a 1:21.735 (-1.567s), followed by a 1:21.196 (-0.539s), taking provisional pole. It was interesting to watch Villeneuve's approach to the course develop. Initially he was turning in much more acutely into the corner, but as the weekend progresse his style became more and more like Hill's.

Barrichello was next up, with a 1:22.911 (3rd), followed by a 1:21.982 (2nd), Coulthard managing a 1:22.581. Meanwhile, Riccardo Rosset's weekend was continuing in its disasterous vein, Rosset pulling over on the start/finish straight with a dead car.

At the half hour both Ferrar's came out, both using the new high-nose. According to Schumacher, the new nose gave no time improvement, but made the car more consistent. Irvine reckoned the car was 0.5s a lap faster with it. Anyway, on his third lap out Irvine went third with a 1:21.657, and Schumacher second with a 1:21.535.

Brundle then emerged, only a few lengths in front of Schumacher, and when both were on flyers, it was obvious that Brundle wasn't going to give way. Schumacher caught up right behind the Jordan through the twisty section, but once on the straight the superior power of the Peugeot engine told, the Jordan pulling out seven or eight car lengths on the straight. Brundle set a 1:23.817 (11th), and Schumacher a 1:21.198 (+0.002), second. Schumacher wasn't amused and came in to the pits. Panis was also out, using a revised Mugen engine for qualifying, setting a 1:22.948 (+1.752, 7th). Brundle then popped in an even faster time, going sixth.

Thirty-three minutes, and Hill came out for the first time. he had gone the wrong way with his set-up in the morning practice, and he had reverted to an earlier set-up for qualifying. His first lap was a 1:22.189 (+0.993, 6th), and followed this up with a 1:21.729 (+0.533, 5th), 1:21.546 (+0.350, 4th) and 1:21.663 (+0.467). It seemed strange that he was staying out for so long, as he wasn't going any faster, and he was using up his lap allocation. After completing six laps, he finally came in.

The two Benettons then went out, and almost immediately Alesi went off, bringing out the red flags. While braking for the third corner, the car started to fish-tail, and he sailed up the escape road sideways, obliterating one part of the tyre wall, wrecking the rear end. The red-flags stayed out until the car was removed, and the session was restarted with seventeen minutes remaining.

Brundle was first out at the restart, followed by Hakkinen (who set a 1:22.683). Schumacher came out for another of his exploratory laps, and on coming back into the pits almost missed the weigh-bridge when waved in. He came to a halt in the middle of the pit-lane, but he didn't go past it, thus not incurring a fine or penalty. He was pushed into the scrutineering bay, and everyone was happy.

Villeneuve came out, setting a 1:21.491, followed by Panis, who set a 1:24.010 (+2.814), followed by a 1:22.868 (+1.672, 11th). Then, with six minutes to go, Hill came back out, immediately setting a 1:21.235 (+0.039, 3rd). Villeneuve went one better, and set a 1:21.079 to improve his pole position time, but was now out of laps. Hill still had some left, and set a 1:21.059 (-0.020), to retake pole. It was exciting stuff. Schumacher the emerged for a final push, but was thwarted when the red flags flew again, Berger going off in the same place as Alesi, Berger hitting the tyre-wall in front of the Armco rather than going up the escape road. With only fifty seconds remaining, insufficient time for anyone to complete a lap, the session was declared over. Tough luck for Schumacher.

Pos  Driver                  Nat  Constructor          Time      Gap   To 1st
 1.  Damon Hill              GB   Williams-Renault   1:21.059   196.345kph
 2.  Jacques Villeneuve      CDN  Williams-Renault   1:21.079   0.020   0.020
 3.  Michael Schumacher      D    Ferrari            1:21.198   0.119   0.139
 4.  Jean Alesi              F    Benetton-Renault   1:21.529   0.331   0.470
 5.  Eddie Irvine            GB   Ferrari            1:21.657   0.128   0.598
 6.  Mika Hakkinen           FIN  McLaren-Mercedes   1:21.807   0.150   0.748
 7.  Gerhard Berger          A    Benetton-Renault   1:21.926   0.119   0.867
 8.  Rubens Barrichello      BR   Jordan-Peugeot     1:21.982   0.056   0.923
 9.  Martin Brundle          GB   Jordan-Peugeot     1:22.321   0.339   1.262
10.  David Coulthard         GB   McLaren-Mercedes   1:22.332   0.011   1.273
11.  Olivier Panis           F    Ligier-Mugen       1:22.481   0.149   1.422
12.  Heinz-Harald Frentzen   D    Sauber-Ford        1:22.875   0.394   1.816
13.  Jos Verstappen          NL   Arrows-Hart        1:23.067   0.192   2.008
14.  Mika Salo               FIN  Tyrrell-Yamaha     1:23.118   0.051   2.059
15.  Johnny Herbert          GB   Sauber-Ford        1:23.201   0.083   2.142
16.  Giancarlo Fisichella    I    Minardi-Ford ED    1:23.519   0.318   2.460
17.  Ukyo Katayama           J    Tyrrell-Yamaha     1:23.599   0.080   2.540
18.  Pedro Diniz             BR   Ligier-Mugen       1:23.959   0.360   2.900
19.  Pedro Lamy              P    Minardi-Ford ED    1:24.262   0.303   3.203
20.  Luca Badoer             I    Forti Corse-Ford   1:25.012   0.750   3.953
21.  Ricardo Rosset          BR   Arrows-Hart        1:25.193   0.181   4.134
22.  Andrea Montermini       I    Forti Corse-Ford   1:26.109   0.916   5.050