There were four practice sessions held before the Sunday race, two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday. The Friday morning and afternoon practice sessions were held on a dry track early in the first practice session but it rained throughout the rest of the day. Frentzen was fastest in the first session with a time of 1:27.683, almost half a second quicker than Jaguar driver Eddie Irvine. The McLaren drivers were third and fourth, Coulthard faster than Häkkinen. Jarno Trulli was fifth, ahead of Villeneuve. Barrichello, Alexander Wurz, Fisichella and Marc Gené rounded out the top ten fastest drivers in the session. An electrical failure on Ralf Schumacher's car prevented him from setting a lap time. In the second practice session, Frentzen remained fastest with his lap from the first session; the circuit was too wet for him and others to improve their lap times. The session was disrupted as Coulthard's McLaren pulled out to the side of the Hangar Straight with an hydraulic problem – this required a suspension as the recovery vehicle got stuck in mud meaning a tractor had to pull it out—and Villeneuve nearly struck a marshal assisting Coulthard.
