The pit lane exit was moved from the entry of the Senna S chicane to the Repa Opposta straight. A larger run-off area was installed to the outside of Laranjinha turn and its concrete barrier was padded with tyres, after Ricardo Zonta had crashed and been injured during the 1999 race. Charlie Whiting, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; Formula One's governing body) technical delegate, inspected the circuit and ordered the pit lane barriers to be moved for better driver access. The drivers had mixed feelings over the resurfacing work. Eddie Irvine of the Jaguar team criticised the track's condition. His teammate Johnny Herbert described the bumps approaching the start/finish straight as "horrendous" and raised concerns over a repeat of an accident sustained by Stéphane Sarrazin in 1999. Barrichello and his teammate Michael Schumacher, on the other hand, said the track was better for them. There were 11 teams (each representing a different constructor) entering two drivers each for the Grand Prix with no changes from the season entry list. Several teams altered their cars, either to refine their aerodynamic appendages or to solve reliability problems that emerged during the Australian Grand Prix. McLaren identified an air filter failure that had the pneumatic valve system problem in the previous race, and modified its design to prevent a recurrence. Ford-Cosworth modified its engine lubrication system and the Arrows team altered the design of the steering linkage. The FIA granted Arrows permission to enter the race after changing the design of the headrests to protect the driver in its A21 car. Practice There were four practice sessions preceding Sunday's race, two one-hour sessions on Friday, and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday. The weather was hot and clear for the Friday sessions. Barrichello made minor changes to the aerodynamic setup of his car before the morning session, and was fastest with a 1-minute, 17.631 seconds lap. Häkkinen, Coulthard, Michael Schumacher, Villeneuve, Prost's Jean Alesi, Fisichella, Heinz-Harald Frentzen of the Jordan team, Sauber driver Mika Salo and Arrows' Jos Verstappen rounded out the session's top ten drivers. During the session, Alesi spun three times and removed the front wing on the third occurrence. Michael Schumacher's session ended early after eight laps due to a driveshaft joint leak and Zonta was restricted to four timed laps after debris accumulation overheated his engine. Practice was interrupted when a stray dog ran onto the circuit and was