British GP Saturday Qualifying Report

Saturday 11 July 1998 - Qualifying

WEATHER CONDITIONS: cool, overcast

Hakkinen takes pole

Mika Hakkinen took his sixth pole position of the 1998 season to qualify fastest for tomorrow's British Grand Prix. Mika reported that he was pleased with the latest Bridgestone rubber and felt that he might have been able to go a couple of tenths quicker had it not been for a slight problem on the section between Club and Abbey. He didn't do his last run as he felt it was better to save tyres for tomorrow, but team-mate David Coulthard was a disappointed fourth, 1.0sec away from the Finn. Coulthard said he could not put his finger on any particular problem but that the car did not feel that far off the pace.

Schumacher makes front row

Michael Schumacher qualified his Ferrari F300 second fastest 0.449sec away from, Hakkinen, the Ferrari driver very happy with its performance. He was up at the first split on the final run but made a mistake at Abbey and failed to sustain the improvement on his final lap. Eddie Irvine wound up a satisfied fifth

Villeneuve third for Williams

Jacques Villeneuve qualified third on the grid in the Williams FW20, matching team-mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen's previous 1998 best in Brazil. Villeneuve reported that the latest aerodynamic modifications had "settled the car down" and he gradually dialled out excessive oversteer as the session progressed. Frentzen wound up fifth having made a small mistake on the final sector of his best run

Hill seventh for Jordan

Damon Hill qualified seventh fastest in the Jordan 198, losing time in the firsts sector of the lap after making a change to the way he tackled Copse corner. Ralf Schumacher was fortunate to end up tenth after spinning and stalling at the Abbey chicane, then taking over the spare car which was already set up for Hill. He made some changes to the set-up which improved its handling to his taste, but hung onto tenth place despite having to lose his best qualifying time as the result of a yellow flag infringement during the morning free practice session.

Saubers make top ten

Jean Alesi and Johnny Herbert qualified eighth and ninth for the Sauber-Petronas team, Herbert feeling that the car was better in a race set-up than qualifying trim. Alesi was simply satisfied to have produced the team's best qualifying position of the year.

Briefly:

Both Benetton drivers were very unhappy, Fisichella and Wurz complaining of poor grip even though the balance felt fineMika Salo had gearbox problems which caused him to switch off mid-way round his fourth run in the Arrows.both Prost drivers reported acute lack of gripRubens Barrichello said his Stewart-Ford would not respond to any chassis changes and Ford V10 engines occupied the last six places on the grid with Stewart, Tyrrell and Minardi.