European Grand Prix qualifying

(all times in German time)

13.59: M Schumacher is just 0.2s off the pace in the first split then locks up and runs incredibly wide in turn five. Hakkinen also fails to improve

13.57: Everyone decides to go for it anyway. The entire field comes out of the pits...

13.52: There now seems little chance that anyone will be able to improve their times. Order: 1 Coulthard, 2 M Schumacher, 3 Hakkinen, 4 Barrichello, 5 R Schumacher, 6 Fisichella, 7 Trulli, 8 Irvine, 9 Villeneuve, 10 Frentzen, 11 Heidfeld, 12 Button, 13 de la Rosa, 14 Verstappen, 15 Diniz, 16 Herbert, 17 Alesi, 18 Zonta, 19 Salo, 20 Wurz, 21 Gene, 22 Mazzacane

13.50: Alesi crashes on the exit of turn five, getting massive oversteer when he tried to accelerate out of the corner and spinning across the track and into the tyre wall, damaging the front and rear wings and ending his session.

13.48: Heidfeld abandons his lap, he was already 5s slower than the best times after two sectors. Alesi and Mazzacane are out

13.47: Villeneuve also goes out but Heidfeld's first sector time is extremely slow. The pits side of the track is dry again but the rest of the circuit could be too damp for any more real action.

13.46: Heidfeld goes out, although the rain is still falling on some parts of the track. Most of the frontrunners are still in their cars and ready to go out

13.37: The rain eases so the action may not be over yet... There is a chance that the track may be dry enough in the final minutes for a last-gasp dash

13.33: All cars on track abandon their laps as the rain falls more heavily. Order: 1 Coulthard, 2 M Schumacher, 3 Hakkinen, 4 Barrichello, 5 R Schumacher, 6 Fisichella, 7 Trulli, 8 Irvine, 9 Villeneuve, 10 Frentzen, 11 Heidfeld, 12 Button, 13 de la Rosa, 14 Verstappen, 15 Diniz, 16 Herbert, 17 Alesi, 18 Zonta, 19 Salo, 20 Wurz, 21 Gene, 22 Mazzacane

13.32: Rain starts to fall. R Schumacher abandons a lap after sliding over the grass at the Veedol chicane

13.30: Frentzen and Verstappen nearly make contact twice after getting in each other's way at turn five. Barrichello is waiting in the Ferrari pit while his mechanics work on the front suspension. Alesi finally takes to the track but the Prost still looks like a real handful to drive.

13.29: Coulthard takes provisional pole and M Schumacher takes second. The cool conditions and dry track are producing incredibly fast times

13.27: Hakkinen takes provisional pole by 0.306s, the first man to break into the 1m17s bracket. Villeneuve goes seventh as M Schumacher gets very sideways out of turn two on his second run

13.26: Order- 1 M Schumacher, 2 Barrichello, 3 R Schumacher, 4 Coulthard, 5 Irvine, 6 Frentzen, 7 Hakkinen, 8 Heidfeld, 9 Button, 10 de la Rosa, 11 Villeneuve, 12 Fisichella, 13 Diniz, 14 Herbert, 15 Verstappen, 16 Zonta, 17 Trulli, 18 Salo, 19 Wurz, 20 Gene, 21 Mazzacane, 22 Alesi

13.25: Irvine improves to fifth. Everyone has set a time except Alesi

13.23: Both Williams complete second runs and improve, R Schumacher to third, Button to seventh. Clouds are now heavier than before.

13.22: Order after first runs: 1 M Schumacher, 2 Barrichello, 3 Coulthard, 4 Frentzen, 5 Hakkinen, 6 de la Rosa, 7 Villeneuve, 8 Fisichella, 9 Irvine, 10 Verstappen, 11 Heidfeld, 12 Trulli, 13 R Schumacher, 14 Diniz, 15 Button, 16 Herbert, 17 Zonta, 18 Salo, 19 Mazzacane, 20 Gene, 21 Wurz, 22 Alesi
13.15: The track is now drying, M Schumacher takes pole, 0.6s quicker than Coulthard and 1s quicker than Hakkinen. Every lap is quicker than the last as the track conditions get better and better

13.14: Hakkinen is 1.1s up on R Schumacher's pole time until the final corner, when he is baulked by Herbert's Jaguar. Hakkinen still takes provisional pole by a second but clearly lost time behind Herbert

13.10: R Schumacher still on pole but order behind now: 2 Verstappen, 3 de la Rosa, 4 Diniz, 5 Button, 6 Barrichello, 7 Gene. Wurz slid off the road and through the gravel at turn five

13.08: R Schumacher takes provisional pole ahead of Button, Barrichello and Gene. The sun has just come out but the times are about a second off the pace because of the wet patches. There are still heavy clouds in the sky however

13.06: The early rush begins as Diniz, de la Rosa and both Williams-BMWs take to the track. The track is very damp down at the turn five hairpin, as Barrichello proves with a massive sideways moment.

13.05: Gene is the first driver to set a time, lapping in 1m22.6s. Rain is threatening and there are damp patches off line.