his nearest championship rival David Coulthard of McLaren (40) and Rubens Barrichello in the second Ferrari (24). Williams' Ralf Schumacher was in fourth on twelve points and Nick Heidfeld of Sauber was fifth with eight points. Ferrari led the Constructors' Championship with 76 points; McLaren and Williams were second and third with 44 and 18 points respectively. Jordan with 13 points and Sauber with twelve contended for fourth place in the standings. Michael Schumacher had won the Canadian Grand Prix four times in his career up until the 2001 race and spoke of his confidence that he could win at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the fifth time despite his dislike of the track due to his preference of high-speed corners, "The records I have in Montreal are good but that means nothing now as it is a new challenge. We need to be prepared to do a good job. It will be a tight competition between us and probably McLaren and Williams, and anyone else who has improved a lot." His brother Ralf Schumacher stated that he hoped to extend his points tally after a poor performance at the preceding Monaco Grand Prix, "I think the Circuit Giles Villeneuve could be pretty favourable to our car as we have a powerful engine, which is essential there. It's not particularly demanding on the drivers, as it is basically a "stop-and-go" track. I like Montreal and I am looking forward to being there, hoping this time I will be able to finish my race and be in the points." Practice Four practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—two on Friday, and two on Saturday. The Friday morning and afternoon sessions each lasted an hour. The third and final practice sessions were held on Saturday morning and lasted 45 minutes. Conditions were dry and sunny for the Friday practice sessions. Coulthard was fastest in the first practice session with a time of one minute and 18.763 seconds, almost four-tenths of a second faster than Barrichello in second. His teammate Michael Schumacher was third and was fastest before Coulthard's and Barrichello's late session laps. Mika Häkkinen, Olivier Panis, Heidfeld, Jarno Trulli, Kimi Räikkönen, Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya rounded out the session's top ten drivers. Jacques Villeneuve lost the rear of his BAR leaving turn five and struck the barriers lining the circuit at the next corner, heavily damaging his car