event's first free practice sessions whether he would compete. He confirmed his participation in the Grand Prix two days before the race. Teams approached the Grand Prix by focusing on their brake cooling systems; they installed larger air intakes to adapt to the braking demands of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. McLaren equipped their two race cars with power steering after testing it for half a year, studying a low weight solution. BAR fitted power steering to Jacques Villeneuve's vehicle just for Friday's free practice sessions because the team wished to wait to introduce it for future events. The only teams that were not using power steering were Arrows, Minardi, Prost, and Sauber. Jaguar did not fit a bonnet designed for high load aerodynamic downforce circuits that was introduced at the Monaco Grand Prix. Benetton introduced new front and rear ailerons and Sauber installed a qualifying specification Ferrari engine previously used at the . Practice There were four practice sessions that took place before the Sunday race—two one-hour sessions on Friday, and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday. The Friday morning and afternoon practice sessions took place in dry and hot weather conditions. Teams made changes to the setup of their cars while drivers tested the updates to their vehicles, reporting their effectiveness and any issues. A majority of incidents that occurred during the Friday practice session occurred at turns seven and eight. Michael Schumacher set the quickest time of the first practice session, at 1 minute and 21.304 seconds, almost one-tenth of a second faster than teammate Barrichello. The two McLaren drivers were third and fourth respectively; Coulthard ahead of Häkkinen. Jaguar driver Eddie Irvine was fifth fastest, in front of Sauber's Johnny Herbert. Arrows' Jos Verstappen, Fisichella, Villeneuve and Marc Gené of Minardi completed the top ten fastest drivers in the session. Heidfeld damaged his car's left front suspension in a crash early in the session, and Zonta twice lost control of his vehicle by pushing hard. In the second practice session, Coulthard lapped fastest at 1:20.602 with twenty minutes remaining, the quickest time of the day. Michael Schumacher and Barrichello were second and third, with Herbert lapping quicker in fourth. Häkkinen, fifth, reported inclement handling and excess understeer on the entry to turns. Jordan's Jarno Trulli, Mika Salo of Sauber, Irvine, Fisichella and Villeneuve followed in the top ten. The weather conditions became more breezy, cooler and cloudy in