Latest from Imola qualifying

Regular updates from qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix. Click 'refresh' for updates

(all times in BST)

12.05: Marc Gene is the first driver to go out on track. Team mate Gaston Mazzacane then joins him.

12.07: Gene sets a time of 1m30.330s, then backs off dramatically. He pulls off at Tosa with a mechanical problem. Mazzacane does a 1m29.195.

12.10: Button on track, goes fastest with a lap of 1m28.273s

12.13: Button improves to 1m27.5s

12.16: Zonta, Wurz and Verstappen on track

12.25: Order after top drivers have completed their first runs: 1 Coulthard, 2 M Schumacher, 3 Hakkinen, 4 Trulli, 5 R Schumacher, 6 de la Rosa, 7 Barrichello, 8 Villeneuve, 9 Irvine, 10 Wurz, 11 Salo, 12 Fisichella, 13 Verstappen, 14 Zonta, 15 Button, 16 Diniz, 17 Heidfeld, 18 Mazzacane, 19 Herbert, 20 Gene. Alesi and Frentzen yet to set a time

12.27: Alesi goes 12th after first run. Frentzen goes 5th

12.30: Salo improves to 7th between Ralf Schumacher and de la Rosa

12.31: Barrichello goes 4th, Diniz goes 6th. De la Rosa fails to improve, Hakkinen comes out for second run

12.35: Hakkinen takes provisional pole by just under 0.6s. Coulthard also improving his time

12.36: Coulthard improves to 1m25.140s, but still 0.3s slower than Hakkinen

12.37: Michael Schumacher goes 2nd, just 0.03s off Hakkinen. Ralf Schumacher goes 4th

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

12.42: Barrichello out again but off the pace. Zonta improves to 13th, Herbert improves to 19th then aborts a quicker lap

12.44: Salo goes to 8th, just ahead of Diniz

12.47: Irvine improves to 5th, both McLarens on track

12.48: McLarens fails to go quicker, Schumacher looks set to snatch pole but abandons lap and pits

12.52: Herbert improves his time but remains 19th

12.55: Ralf Schumacher stops on course in a cloud of smoke

12.57: Barrichello improves to 4th, 0.2s off Schumacher, Villeneuve goes 9th

12.59: M Schumacher snatches pole by 0.025s, but Hakkinen is on a lap

13.01: Hakkinen retakes pole by 0.01s after one of the wildest pole laps in history, over the grass on the exit of Variante Alta and sideways out of the final. Full report to follow