was involved in what he described as his "biggest crash in F1 so far" when he lost control of his car at 290 km/h whilst negotiating the Eau Rouge corner. The session was halted for 25 minutes whilst his car was recovered, and although Villeneuve was taken to the medical centre at the circuit, he was not injured. In the third practice session held on the Saturday, McLaren were again the fastest cars with Häkkinen and Coulthard finishing the session with the first and second fastest times respectively. Damon Hill finished the session third, whilst Jacques Villeneuve finished in fourth place driving what was originally designated the Williams spare car after the damage caused to his original car on Friday. The Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine were fifth and sixth respectively. During the session, Mika Salo crashed heavily at Eau Rouge, and was taken to hospital as a precaution, but was cleared to take part in qualifying. The qualifying session took the form of a one-hour session held on Saturday afternoon; with each driver permitted to complete up to twelve laps. Häkkinen clinched his ninth pole position of the 1998 season with a time of 1:48.682. McLaren teammate Coulthard joined him on the front row, with a best time just under two-tenths of second slower than that of Häkkinen, the two drivers both having held the fastest lap at different points throughout the session. Hill qualified in third position, his highest of the season, with a time that was over a second slower than that of Häkkinen. Michael Schumacher, Häkkinen's main rival for the championship, qualified in fourth position, despite having his fastest laptime deleted, as the stewards decided he failed to slow down sufficiently when passing a yellow flag, which indicates a hazard on the track. In the event, it did not affect his position, as his fastest laptime would still have only been good enough for fourth position. Schumacher's Ferrari teammate, Eddie Irvine, finished the session fifth fastest and Villeneuve was sixth. Race Race day was very wet and Michael Schumacher was fastest in the morning warm-up session. Despite the heavy rain it was decided that the race would start at the scheduled time without a safety car, unlike the previous season's race. At the start Häkkinen led from a fast-starting Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella. Behind them, Coulthard suddenly emerged from the opaque spray