Qualifying clockwatch: Austria

Montoya had his best qualifying session of the year

BBC Sport Online brings you minute-by-minute action from qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix.

Latest news first, scroll down for earlier action.

1300 BST: David Coulthard improves to seventh place. Second and third placed Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher fail to improve, ensuring Michael Schumacher is on pole position, despite running off the track on his last flying lap.

1259 BST: Mika Hakkinen again fails to improve. He is still seventh but has one more lap. Michael Schumacher is forced to abort his next flying lap after hitting traffic. He, too, has another lap.

1258 BST: Mika Hakkinen stays seventh after failing to improve on the first lap of his last run.

1256 BST: Sauber's Nick Heidfeld fails to improve on his last run. He stays sixth. All the top drivers start to come out for their last-ditch runs. Eddie Irvine finishes in his customary 13th position for Jaguar.

1255 BST: Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello fails to improve on his last lap and stays fourth fastest. He pays for mistakes in the last sector of his lap

1253 BST: Jacques Villeneuve, striving to match his team-mate Olivier Panis, fails to improve on his last run.

1251 BST: Jarno Trulli in the Jordan, fifth fastest, aborts his third run.

1249 BST: Second-place man Juan Pablo Montoya aborts his third run after getting very sideways at one of the right-handed corners.

1248 BST: David Coulthard tries again but aborts his lap. The McLaren team are mystified as to their sudden lack of pace.

1246 BST: A lull - the order is Michael Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya, Ralf Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, Jarno Trulli Nick Heidfeld, Mika Hakkinen, Kimi Raikkonen, David Coulthard and Olivier Panis.

1245 BST: Michael Schumacher aborts his second lap of his second run.

1244 BST: Michael Schumacher aborts the first lap of his second run after getting out of shape at the second corner. Jacques Villeneuve runs wide at the first corner.

1243 BST: Mika Hakkinen wrecks his lap by dropping a wheel into the dirt at the first corner.

1240 BST: Mika Hakkinen heads out of the pits hoping to improve McLaren's form. He and David Coulthard are well over half a second off the pace. Michael Schumacher follows him out.

1239 BST: Rubens Barrichello improves to 1:09.786s but stays fourth quickest behind Michael Schumacher and the two Williams cars.

1238 BST: Juan Pablo Montoya goes second, ahead of his team-mate, on 1:09.686s. The BMW-powered Williams are quickest through the fastest-speed traps.

1237 BST: Ralf Schumacher puts his Williams-BMW second fastest with a 1:09.769.

1236 BST: David Coulthard sets his first representative lap with a 1:10.760s, putting him eighth.

1234 BST: After the first runs, Michael Schumacher is fastest by 0.6s ahead of his team-mate Rubens Barrichello, Jarno Trulli, Mika Hakkinen, Ralf Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya

1233 BST: Michael Schumacher goes for a second lap on his first run and takes fastest time with a stunning 1:09.562s.

1232 BST: Rubens Barrichello sets a 1:10.162s. Mika Hakkinen sets his first time but is only fifth in 1:10.515s. Michael Schumacher meets traffic on his lap.

1229 BST: Ralf Schumacher beats his team-mate but Jarno Trulli goes quicker still with 1:10.202. Kimi Raikkonen in the Sauber demotes Montoya to fourth.

1228 BST: Juan Pablo Montoya goes fastest on 1:10.628. David Coulthard does not set a competitive time on his first run - he is seven seconds off the pace.

1227 BST: Jaguar's Eddie Irvine has a fast lap ruined when Jean Alesi's Prost spins in front of him.

1225 BST: Giancarlo Fisichella sets a 1:14.479 to go third. The top drivers start to come out, including David Coulthard of McLaren and Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya.

1224: BST: Luciano Burti in the Jaguar sets a 1:14.064 to go second to Enrique Bernoldi. Jenson Button is third fastest. Tarso Marques' Minardi spins at the first corner.

1223 BST: Jacques Villeneuve spins at the first corner on his first flying lap.

1223 BST: Bernoldi finishes the first flying lap in 1 minute 12.937 seconds.

1221 BST: Enrique Bernoldi's Arrows is the first car out, followed by Prost's Luciano Burti and Benetton's Jenson Button and a host of other cars.

1210 BST: Ten minutes gone and still no action on the track, although the top drivers, including David Coulthard, are starting to climb into their cars.

1200 BST: The pit lane is open but as usual everyone is waiting for others to go out to lay some rubber down, speeding up the track.

This problem is always worse in Austria than in many places because the track is low on grip, so the benefits of more rubber going down are greater.