25 minutes prevented drivers from improving their lap times due to a slippery track. Every driver exited the pit lane with two minutes of qualifying left in order to try and get the maximum possible benefit of driving on a dry circuit. Coulthard took McLaren's first pole position in event history, his first since the 1998 Canadian Grand Prix and the ninth of his career with a lap of 1 minute and 17.529 seconds. He was joined on the grid's front row by Michael Schumacher who had the pole position until Coulthard's time and ran wide at the Ford Kurve. This formation continued on the second row with Häkkinen third after not feeling confident in the setup of his car and Barrichello took fourth after driver errors on his first two timed laps. Fifth-placed Ralf Schumacher was caught out by the change in conditions on a timed lap and went straight on at the Veedol chicane. Trulli, nursing a perforated eardrum, improved in the final minutes to go sixth, while Fisichella in seventh was delayed by Ralf Schumacher at the Coca-Cola Kurve. Jaguar's Eddie Irvine was baulked by one of the Prost cars en route to eighth as Villeneuve in ninth could not begin a fourth timed lap before qualifying ended. Frentzen qualified tenth as Jos Verstappen's Arrows car slowed his first timed lap. Button in 11th bemoaned venturing onto the track earlier than planned for his first timed lap and slower traffic hindered his final lap. A strategic error by the Arrows team meant De La Rosa was 12th and his teammate Verstappen 14th. They were separated by Heidfeld who fell from ninth to 13th in qualifying's final moments because he did not start a fourth timed lap. Wurz was caught out by the change in the weather and took 15th. Diniz in 16th mistimed a chance to begin his final timed lap and Johnny Herbert's Jaguar was 17th. Jean Alesi, who took 18th place, switched to the spare Prost setup for his teammate Heidfeld after his race car's electronic management system ceased the gearbox. He spun on the wet track and returned to the pit lane to retake his race car until the gearbox failed. Zonta qualified in 19th because his car's setup slowed him and another driver prevented him from setting his final timed lap because the session ended less than a second before he crossed the