The battle for pole position was enacted between the BMW Williams and Ferrari teams, Juan Pablo Montoya eventually qualifying quickest ahead of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. Ralf Schumacher was in contention for a front row starting position before he suffered a technical problem and had to switch to the spare Williams.

Technical: Qualifying spec BMW engine installed for today.

Sporting: Fifth pole position of Montoya's career, the Colombian twice setting the fastest lap of the afternoon. Both he and Ralf Schumacher did their first runs early on because they were worried about the onset of rain. Schumacher switched to spare car after his race chassis developed a pneumatic leak in its valve-gear.

Quotes: Montoya: "It was a very good session for us which said a lot for our Michelin rubber."

Technical: Qualifying specification V10 engine installed for today.

Sporting: Schumacher challenged strongly for pole, but admitted that he aborted his final run of the afternoon because the conditions were just too damp. Barrichello crashed during the morning's free practice session, knocking off the right front wheel, but his F2002 was repaired for qualifying which he punctuated by a harmless spin.

Quotes: Barrichello: "I was playing catch-up after only completing 16 laps this morning because of the accident."

Technical: Uprated spec Mercedes V10 for practice and qualifying.

Sporting: Raikkonen ran consistently to well-judged fifth place, but Coulthard's second run was spoiled when Takuma Sato's Jordan dropped oil on the circuit and DC's final run ended with a spin on the final corner on the dampening track.

Quotes: Ron Dennis: "Fifth and sixth was the best we could have realistically expected under the circumstances, but David's session was spoiled by outside circumstances."

Technical: No major changes to the cars for today.

Sporting: Fisichella timed his best run perfectly when the conditions were at their least damp towards the end of the session while Sato suffered a major engine failure, abandoned his car on the circuit and ran back to take the spare EJ-12 which was set-up for Fisichella.

Quotes: Gary Anderson: "It was a great performance by Giancarlo, just a case of stringing everything together properly at the right moment."

Technical: No major changes to the cars for today.

Sporting: Heidfeld tracked Fisichella out for his last and best run, posting a time just 0.007sec slower than the rival Jordan. Nick made a slight set-up change which he later admitted was the wrong way. Massa suffered an oil radiator leak and could not get a decent balance.

Quotes: Heidfeld: "I'm glad that this performance proved that our misfortunes at Monaco were not representative of our form."

Technical: No major changes to the cars for today.

Sporting: Villeneuve spun off with suspected gearbox problems while exiting the pit lane late in the session while Panis reported that his car did not feel particularly comfortable under hard braking.

Quotes: David Richards: "Both cars should have been at least one place further up in the final grid order."

Technical: No major changes to the cars for today.

Sporting: Trulli's efforts were frustrated after he swiped his right rear wheel against a wall and broke the rear suspension. He limped the damaged R202 back to the pits where he took over the spare car which he reckoned felt pretty good. Button said that his car felt well balanced but he didn't get a clear lap.

Quotes: Pat Symonds: "We had been warned that there might be some light rain showers before the end of the session and our forecasters were proved correct."

Technical: Both cars powered by CR4 versions of the Cosworth V10 for free practice and qualifying.

Sporting: Irvine only managed six laps due to a gearbox hydraulic pump leak while de la Rosa simply couldn't squeeze any more from his car.

Quotes: Niki Lauda: "All credit to Cosworth for the improvements they have made in the latest specification engine."

Technical: No major changes to the cars for today.

Sporting: Frentzen's car was discovered to have a leaking water radiator after the first run and by the time this was replaced Sato had dropped his oil and the rain was beginning to fall. Bernoldi admitted that he simply couldn't string together an ideal lap today.

Quotes: Frentzen: "Once we were back on track the weather took a turn for the worse and I couldn't get any more time out of the car."

Technical: No major changes to the cars for today.

Sporting: Both TF102s particularly sensitive when riding the kerbs and Salo had to abort two runs due to yellow flags and oil on the track. McNish struggling with grip and could not find a decent handling balance.

Quotes: Salo: "We have to go through everything again today and do a lot of work before the race tomorrow."

Technical: No major changes to the cars for today.

Sporting: Yoong stopped out on the circuit with a suspected gearbox problem while Webber was extremely satisfied to be just 2.6sec away from pole on such a fast circuit.