twelve laps, with the starting order decided by their fastest laps. During this session, the 107% rule was in effect, which necessitated each driver to set a time within 107 per cent of the quickest lap to qualify for the race. The track was clean from the heavy rain showers and lap times progressively got faster as the session progressed. The weather conditions were sunny and the air temperature was and the track temperature ranged between . Michael Schumacher clinched the 40th pole position of his career, his eighth of the 2001 season and his first at the Silverstone circuit, with a time of 1:20.477. He reported that the qualifying session was difficult for him and he used his first two quick runs to fine tune his car's set-up because of the lack of running on a dry track during Saturday's practice sessions. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Häkkinen who recorded a lap time 0.082 seconds off Michael Schumacher's pace. He said he was pleased to be on the front row and close to the pole position, but lost time because he was held up on his final quick run which he felt cost him the chance to secure the pole position. Coulthard took third and said he was unable to find the optimum balance for his McLaren because of the changing track conditions. Trulli qualified fourth despite running over a kerb at the exit of Becketts corner which damaged his front-left suspension causing him to slow and then pulled over to the side of the circuit. His Jordan teammate Frentzen secured fifth position and reported no problems with his car. Barrichello took sixth place and he spent his first two runs on his set-up, and lost time on his fourth run because he was twice blocked by Enrique Bernoldi's Arrows (who was on an in-lap), preventing Barrichello from improving on his lap time. Räikkönen and Heidfeld took seventh and ninth positions respectively for Sauber; Räikkönen was satisfied with his starting position as he made small changes to the handling balance of his C20 chassis, whilst Heidfeld was held up by Ralf Schumacher and both McLarens who were driving slowly in the final section of the track, causing Heidfeld to go up across an inside kerb and onto grass which lost him three-tenths of a second. The two Saubers were sandwiched by Montoya in