calendar, Jaguar drivers Eddie Irvine and Johnny Herbert drove a demonstration lap aboard a Jaguar R1 and a Taxicab around Broadway in New York City on the Tuesday afternoon before the race. Going into the race, McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen led the Drivers' Championship with 80 points, ahead of Michael Schumacher on 78 points and David Coulthard on 61 points. Rubens Barrichello was fourth on 49 points with Ralf Schumacher fifth on 24 points. In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren were leading with 131 points ahead of their rivals Ferrari on 127 points. Williams were third with 34 points, while Benetton on 20 and Jordan with 17 points contended for fourth place. Following the on 10 September, the teams conducted testing sessions at various circuits across Europe between 11 and 15 September. Ferrari, McLaren and Sauber opted to test at the Mugello Circuit. McLaren test driver Olivier Panis was fastest on the first day, ahead of Sauber's Pedro Diniz. Panis remained fastest on the second and final days. The Williams and Benetton teams chose to test at the Autódromo do Estoril circuit where Ralf Schumacher set the first day's fastest times. Jaguar and BAR performed their testing at the Silverstone Circuit where Jaguar's test driver Luciano Burti was fastest on the first day. The circuit received a mixed response. Willams driver Jenson Button described the track as a "great circuit". However, BAR's Jacques Villeneuve was vocally critical of the track claiming that it would be "very difficult to get a good lap" and he also found the infield section "very slow". Mika Salo of Sauber stated that he disliked the first three hairpins although he was satisfied with the rest of the circuit. Practice There were four practice sessions preceding Sunday's race, two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday Friday's morning and afternoon practice sessions took place in warm and dry conditions. Michael Schumacher was fastest in the first practice session, with a time of 1 minute and 14.927 seconds; Barrichello had the second fastest time. Häkkinen set the third fastest time although his car's gearbox was changed. Button was fourth fastest, ahead of Villeneuve and Alexander Wurz. The two Jordan drivers were seventh and eighth (with Trulli ahead of Heinz-Harald Frentzen). Irvine and Nick Heidfeld rounded out the top ten fastest drivers. An electrical failure prevented Coulthard from participating as he was pushed onto the circuit