as a consequence of a slipping clutch and the problem was fixed for the second session. It was sunny and warm for the second practice session. Barrichello was again fastest despite not improving his time from the first session; Michael Schumacher, Trulli, Häkkinen, Coulthard, Jaguar's Eddie Irvine, De La Rosa, Diniz, Verstappen and Sauber's Mika Salo completed the top ten drivers. Alesi's Prost had a hydraulic leak; this restricted him to three timed laps, and he was slowest overall. A similiar problem for Wurz saw him stop his car at the exit to Parabolica turn. Mazzacane spun off and took no further part in the session. Coulthard spun off under braking into the second Lesmo right-hand corner and beached his car in the gravel, which broke the McLaren's left-rear suspension arm and ended his running early. At the drivers' meeting held on Friday, drivers agreed to adopt a careful approach at the first chicane following a series of crashes at the first corner in recent events. They would not be imposed a ten-second penalty if they did not gain a position or an advantage after concerns were raised. The Saturday practice sessions were again held in dry and sunny conditions. Michael Schumacher set the fastest time of the third session, a 1:24.262. The Williams drivers were within the top five positions—Jenson Button with a lap set late in the session to go second and Ralf Schumacher fifth—they were separated by Coulthard and Barrichello in third and fourth. Fisichella, Villeneuve, Häkkinen, Salo and Johnny Herbert for Jaguar rounded out the top ten. Frentzen went wide onto the edge of some dust and damaged the car's front-left corner in an accident against the tyre barrier at Parabolica corner. Häkkinen ran onto the gravel and experienced difficulty regaining control of his car. In the final practice session, Michael Schumacher again set the fastest lap, a 1:23.904; Barrichello set the third fastest time. They were separated by Häkkinen with teammate Coulthard recording the fourth fastest time. Ralf Schumacher lapped quicker to remain in fifth position, ahead of his teammate Button in sixth after he was unable to replicate third session pace. Fisichella, Zonta, Villeneuve and Irvine (who suffered a rear suspension failure but regained control of his car) completed the top ten ahead of qualifying. Mazzacane again suffered problems with his car when his engine ran out of air pressure and was forced to