Hakkinen made to sweat over pole position

The Finn feared the stewards might take it away from him after he raced past yellow flags held by the marshals at Tabac corner where Damon Hill's stricken Jordan sat.

But after an hour's deliberations they said the Flying Finn could keep the 14th pole position of his career - the fourth in a row this season - and his second in succession here at Monaco where he won last year.

The McLaren driver said he had raised his arm at the scene of the flags held by marshals but was concerned they may have penalised him if they considered his actions dangerous.

Hakkinen had raced one of the most important laps of his life in qualifying as he snatched the top spot from Michael Schumacher.

The clock had already run out in the session as he and team-mate David Coulthard flashed across the finish line on their last run to capture first and third.

Wily Hakkinen got his defence in first before the issue went to the stewards.

'I could have been quicker. Particularly in the last sector, but on the television you can see I left my arm up after I saw the flags and I had to be a little bit cautious so I couldn't go really flat out - another tenth maybe,' he said.

'But it may not look like that on television because I was sitting in the middle. They were not waved flags, they were stationary. But whenever you have yellow flags you have to be careful about it because something is on the track.'