Ferrari further increased their lead in the World Constructors' Championship to 18 points as Benetton advanced from fourth to second with fifteen races remaining in the season.

[6] The high-altitude, anti-clockwise track featured significant elevation changes, putting a heavy load of g-force on the left side of drivers' necks.

Teams modified their cars to run at medium to high levels of downforce and dampers, springs and suspensions were tuned to adapt to the bumpy track surface.

[10] After faulty seals on their pneumatic valve systems forced him and two-time world champion Mika Häkkinen to retire from the preceding Australian Grand Prix, McLaren's David Coulthard predicted the team would start on the front row and win: "We weren't beaten fair and square in the race because we dropped out.

[12] Following Ricardo Zonta's crash and injury during the 1999 race, a larger run-off area was installed to the outside of Laranjinha turn, and its concrete barrier was padded with tyres.

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; Formula One's governing body) technical delegate, Charlie Whiting, inspected the circuit and ordered that the pit lane barriers be moved to improve driver access.

[14] His teammate Johnny Herbert described the bumps approaching the start/finish straight as "horrendous," raising concerns about a repeat of Stéphane Sarrazin's 1999 accident.

[17] Several teams modified their cars, either to refine aerodynamic appendages or to address reliability issues that arose during the Australian Grand Prix.

[18] McLaren identified an air filter failure which led to the pneumatic valve system problem in the previous race and modified its design to prevent it from reoccurring.

[16][20] Häkkinen, Coulthard, Michael Schumacher, Villeneuve, Prost's Jean Alesi, Fisichella, Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Sauber's Mika Salo and Arrows' Jos Verstappen rounded out the top ten drivers.

[16] Second through tenth were Michael Schumacher, Coulthard, Barrichello, Pedro de la Rosa's Arrows, Alesi, Verstappen, Jordan's Jarno Trulli, Villeneuve and Fisichella.

[16][22] Coulthard spent part of the session in the pit lane as McLaren replaced his front wing after he drove onto the grass midway through.

[23] Gastón Mazzacane's Minardi had an oil leak, limiting him to five timed laps and preventing him from participating in the final practise session later that day.

[4] Heavy rain fell during the session's final 15 minutes, making the track slippery and preventing drivers from lapping faster.

Ralf Schumacher was the fastest driver to not qualify in the top ten after trying different spring rates but failing to improve his chassis setup.

[34] He returned to the pit lane to drive the spare Jordan car; an electronic control unit fault affected its gear selection, leaving him 12th.

[23][27] Sauber announced its withdrawal from the race during the second stoppage, citing a lack of time in Brazil to analyse and repair the structural integrity of the rear wings on both of their cars.

[42][44] Alesi's engine failed, so he switched to the spare Prost AP03, which had a rear wing failure on the bumpy start/finish straight, resulting in a second stoppage.

[42][44] Prost examined Alesi's rear wing after the warm-up session and determined that its failure was caused by older bodywork parts on his car, and readied its spare chassis in case it was needed.

In the meantime, Trulli passed Zonta for eighth, Button overtook Alesi for 13th and Heidfeld lost 16th to de la Rosa.

[55][56] On lap 21, Irvine lost control of his vehicle's rear into the Bico de Pato hairpin and crashed into a tyre barrier.

Six laps later, Barrichello pulled into the pit lane with smoke billowing from his car due to a hydraulic motor issue that had spread from the steering wheel to the throttle linkage.

[51] Before he slowed with a loss of oil engine pressure on the 30th lap, Häkkinen had pulled away to lead Michael Schumacher by 12 seconds since there was less fuel in his car.

[28][51] Four laps later, Frentzen was the first driver on a one-stop strategy to enter the pit lane earlier than scheduled because of heavy rear tyre wear losing him five seconds.

[49][54] Button battled Verstappen for several laps before passing him for seventh on the 56th,[53] as Trulli made a pit stop from fourth after his second set of tyres slowed him slightly and rejoined the track in fifth.

[6][62] The Ferrari, McLaren, Jordan, and Williams teams had a successful appeal because the bumpy racing surface caused wear from cars bottoming out.

Adrian Newey, McLaren's technical director, rejected the stewards' offer to transport Coulthard's car to Paris for a fair hearing and instead agreed to a set of four measurements in São Paulo.

McLaren filed an appeal, claiming that vibrations from the bumpy racing surface damaged and shifted the car's undertray and chassis.

[6] He expressed his disappointment at having to retire from the race's lead, "Nothing can describe how I feel, We have been quick all weekend, right the way through, so I am not happy to be leaving Brazil without any points.

"[58] Button was quoted in the press as saying that he would rather score points in the race than a court of appeal, "I heard the news about David as I was making my way to the airport to fly back from Brazil – and I can't say it gave me any great feeling of joy.