Mika Hakkinen boosted his hopes of scoring his first pole position of the season after powering to the top of the time-sheets in the Monaco Grand prix today.
The Finn set the pace in the final practice session for McLaren and will be looking to maintain that supremacy during qualifying in Monte Carlo this morning.
Hakkinen finished just under 0.2 seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher after seeing his Ferrari rival post a time that was two seconds quicker than the rest of the field earlier in the session.
The 32-year-old Hakkinen really has to win tomorrow's race on the streets of the Mediterranean Principality if he is to keep his flagging title hopes alive and eat into his 38-point deficit to Schumacher.
Ralf Schumacher, who had gone quickest in the opening session after practice resumed after yesterday's day-off, was third fastest in his Williams.
David Coulthard, who trails reigning champion Schumacher by just four points, finished back in fourth spot almost 0.8sec adrift of his McLaren team-mate Hakkinen.
Coulthard's McLaren team have been told by three-time former champion Jackie Stewart that they have to order Hakkinen to help the Scotsman now if Schumacher is going to be denied another title for Ferrari.
Eddie Irvine was a fine fifth fastest for Jaguar Racing in his bid to claim a top 10 place on the grid for the first time this season.
Jarno Trulli was sixth for Jordan who suffered a set-back when Heinz-Harald Frentzen's car stopped on the track in the second session and the German wound-up 10th.
Reuters