In the third practice session held on the Saturday, McLaren were again the fastest cars with Häkkinen and Coulthard finishing the session with the first and second fastest times respectively. Damon Hill finished the session third, whilst Jacques Villeneuve finished in fourth place driving what was originally designated the Williams spare car after the damage caused to his original car on Friday. The Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine were fifth and sixth respectively. During the session, Mika Salo crashed heavily at Eau Rouge, and was taken to hospital as a precaution, but was cleared to take part in qualifying.