As fo0r the other teams it would be Arrows driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen who would put in a last minute quick lap to set the fastest time of the session. Frentzen set a time of 1m:20.875. Next came Michael Schumacher in his Ferrari F2002.

For McLaren's David Coulthard, after his second in qualifying he would reinforce that by setting the third quickest time. Coulthard must be hoping for a better result than he has so far been able to achieve this season.

Renault’s Jarno Trulli was fourth fastest, followed by Kimi Raikkonen and Rubens Barrichello in the second Ferrari. Ralf was seventh ahead of BAR’s Olivier Panis in eighth with a 1m:22.388. Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella was ninth, followed by Mika Salo, Jenson Button, and Allan McNish.

Minardi driver Mark Webber finished thirteenth, just ahead of BAR's Jacques Villeneuve, Enrique Bernoldi, and the Sauber pair of Felipe Massa and Nick Heidfeld.

Pedro de la Rosa was eighteenth and Takuma Sato nineteenth. Eddie Irvine was twenty first, followed by Alex Yoong who could only complete five laps.

For the BMW WilliamsF1 team the performance of their Michelin tyres will have a major bearing on the results of the race. In the practice and qualifying the Michelin's held the upper hand over their Bridgestone competition. Michelin Motorsport Director Pierre Dupasquier was not concerned about the ability of his tyres to stand up to longer runs. He said: "I don’t have the slightest worry at all about durability. Some sets of tyres have already completed about forty laps in total this weekend and we have seen nothing to make us concerned about wear rate in the race."