Saturday September 11th, 1999

Hakkinen takes his 11th pole of the year

Mika Hakkinen smashed the current Monza qualifying record on his way to his 11th pole position of the year after what he said was his most satisfying pole of the season. "I didn't believe I could do that time. My second run was good , but my third run was fantastic," said Hakkinen. "The engineers changed my car between runs and made it to suit my driving style on the first sector where I was having a problem," he added. David Coulthard was disappointed with his third fastest time which he said was ," A long way from the car's potential time. I had traffic on one run and yellow flags on another. I could have gone quicker, although doubt if I could have matched Mika's time," said David.

Frentzen splits the McLarens

Although Heinz-Harald Frentzen's practice didn't work out the way he had planned, he was delighted with second place on the grid to split the two McLarens. " We knew that the second of two flying laps would be the quickest, but I never managed two consecutive laps on each of my three runs without a problem. The first run I messed up under braking for one of the chicanes, the second I had a yellow and I had traffic on my third run. I don't know if I could have taken the pole, but it could have been close," said Frentzen. Damon Hill was back in ninth place on the grid , disappointed with his time after traffic and a mistake at one of the chicanes spoiled two of his runs.

Williams fourth and fifth

Alex Zanardi and Ralf Schumacher traded places for fourth place on the grid, the Italian winning the spot on his final run and happy to be on the second row after improving the car throughout practice. Schumacher's hopes of taking the spot disappeared when he had to abort his last run after a low air pressure for the engine warning light came on and he was told to stop.

Difficult day for Ferrari

Despite still suffering more understeer with his Marlboro- Ferrari than he felt comfortable with, Mika Salo qualified sixth fastest on the grid, his car better than it had been all weekend. "If we get a good set-up the race should not be too bad," said Salo, who thought he could have been higher up the grid had he not found traffic t the second chicane on his quickest lap. Eddie Irvine was unable to better eighth fastest time. " I don't know what happened to the car since the test last week," said Eddie. The car was a bit better than yesterday, more consistent, but still too slow. We haven't made any progress for the last three or four races. We need a new aerodynamic package for the car which is on the way."

In brief...

Giancarlo Fisichella had a fresh engine for qualifying, but was unable to better 17th fastest time. The set-up was terrible , the car had a mind of its own. Wurz was 14th quickest complaining of no grip from his car. Villeneuve and Zonta qualified 11th and 18th respectively, both drivers going off during the session. Marc Gene crashed his Minardi at the first chicane. Jarno Trulli's hopes of a good qualifying slot disappeared when he rode a kerb at the first chicane , lost control and hit the barrier. He took the T-car, but spun off in that which left him in 12th place on the grid. Olivier Panis had a trouble free session and was 10th quickest.

Pos  Driver        Team                 Time                  
 1.  Hakkinen      McLaren Mercedes     1:22.432  251.990 kmph
 2.  Frentzen      Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:22.926  + 0.494     
 3.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes     1:23.177  + 0.745     
 4.  Zanardi       Williams Supertec    1:23.432  + 1.000     
 5.  R.Schumacher  Williams Supertec    1:23.636  + 1.204     
 6.  Salo          Ferrari              1:23.657  + 1.225     
 7.  Barrichello   Stewart Ford         1:23.739  + 1.307     
 8.  Irvine        Ferrari              1:23.765  + 1.333     
 9.  Hill          Jordan Mugen-Honda   1:23.979  + 1.547     
10.  Panis         Prost Peugeot        1:24.016  + 1.584     
11.  Villeneuve    BAR Supertec         1:24.188  + 1.756     
12.  Trulli        Prost Peugeot        1:24.293  + 1.861     
13.  Alesi         Sauber Petronas      1:24.591  + 2.159     
14.  Wurz          Benetton Supertec    1:24.593  + 2.161     
15.  Herbert       Stewart Ford         1:24.594  + 2.162     
16.  Diniz         Sauber Petronas      1:24.596  + 2.164     
17.  Fisichella    Benetton Supertec    1:24.862  + 2.430     
18.  Zonta         BAR Supertec         1:25.114  + 2.682     
19.  Badoer        Minardi Ford         1:25.348  + 2.916     
20.  Gene          Minardi Ford         1:25.695  + 3.263     
21.  de la Rosa    Arrows TWR           1:26.383  + 3.951     
22.  Takagi        Arrows TWR           1:26.509  + 4.077     

All Timing Unofficial