Summary

Damon Hill did not let his emotions, on him being sacked at Williams, get in the way of his driving. Hill took provisional pole from his team-mate, Jacques Villeneuve, on his first six lap run half way through the session and made it actual pole in his second.

Villeneuve could not top Hill's 1m 24.204s, he came in second with 1m 24.521s.

Michael Schumacher could not perform as well as he did yesterday with 1m 24.781s.

Notes

• Villeneuve uses a new front wheel suspension while Hill uses a new exhaust to gain more top speed.
• Tyre piles are put up on some corner preventing the drivers to take a short cut over the grass.
• Berger spins in the first chicane after the start-finish straight. He completes the session in the T-car.
• The air-start of the car of Rosset broke, so the car could not be started. Rosset uses the car of Verstappen to qualify after Verstappen had finished his laps.
• Salo's Tyrrell-Yamaha and Diniz' Ligier-Mugen brake down.
• Villeneuve goes through the grass when he makes a mistakes passing Lamy in the Minardi.
• Frentzen runs wide at the second Lesmo corner and hits the opposite iron fence.
• All drivers are within the 107% rule.

Quotes:

Hill: "I enjoyed the session. I was very pleased that the set-up work I've done ever the weekend has payed off and the car feels good. I'm optimistic for the race now." I have to set my sight on winning tomorrow and that's is what I'm thinking about doing."

Villeneuve: "We lost a good ten laps this morning to work on our set-up. We are not very happy about the way the car is handling right now."

Schumacher: "I was a bit surprised about the performance of yesterday, for some reason we have not been able to perform as we did yesterday. Third is a good starting position. I'm not worried."

Top Ten Qualifying.

1. D. Hill 1m 24.204s
2. J. Villeneuve 1m 24.521s
3. M. Schumacher 1m24.781s
4. M. Hakkinen 1m 24.939s
5. D. Coulthard 1m 24.976s
6. J. Alesi 1m 25.201s
7. E. Irvine 1m 25.226s
8. G. Berger 1m 25.470s
9. M. Brundle 1m 26.037s
10. R. Barrichello 1m 26.194s

The FIA have announced that the planned banning of Friday's free practice session for next season is dropped. There were a lot of protests after the announcement, that there would be no sessions on Friday, from all over the world.

FIA president Max Mosley said: "Discussions with the race organisers have revealed considerable unhappiness. They don't like losing the Friday and there is also a significant audience even on the Friday."