Confident Frentzen eyes victory

The German suffered a nightmare in practice, engine and gearbox problems combining to severely restrict his track time, but bounced back with a superb last-minute lap on a drying track.

He had spent most of the session in the garage waiting to go out, and timed the move to perfection, snatching pole on the last lap of the qualifying hour.

Frentzen seemed surprised by his success.

'It's great to be on pole, I can't believe it,' he spluttered. 'Everything happened so suddenly. We had gearbox problems on Friday and had to change an engine this morning, so we never really got into a rhythm.'

Even Heinz-Harald had a chaotic session, arguing with his team over the best time to go out, then having to make a last minute switch to dry tyres.

'Thank god the radio was working. I thought: 'Jesus, the track is almost dry,'' he recalled. 'I came in and they did a race style tyre change and sent me out again. We did it just in time.

'I have to apologise to the team because we had friction in the session. We were shouting at each other over the radio about when was the best time to go out.'

When Frentzen was asked about the potential form of the McLarens tomorrow, his sarcastic reply showed just how confident he is about his chances.

'I think they will blow me off at the start and run away with it...' he joked. 'I'm amazed how good the car was. I am confident we will be strong in the race.'

He was backed up by his team-mate Damon Hill, who also held pole for a while but eventually slumped to seventh.

'I feel very good and positive about the car,' said Hill. 'It shows we can be competitive on twisty tracks as well as high speed circuits. Eddie is sitting on a very strong team at the moment.'