following the , and the 10th of his career, with a lap time of 1:45.697. He was joined on the grid's front row by Michael Schumacher who was 1.3 seconds slower than Coulthard, going three-tenths of a second faster than his previous best lap to move from fourth to second. Fisichella qualified third in the spare Benetton car that had incorrect gear ratios. He spun on his first run and held second until Michael Schumacher's lap as the rain tapered off. Fisichella was fined $5,000 for not placing his car at the pit-lane weighbridge to allow the FIA to check if his vehicle was within the legal minimum weight limit. Häkkinen, who qualified fourth, three hundredths of a second slower than Fisichella, admitted to being cautious about going off the track due to the weather. De La Rosa in his then career-best qualifying performance qualified fifth in the spare Arrows car while his race vehicle was being prepared. Trulli and Wurz were both satisfied qualifying in sixth and seventh. Herbert was the quicker of the two Jaguars in eighth. Villeneuve secured ninth in his team's spare car after losing control of his car and stalling at the Jim Clark chicane, disrupting Frentzen's running. Irvine, tenth, was slowed by Gené midway in him trying to lap faster. Jos Verstappen had problems starting his engine, resulting in Arrows removing the car's floor to install a starter. A lack of qualifying laps for Verstappen left him 11th. Zonta, 12th, used a new engine and could not set a faster lap after catching by Alesi at the final chicane and being slowed by him into the stadium area. He was ahead of Alesi's teammate Nick Heidfeld in 13th whose lap was set simultaneously as Fisichella. Ralf Schumacher, 14th, was quicker than teammate Button in 16th; Williams were caught out by the change in conditions. They were separated by Salo in 15th who encountered two cars on his first fast lap and the weather prevented him from going faster. Frentzen, 17th, spent the majority of qualifying 107 per cent outside of the fastest lap; the stewards disallowed his first quick lap after he cut the first chicane in his attempt to find space and pass two slower vehicles to lap quicker and to avoid being hindered by aerodynamic turbulence. Barrichello, 18th, used his teammate's repaired race car after his vehicle developed oil-leak issues; his mechanics