had been the first to go out, but he could not do better than seventh, with a gap of over 1.5 seconds to the McLarens. Several drivers went off the track again including Coulthard, Frentzen, Hill, Ralf Schumacher and Zanardi. The Sauber team had somewhat more serious problems: Pedro Diniz stopped on track as a precaution when warning lights lit up, while his teammate Jean Alesi hit the wall. Zanardi and Zonta also stopped on track; Zonta's transmission broke and he ended the session last because of it, just behind de la Rosa, Gené and Badoer. Saturday The first quick time on Saturday was set by Ralf Schumacher, and Frentzen momentarily topped the list as well before Coulthard took the lead. After three improvements his best time was 1 minute and 31.140 seconds, but Häkkinen went marginally quicker just before the break. Gené and Hill spun off into the gravel, while Zonta stopped on track again with transmission problems. After the break Wurz spun into the tyre barriers and caused a red flag. Both the Sauber drivers, as well as de la Rosa and Trulli ended their session prematurely after a spin, while most drivers missed a corner once or twice, getting used to the lower grip level of the new 4-grooved front tires. Despite that, the dominance of McLaren took on breath-taking form. Häkkinen was fastest with a time of 1 minute and 30.324 seconds, six-tenths quicker than teammate Coulthard and a full 2.2 seconds faster than third man Herbert. The next second covered another 11 cars, down to Ralf Schumacher in 15th place. Hill was fourth, followed by Jacques Villeneuve, who beat Michael Schumacher and did better than his BAR teammate Zonta, who completed only three laps and ended the session last, again. Qualifying The results of the qualifying session were basically the same as the year before: Häkkinen beat Coulthard, while Michael Schumacher lead the rest of the field. After ten minutes, Herbert was the first to go out and set a time, followed by Zanardi who was marginally quicker on his fourth consecutive fast lap. After that, Barrichello took over first place, until the McLarens came out. Häkkinen made a mistake and spoiled his first run, but then took a firm lead with a time of 1 minute and 31.063 seconds. Coulthard was two-tenths slower and spun off into the gravel, but was able to continue.