the race, both the Drivers' Championship and Constructors' Championship were already settled, with Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher having claimed both titles in the preceding Hungarian Grand Prix, with their nearest rivals McLaren too many points behind to be able to catch them. Several positions in the standings were undecided. In the battle for second place, David Coulthard of McLaren was five points in front of the second Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello in third and a further two ahead of Williams' Ralf Schumacher in fourth. In the Constructors' standings, McLaren in second were 13 points ahead of Williams, while Sauber and British American Racing (BAR) contended for fourth. Although a crash during testing at the Mugello Circuit left him with a sore neck, doctors deemed Michael Schumacher fit to compete in Belgium. He stated that he would be unwilling to be concentrated in his driving, and did not say when he felt he would surpass four-time world champion Alain Prost's all-time record of 51 race victories, which he equalled in Hungary. Coulthard said he set himself the objective of winning the season 's final four races to consolidate second in the Drivers' Championship. Barrichello stated he had also targeted second and his teammate Michael Schumacher promised to help him, saying, "For me the season has just started." There were 11 teams (each representing a different constructor) of two drivers each entered for the Grand Prix. Several teams modified their cars to suit the mid-downforce setup of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. Williams debuted a lighter and stiffer chassis by for driver Ralf Schumacher with a revised aerodynamic package for better airflow to the FW23. Ferrari introduced a new front wing to the F2001 that was built upon a set of solutions tested in the previous race and adapted to suit the layout of the track. The Jordan team reverted to the aerodynamic configuration they used for the EJ11 at the preceding Hungarian Grand Prix. Prost adopted a new rear suspension geometry with a deformable structure and a new semi-axle structure, characterised by a large extractor profile. Benetton, Arrows and Jaguar carried over technical innovations developed for use in Hungary to Belgium, while Minardi manufactured a new chassis, the PS01B, which featured a revised rear crash structure and gearbox. Practice There were four scheduled practice sessions prior to Sunday's race, two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday. The Friday