Summary

Damon Hill outpaced his team-mate at his home-track to take his 17th pole of his career. Schumacher seemed to be able to keep up with the two Williams-Renaults at the beginning of the session, but Schumacher lost it at the end, ending third on the grid.

Notes

• The TWR F1 team is using the new Hart-V8 engine this weekend.
• Schumacher hit a curb and damaged the plank under his car, this was repaired within minutes.
• Damon Hill suffered a small clutch problem after he had set pole.
• Both the Forti's broke down and didn't make the 107% rule.

Frentzen:"I had a set-up problem today. I tried running with different aerodynamics but I cannot say that the changes brought a big improvement. I had understeer and we made a few small changes for the second session, but they did not really help. Towards the end, I ran new tyres, just to give us an indication of how the car would be, but the understeer was still there and I could not get a perfect lap. Obviously, we are going to have to work very hard on sorting out the set-up in time for tomorrow."

Schumacher:"I think I got the absolute maximum out of my F 310. We have a few problems: the most annoying is that it is difficult to find constant and sufficient grip. I expected to qualify in this position and I have to say it is already satisfying to be ahead of the other English teams who do most of their testing here at Silverstone. In the race I expect things to go pretty much the same as they have gone today."

Hill:"The race looks pretty even, to be honest, I'm on the front row and Jacques is on the front row so the race will be a very exciting one I think. ... Jacques is determined to get ahead of me and he is also my main threat in the championship. (...) It would have been so disappointing not to get the pole position, but I drove my heart out."

Villeneuve:"It was a great battle, I'm anxious for tomorrow. I think the race will be a good one, and like Damon I hope we put on a good show for the crowd."