Mika Hakkinen took pole position for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone despite concerted efforts to oust him from both Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve.


The Finn wound half a second quicker than Schumacher but came close to losing top slot when the German was up on all the split times during his final run. Only a slide at Abbey saved Hakkinen's position, leaving Schumacher second overall after aborting the attempt.


Hakkinen had emerged from a competitive first day on Friday to be clear favourite for both qualifying and race honours after a scintillating morning's practice, where he recorded times almost a second quicker than anyone else, his team-mate included. The afternoon qualifying session looked to be heading the same way before Schumacher found the speed to close the gap.


Behind them in a surprise third position was the reigning champion Jacques Villeneuve. The Canadian was clearly pleased with the improved handling of his Williams-Mecachrome, and made inroads throughout the opening sessions. Nevertheless, he languished down the order as he went for his final qualifying run, and wrung the car's neck en route to his highest qualifying slot of the season. Late efforts from McLaren's David Coulthard and Ferrari's Eddie Irvine both failed to dislodge Villeneuve, who left the circuit praying for a dry race after finishing less than a second off pole.


Coulthard would line-up in fourth place, describing the session as (the most disappointing of my career.) His car lacked the pace of Hakkinen's and, in falling behind Villeneuve, the Scot slumped to his worst qualifying position of the year. Irvine, too, was lower than expected, recording fifth place after a difficult session. The Irishman was still playing catch-up after sliding off at Priory on the opening lap of Friday's untimed practice and could not get enough from the car to pip Villeneuve on his last lap.



Behind the leading quintet, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Damon Hill, Jean Alesi, Johnny Herbert and Giancarlo Fisichella completed the top ten. The German had been quicker than team-mate Villeneuve for much of the weekend, but could not repeat the feat when it mattered. Hill came out on top of the inter-Jordan battle, while Alesi won the Sauber equivalent by a mere three-thousandths of a second.



Fisichella - and all those behind him benefited from the removal to the back of the grid of Ralf Schumacher. The German had put his Jordan off the circuit early in the session and was forced to take team-mate Hill's spare in order to record a qualifying time. A fine effort, good enough for tenth overall, was then nullified when he failed the exit time test, and was relegated to 21st position after a meeting of the stewards.



Olivier Panis was the man to separate Schumacher from the ignominy of last place, again courtesy of the officials. The Prost driver lost his fifteenth place with the same problem as his German rival, promoting the Stewart of Jos Verstappen in his place. The Dutchman outqualified experienced team-mate Rubens Barrichello at the second attempt after replacing Jan Magnussen, as the Brazilian suffered from a lack of track time.



The Arrows pairing were higher up the grid courtesy of their improved self-badged engine, while Tora Takagi again performed miracles with the under-powered and under-funded Tyrrell. Having appeared in 13th place in the untimed sessions, the Japanese rookie was forced back in qualifying, but still wound up an impressive 17th overall.