Toranosuke Takagi
In the pre-race warm up session, Coulthard and Häkkinen took turns setting the fastest time. Eventually Coulthard was quickest with 1 minute and 32.560 seconds, one-tenth ahead of Häkkinen. Panis performed better and beat his qualifying time, while other drivers were having problems. Hill went off and straight into the tyre barriers after the throttle had stuck open, and Zanardi had to switch to the spare car because of electrical problems with his race car. Ralf Schumacher got bogged down in the gravel, while Badoer, Coulthard, Diniz, Fisichella, de la Rosa, Toranosuke Takagi and Wurz all went off the track but were able to continue; Takagi only just missed the barriers. Alesi and Zonta collided when Zonta tried to pass and Alesi closed the door.