practice sessions were held in cool and overcast conditions that turned to a downpour in the afternoon, causing several drivers to aquaplane on the wet track. In the first practice session, Michael Schumacher was fastest with a lap of 1 minute, 48.655 seconds, followed by Jordan's Jarno Trulli, Barrichello, Mika Häkkinen of McLaren, Ralf Schumacher, Jean Alesi in the second Jordan, the Saubers of Kimi Räikkönen and Nick Heidfeld, Juan Pablo Montoya of Williams and Giancarlo Fisichella's Benetton. Coulthard lost control of his car by running wide onto sodden dirt, hitting a kerb at the exit of Les Fagnes corner, a right-hander taken at and collided with a left-hand side metal barrier head-on, tearing the right-front wheel from his car's tethers. His damaged car skidded backwards along the wall before stopping. Coulthard clambered out of the car unhurt; he missed the second practice session while it was repaired. Michael Schumacher recorded the day's quickest lap in the second session at 1 minute, 48.655 seconds. Trulli did not improve his lap but duplicated his first session result in second. Barrichello remained in third, with Fisichella was fourth-fastest, ahead of Häkkinen and his compatriot Räikkönen. Ralf Schumacher, Jaguar driver Eddie Irvine, Alesi and Benetton's Jenson Button rounded out the top ten fastest drivers. Rain fell came 16 minutes in and eased five minutes later. Button hit an armco metal barrier along the pit lane exiting the Bus Stop chicane. The impact damaged a track-rod on Button's car. As Michael Schumacher was about to overtake Pedro de la Rosa's Jaguar going downhill to Eau Rouge corner, he could not see him due to spray reducing visibility and he hit the rear of de la Rosa's car. His front wing was broken and de la Rosa's left-rear wheel was punctured. Montoya lost control of his car on a wet kerb and he damaged it after a spin into a tyre wall out of Les Combes corner. The third practice session was delayed for two hours due to fog, rain showers and low clouds reducing visibility. Race organisers later cancelled it for safety reasons because the emergency medical helicopters were grounded in Liège. When the sky cleared at 10:00 local time, it was agreed by the Grand Prix organisers that a single 45-minute session would be held without practice starts to prevent a delay in television coverage for qualifying. Williams led the session with Montoya