Qualifying latest

All times in BST

12.01: Marc Gene is first out on track in the Minardi. Sets a time of 1m55.426s

12.05: Alex Zanardi on track. He had problems with the brakes in the morning, trying out both steel and carbon discs.

12.07: Tora Takagi on track.

12.09: Zanardi fastest on 1m53.014s. Alex Wurz also on a fast lap. Zanardi quicker than he was this morning, despite a big 'wobble' through Stavelot

12.10: Order: Zanardi, Wurz, Badoer, Takagi, Gene. Panis and Zonta on track

12.11: Panis goes second, 0.134s slower than Zanardi.

12.12: Zonta goes fastest on 1m52.840s. Villeneuve on a very fast lap

12.13: Villeneuve on provisional pole, 1m52.235s. Coulthard on track

12.14: Fisichella, Barrichello and Panis on track

12.15: Order: Villeneuve, Zonta, Zanardi, Panis, Fisichella, Barrichello

12.16: Coulthard quickest, Frentzen second, Schumacher third

12.17: Hill goes third, 0.8s off the pace

12.19: Hakkinen fastest, 1m50.759s

12.20: Ferrari's on track but both struggling in faster corners. Irvine 6th, Salo 8th

12.21: Order: 1. Hakkinen; 2. Coulthard; 3. Frentzen; 4. Hill; 5. Schumacher; 6. Irvine; 7. Villeneuve; 8. Salo; 9. Trulli; 10. Zonta; 11. Herbert; 12. Zanardi; 13. Panis; 14. Fisichella; 15. Barrichello; 16. Alesi; 17. Wurz; 18. Diniz; 19. Badoer; 20. Gene; 21.De la Rosa; 22. Takagi

12.24: Barrichello and Zanardi on track, the former nearly loses it into La Source and is unlikely to be a big impact on this lap. Villeneuve has set the fastest speed down the straight, presumably running minimal downforce

12.26: Zanardi up to 9th, Barrichello to 13th

12.27: Schumacher pips Hill and moves up to 4th

12.28: Wurz on a slow lap. Irvine making adjustments to his rear wing settings

12.31: Villeneuve has enormous accident through Eau Rouge. Session stopped, he jumps out of the car and runs back to the pits

12.33: Villeneuve's car is totally wrecked. Red flags cause several drivers to abort fast laps, including Frentzen.

12.34: Villeneuve actually rolled through the gravel as he rebounded off the tyre wall. The spare car is already out in the pitlane being readied.

12.35: Order: Hakkinen; Coulthard; Frentzen; Schumacher; Hill; Irvine; Villeneuve; Salo; Zanardi; Trulli; Zonta; Herbert; Barrichello; Panis; Fisichella; Alesi; Wurz; Diniz; Badoer; Takagi; Gene; De La Rosa.

12.37: BAR boss Craig Pollock confirms that Villeneuve is unhurt. The Canadian jumped straight out of his car and ran to the pits. The accident was almost identical to the one he suffered in practice here last year, but much more destructive on this occasion. He appeared to be absolutely flat through Eau Rouge despite his low downforce, but lost the back end of the car through the second part of the corner

12.46: Irvine off the pace, 0.6s slower than his best. Coulthard on track and going quicker than Hakkinen in the first section

12.47: Coulthard takes provisional pole by 0.275s but Hakkinen is on an even faster lap

12.48: Hakkinen back on top with a 1m50.332s lap.

12.48: Johnny Herbert goes 6th quickest. Trulli and Fisichella also looking to improve

12.49: Zonta has huge accident in Eau Rouge but appears to be okay. Session stopped

12.50: Zonta lost it in the same way as Villeneuve, but slightly earlier in the corner. He span across the gravel, dug in and rolled at high-speed, slamming into the tyre wall and ripping all four corners off the car. He has got into the safety car to be driven back to the pits

13.01: Session due to restart in four minutes. Zonta fit enough to sign autographs for marshals. Teams being warned that Eau Rouge is covered in oil, which is hardly ideal...

13.06: Session restarts. Still 19 minutes to run.

13.09: Hill and Irvine go out onto the track. Oil flags being waved through Eau Rouge but the surface looks okay. Track temperature is dropping, so as soon as the track is cleaned through Eau Rouge the times should start tumbling

13.10: Villeneuve on track. De la Rosa appears to have pulled off and stopped just past the pit lane exit

13.11: Frentzen going quickly but makes a mistake and backs off

13.13: Hill goes 3rd, 1.072s off pole

13.14: Irvine and Salo go up to 6th and 7th

13.15: Wurz and Alesi improve to 14th and 15th.

13.16: Villeneuve aborts his flying lap after a couple of mistakes. Fisichella on track but nearly 2s off in the first section

13.17: Hakkinen leaves pit lane on his 'out' lap

13.18: Zanardi improves his time but cannot quite depose Villeneuve. He stays 10th

13.19: Barrichello goes from 16th to 7th as Hakkinen goes even quicker in the first sector

13.20: Hakkinen improves, but only by 0.003s

13.21: Schumacher goes to 4th

13.23: Frentzen improves on his last lap and beats Hill to 3rd

13.24: Coulthard fails to go quicker on his final run. Hill on a last flying lap

13.26: Hill gets sideways into the Bus Stop and fails to improve. Zanardi goes 8th, Wurz goes 15th. Ferrari's on final laps

Hakkinen and Coulthard on front row, ahead of the Jordans. Full story to follow