not improve his time, although he remained the fastest. Button, much happier with his car's handling, set the second-fastest time. The Jordan drivers were third and fourth, with Trulli ahead of Frentzen. Ralf Schumacher and Coulthard completed the top six. Of the slower drivers, Marc Gené had an anxious moment when his Minardi car shed its engine cover but was able to return to his garage. Qualifying Saturday afternoon's one hour qualifying session each driver was limited to twelve laps, with the starting order decided by their fastest laps. During this session the 107% rule was in effect, requiring each driver to remain within 107 per cent of the fastest lap time to qualify for the race. The session was held in dry and sunny weather. Häkkinen was unhindered by slower traffic, clinched his fifth pole position of the season, his third at the circuit and the 26th of his career with a time of 1 minute, 50.646 seconds; although he was optimistic about his race prospects, he was concerned about the start. Häkkinen was joined in the front row of the grid by Trulli, who equalled his best qualifying performance of the season (at the ). Trulli was also optimistic about his chances because of the Jordan team's strong record at the circuit. Button had a new qualifying engine installed in the rear of his vehicle which was the same as his teammate's one. He opted to fine-tune his setup to qualify third in his best-qualifying position of the season despite a power steering issue. He said he was happy with his starting position. Michael Schumacher, who had been impeded by traffic and had his quickest time slowed by a yellow flag for an incident, secured fourth position, nine-tenths of a second behind Häkkinen, setting a lap which demoted Häkkinen's teammate Coulthard into fifth. Coulthard, who had problems with grip, believed that he could have had a faster lap time due to slower cars impeding his final two runs and a requirement to slow for the Bus Stop chicane following an incident. Ralf Schumacher secured sixth position after being caught in traffic during his final run, keeping the Williams driver from a quicker lap time. Villeneuve, in seventh, reported oversteering, and was upset he could not through Eau Rouge corner at high speed. Frentzen qualified eighth; his best lap time was disqualified after Coulthard blocked him at the Bus