Schumacher overtook the four-time world champion Alain Prost's all-time career wins total with his 52nd, a record he held until Lewis Hamilton surpassed it at the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix.

[9] In the Constructors' standings, McLaren in second were 13 points ahead of Williams, while Sauber and British American Racing (BAR) contended for fourth.

[9] Although a crash during testing at the Mugello Circuit left him with a sore neck, doctors deemed Michael Schumacher fit to compete in Belgium.

[10] He stated that he would be unwilling to be concentrated in his driving, and did not say when he felt he would surpass four-time world champion Alain Prost's all-time record of 51 race victories, which he equalled in Hungary.

[8] Williams debuted a lighter and stiffer chassis by 3 kg (6.6 lb) for driver Ralf Schumacher with a revised aerodynamic package for better airflow to the FW23.

Ferrari introduced a new front wing to the F2001 that was built upon a set of solutions tested in the previous race and adapted to suit the layout of the track.

Benetton, Arrows and Jaguar carried over technical innovations developed for use in Hungary to Belgium, while Minardi manufactured a new chassis, the PS01B, which featured a revised rear crash structure and gearbox.

[14] The Friday practice sessions were held in cool and overcast conditions that turned to a downpour in the afternoon, causing several drivers to aquaplane on the wet track.

[15] In the first practice session, Michael Schumacher was fastest with a lap of 1 minute, 48.655 seconds, followed by Jordan's Jarno Trulli, Barrichello, Mika Häkkinen of McLaren, Ralf Schumacher, Jean Alesi in the second Jordan, the Saubers of Kimi Räikkönen and Nick Heidfeld, Juan Pablo Montoya of Williams and Giancarlo Fisichella's Benetton.

[15][19] Montoya lost control of his car on a wet kerb and he damaged it after a spin into a tyre wall out of Les Combes corner.

[21][22] When the sky cleared at 10:00 local time,[21] it was agreed by the Grand Prix organisers that a single 45-minute session would be held without practice starts to prevent a delay in television coverage for qualifying.

Barrichello, Fisichella, Irvine, BAR driver Jacques Villeneuve, Button and Alesi completed the top ten ahead of qualifying.

De La Rosa, Irvine and Häkkinen went wide into the grass at the Bus Stop chicane, while Heinz-Harald Frentzen of the Prost team and Button ran off at Les Combes turn.

[14] Heavy rain at the start meant the field stayed in their garages for 26 minutes before cars on intermediate tyres ventured onto the track.

Häkkinen qualified in seventh, bemoaning his conservative driving style due to the timing of the switch from intermediate to dry tyres.

[27] Coulthard fell from third to ninth in qualifying's final seconds due to his team telling him there was insufficient time to have the dry tyres fitted to his car and traffic slowed him.

[24] Panis in 11th was affected by an electrical fault that a change of steering wheel failed to rectify; his third timed lap was set too late to improve his position.

18th-placed Luciano Burti of Prost was delayed for half a minute because of a tyre pressure adjustment error that prevented him from improving his best lap.

The Arrows and Minardi formation continued on the eleventh row with Enrique Bernoldi 21st after he lost time because he was called to the weighbridge with five minutes left and he ran out of fuel at the Bus Stop chicane.

[31] Afterwards, the McLaren team principal Ron Dennis lodged an official protest to the world governing body of motorsport, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), to clarify if the regulation barring drivers on improving their lap times under yellow flag conditions was consistent after 17 competitors went faster with yellow flags to tend to Heidfeld's car.

[44] After a medical inspection, he was flown by helicopter to the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Liège in a conscious and stable condition with a serious concussion.

[45][55][56] Fisichella made a fast start from sixth to pass the McLarens and Barrichello,[42] but not Michael Schumacher for first into the La Source hairpin.

After the pit stops, the Grand Prix settled into a rhythm with Michael Schumacher further extending his advantage over Fisichella to 24.8 seconds by lap 15.

[41][42] Two laps later, Michael Schumacher lost concentration as he steered his Ferrari to the left at Stavelot turn and ran wide after missing the apex of the corner.

[39][43][55] On lap 18,[57] while under pressure from Ralf Schumacher,[45] Button struck a plastic bollard marker denoting the left-hand kerb situated on the entry to the Bus Stop Chicane.

[39][43] Jordan lost one of its EJ11s on the lap when the fifth-placed Trulli drove to the side of the track with oil smoke billowing from the rear of his car.

[63] It was the second major accident Burti had sustained in more than a month as he barrel rolled twice after colliding with the rear of Michael Schumacher's car at the start of the German Grand Prix in July 2001.

[53] The accident was a talking point for days after the race, with Alain Prost noting that Burti's impact would have been fatal about ten years earlier, and former driver Jacques Laffite praised the strength of the modern Formula One car's monocoque.

[70] The FIA analysed the accident to enhance safety and outlawed the creation of holes in helmets allowing drinking tubes and radio communication wires to pass through.

[71] In an interview with Autosport in 2019, Burti attributed his survival to vehicle and circuit safety improvements made after Ayrton Senna's fatal accident at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.