2001 Belgian Grand Prix Race Report

and you need to have a clean and good lap. The circuit conditions became fairly even by the end of the session." Buoyed by his victory last time out in Hungary, Michael Schumacher took third with 1:54.685s - the German for once mis-reading the tricky situations. "I am not upset at only being third," the champion declared. "We timed the runs right but to be honest, it was very tight for us to run the dry tyres at the end. When I went out for the final run, I was not sure it would be all right, but luckily it just dried enough." Undoubtedly the surprise of the session, Heinz Harald Frentzen's time of 1:55.233s saw him good enough for 4th spot - the German judging his run perfectly. "I am so happy for the team and for myself," announced Frentzen. "To be honest I am really surprised that we could set such a good result here, on such a difficult track." Barrichello - who claimed his first career pole in similar conditions in '94, took fifth for Ferrari with 1:56.116s and remained optimistic for Sunday's race: "The result of qualifying was determined by the gradual changing condition of the track, and I did both my runs on intermediate tyres. Looking at the quickest times, set by those on the other brand of tyre to ours, I don't think that a change to dries would have seen me manage to get on the front row. Anyway, I think I am in quite a good grid position and the race result tomorrow could all come down to the weather." Happy with the handling of his car, Jacques Villeneuve broke with his annual tradition and omitted himself from visiting the wall at Eau Rouge - the French-Canadian taking 6th spot with a 1:57.038s lap. "The car was quick with both intermediates and dry tyres," he announced. "My qualifying lap wasn't very quick - I took it easy because I didn't want to make a mistake. I'm disappointed that we couldn't do another lap at the end but it's still good to be starting in 6th position to try for a good result in the race." Rounding out the top ten, Hakkinen claimed 7th with 1:57.043s, Fisichella impressively took 8th for Benetton with a 1:57.668s lap, Coulthard finished 9th with 1:58.008s and Jaguar's Pedro de la Rosa was 10th with 1:58.519s. Sunday dawned damp and unusually cold, with

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