The weather was hot and sunny, with high broken cloud, and a track temperature of 40 C. The cloud could possibly make the qualifying a bit of a lottery, as catching the track when the sun was behind the cloud would theoretically result in a faster time.

Giancarlo Fisichella was first out on the track, setting a 1:26.435 for first. His next lap was slower, and he came back into the pits. The Goodyear tyres were only good for one flying lap, so the cars were always quickly in and out, making for a busy and dangerous pit lane.

Both McLarens also came out, using a revised exhaust system on their McLarens. The engine made an awful noise, sounding like it had a permanently cracked exhaust flange. It didn't seem to affect their times though, Hakkinen setting a 1:24.283 to go first (possibly on a set of used tyres), and Coulthard a 1:25.102. The track was soon empty, bar an odd Forti or two. The Forti's were confusingly sporting a new green colour, making them harder to spot compared to their traditional banana yellow. They were being sponsored by Shannon, an Irish registered Milan based finance company who sponsors a large German F3 team. Dodgy finance for a dodgy car perhaps (allegedly!)?

The actual qualifying session was slightly boring, as few cars managed their alloted 12 laps, conserving tyres due to their high consumption rate in qualifying trim. Herbert was the next out, managing a 1:23.736, taking first, followed by Verstappen, who had set a 1:24.102. Verstappen was having a slightly rocky time with his team, Tom Walkinshaw telling him he had to sign for his team now or face being replaced by a rent-a-driver later in the year. Verstappen's manager was calling Walkinshaw's bluff, touting Verstappen to other teams for a reported $5 million, with Walkinshaw is reported to have said is too high.

Momentarily facing the wrong way on the circuit was Pedro Diniz, who lost it coming out of a corner, quickly spin turning it around and getting away cleanly, having taken note of the lesson from the Irvine school of racing. He went back around and into the pits. Next up was Salo, setting a 1:23.505 for first place. Again, he dived back into the pits the next time around.

Ten minutes into the session, and Villeneuve came out. Frentzen had just set a fastest time of 1:23.314 for first, but this Villeneuve soon eclipsed, stting a 1:22.318 (0.996s faster). Next lap around, Villeneuve stayed out, and was one of the few people all session to record a faster time on their second flying lap, managing a 1:21.710 (0.608s faster again). A third lap wasn't on though, and in he came. It was interesting that no driver seemed to be pushing that hard, all of them avoiding the kerbs, and no-one really sliding it about. Perhaps they had had enough of it at Monaco.

A quarter of an hour into the session and Schumacher, Alesi and Berger all emerged, all setting competitive times. Schumacher set a 1:22.364 for second on his first and only flying lap, and Alesi went third on a 1:22.374. Berger couldn't quite match this pace though, only managing a 1:23.092 (+1.382) for fifth. Hill then came out and beat the lot of them, managing a 1:21.699, only 11 thousandths faster than Villeneuve. It was still faster though, and he was looking good for the race. Next time around he set a 1:21.640, this time 59 thousandths faster again, before heading inwards. It was close.

24 minutes in, and Irvine came out, having had his engine changed since the morning session, and he was one of the few drivers to be visibly trying hard - either that or his set-up was diabolical, as he was locking up into a couple of corners. He still managed a 1:21.757 for fifth. Schumacher was also out, but he was qualifying the spare (T) car rather than his race car, having decided that it handled better. He managed a 1:21.587 (53 thousandths faster) for first place, before heading in. The front of the grid was getting extremely close together. I looked forward to the race.

Birthday boy Martin Brundle was next up (37 years old. It was also Ron Dennis's birthday), setting a 1:23.606 for 14th. Brundle just couldn't get the car to qualify well, and was struggling with the Jordan. It was probably one birthday he would wish to forget. Riccardo Rosset also probably wished to forget the session, as he got two wheels onto the grass as he slid wide, creating himself a bit of excitement.

On the half hour, Villeneuve came out again, managing a 1:21.315 for first, before immediately pitting. What was impressive was the gap - rather than thousandths he had improved by 0.442s, the pre-season practice reaping dividends. It gave the others something to think about. Things went quiet for a while until the 38th minute, when Hakkinen, Alesi, Hill, Irvine and Schumacher all came out together, the Ferrari's sandwiching Hill. Hill desperately tried to get past Irvine by the first corner, but failed. Instead he let Irvine pull out a large gap before he took his flyer. Hakkinen managed no improvement, and Alesi managed a 1:22.163, 4th, but 1.018s down. Of more interest was the Ferrari/Williams battle though. Irvine managed a small improvement, but got bogged down behind a Minardi next lap and came in. Hill managed a 1:20.895 (0.250 up) for first, and was faster still on his second lap until catching a slower car in the final two corners, Hill deciding to pit instead. Schumacher by contrast was sliding about, only managing a 1:21.6. The Ferrari had reached its limit.

The track by now was often empty, only a handful of cars out at the same time. 44 minutes in, and Berger went out again. He had only completed five laps by this time, and he managed a 1:22.333 for 6th before coming in. Coulthard managed a 1:23.458, but was down in 14th place, Verstappen in 13th. Barrichello was in seventh, having set a 1:22.694 with 10 minutes of the session left. Panis also put in a big last gasp effort, putting wheels onto the grass on the way to a 1:22.694, taking seventh from Barrichello. Berger tried to improve as well, and managed a 1:22.125 (+1.230) for fifth, only improving by one position despite a 1.2s faster lap time.

Four minutes to go, and both the Williams's came out for the last time, Hill managing a 1:20.650 (-0.245) on his first lap, followed by a 1:21.170. Villeneuve was up on Hill at the second split, but lost it in the final three corners, setting a 1:21.084 (+0.434) for second. With two minutes left, Schumacher came out, but his last minute flyer was ruined when Katayama's engine let go, depositing oil on the track. Schumacher gave up and pitted.

Barring major changes, it looked like being a Williams Renault race, only Schumacher being anything like in contention, although still half a second down. But then, remember Monaco.

Qualifying Result:

Pos	Driver	Vehicle	Time
1	D.Hill	Williams Renault	1:20.650, 211.000kph
2	J.Villeneuve	Williams Renault	1:21.084
3	M.Schumacher	Ferrari	1:21.587
4	J.Alesi	Benetton Renault	1:22.061
5	G.Berger	Benetton Renault	1:22.125
6	E.Irvine	Ferrari	1:22.333
7	R.Barrichello	Jordan Peugeot	1:22.379
8	O.Panis	Ligier Mugen	1:22.685
9	J.Herbert	Sauber Ford	1:23.027
10	M.Hakkinen	McLaren Mercedes	1:23.070
11	H.Frentzen	Sauber Ford	1:23.195
12	M.Salo	Tyrrell Yamaha	1:23.224
13	J.Verstappen	Arrows Hart	1:23.371
14	D.Coulthard	McLaren Mercedes	1:23.416
15	M.Brundle	Jordan Peugeot	1:23.438
16	U.Katayama	Tyrrell Yamaha	1:24.401
17	P.Diniz	Ligier Mugen	1:24.468
18	P.Lamy	Minardi Ford	1:25.274
19	G.Fisichella	Minardi Ford	1:25.531
20	R.Rosset	Arrows Hart	1:25.621
	Non Qualifiers
21	L.Badoer	Forti Ford	1:26.615
22	A.Montermini	Forti Ford	1:27.358