Michael Schumacher won the thirty-eighth pole position of his career by posting the fastest lap in qualifying and he maintained his lead going into the first corner.

Ferrari increased their advantage over McLaren in the Constructors' Championship to 38 points and Williams retained third with nine rounds left in the season.

"[8] His brother Ralf Schumacher stated that he hoped to extend his points tally after a poor performance at the preceding Monaco Grand Prix, "I think the Circuit Giles Villeneuve could be pretty favourable to our car as we have a powerful engine, which is essential there.

Mika Häkkinen, Olivier Panis, Heidfeld, Jarno Trulli, Kimi Räikkönen, Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya rounded out the session's top ten drivers.

[12] Jacques Villeneuve lost the rear of his BAR leaving turn five and struck the barriers lining the circuit at the next corner, heavily damaging his car which rested upon a tyre wall.

Montoya then told Villeneuve that he "killed" marshal Graham Beveridge in a crash at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix three months earlier.

Panis was seventh-fastest, Ralf Schumacher eighth, Trulli and de la Rosa completed the top ten ahead of qualifying.

During this session, the 107% rule was in effect, which necessitated each driver to set a time within 107 per cent of the quickest lap to qualify for the race.

[11] Michael Schumacher took the thirty-eighth pole position of his career with a one-minute and 15.782 seconds lap that he set with twelve minutes remaining.

[23][24] He was joined on the grid's front row by Ralf Schumacher who set a time 0.515 seconds slower than his brother after heavily altering his car's set-up.

[25][26] Barrichello qualified fifth but he was the cause of the first red flag when he launched over the kerbing at the final chicane and hit the Wall of Champions sideways with the right-hand side of his vehicle.

[24][25] Panis took sixth and Räikkönen understeered on the run into the L'Epingle hairpin and narrowly avoided the Wall of Champions after going airborne over the kerbs at the final turn.

[26] Häkkinen switched to the spare McLaren MP4-16 optimised for his teammate Coulthard after damaging his main car's right-hand side radiator and undertray by launching over the high kerb at the final corner but a misfiring engine restricted him to eighth.

[23] Heidfeld was the fastest competitor not to qualify in the top ten because his best lap time was 1.383 seconds slower than Michael Schumacher's pole lap and Heidfeld triggered the second stoppage with two minutes to go when he crashed heavily at the final chicane and his car's monocoque was rebuilt for the race.

[23][24][25] Zonta achieved his team principal Eddie Jordan's prediction qualifying twelfth and made a driving error on the approach to the first corner.

[25] Alesi had brake instability and a lack of traction en route to sixteenth and his Prost teammate Luciano Burti could not optimise his car's handling for nineteenth.

[27] The drivers took to the track on Sunday morning for a half an hour warm-up session to fine tune their cars in warm and clear conditions.

[30] Coulthard was the faster of the two McLarens in second and his teammate Häkkinen set the fifth fastest-time after the team rebuilt his car overnight.

[30] Schumacher was the sixth-fastest driver in the time sheets and concentrated on assessing two versions of front wings for his vehicle and car set-up for the race.

[33] Engine stress and fuel consumption were the two main factors for the Grand Prix as the optimum strategy was one of a solitary pit stop.

Then, on the back straight, Button steered to the left to avoid striking Bernoldi but doing this meant his teammate Fisichella drove into the rear of his car.

Following another six-tenths of a second in arrears was Coulthard and the rest of the order was Barrichello, Trulli, Panis, Verstappen, Räikkönen, Zonta, Häkkinen, Montoya, Heidfeld, Irvine, de la Rosa, Villeneuve, Bernoldi, Marques, Button, Alesi, Alonso and Burti.

[2][40] Barrichello was close behind Montoya and his attempt to swerve to avoid hitting his car caused him to oversteer into the inside barrier after appearing to lock his brakes heavily.

[35][40] Häkkinen gained another position when he overtook his fellow Finnish driver Räikkönen entering turn ten for sixth.

[35][38] Trulli was afflicted by a brake hydraulic problem which caused his pace to lower and he was overtaken by Räikkönen, Alesi and Verstappen between laps 62 and 63.

Two laps later, Verstappen spun into the barrier due to a failure of his front brakes and was the final retirement of the Grand Prix.

"[45] Michael Schumacher spoke of a "happy family day" and stated that he was aware his brother was experienced enough not to make a driving error, "He obviously was close to overtaking but when you're inside, basically you have to brake a little bit earlier to make the corner and I was braking very late to try the maximum and as he said, he was going longer than I was, so I understand that he didn't take the maximum risk for either of us.

"[46] Although his engine failed, Coulthard was still confident of reducing the lead of Michael Schumacher in the Drivers' Championship over the rest of the season, "It (the title) is still achievable.

"[47] Button and Fischella apologised to each other following their collision on the first lap of the Grand Prix and the technical director of Benetton Mike Gascoyne insisted that neither driver was to blame.

Ralf Schumacher stayed in the fourth position despite his victory and Häkkinen's podium finish allowed him to advance into fifth place in the standings.