the qualifying session was affected by a red flag situation appearing on the timing monitors with 3½ minutes left. unfortunately, this was due to a software glitch in the timing system, and the session was quickly restarted. christian klien felt that he lost out through it, having abandoned a lap thinking it would not count. initially jacques villeneuve was outside the top 16, however the time for his lap (which he continued on during the red flag) was later recalled and placed him 7th in the session.