Summary

Mika Hakkinen had the opportunity to extend his championship lead with his pole position. Only, today's story was different: Hakkinen started good the first time but after the restart, Verstappen was unable to select 1st gear and stalled his engine on the start, he lost his first place to Michael Schumacher, Eddie Irvine took second.

Michael Schumacher was in control, after he took the lead after the start, and led from start to finish. The championship is now wide open and McLaren have to figure out what went wrong today.

Jos Verstappen has driven a good race today by getting the car to the finish and getting the feel of championship racing back. He stated afterwards that he was pleased, but that the car did not have the right set-up for the race.

Notes

• Ron Dennis commented on dangerous driving: "With Ayrton Senna, when you saw his yellow helmet in your mirror you knew you were going to be overtaken. There was an inevitability of being overtaken and it was a question of how you were going to react to it. But there is a fine line between intimidation by skill and intimidation knowing you can get away with it. That is a different thing altogether. The confusion arises when there is one penalty for one person and another penalty for another one. It is like in football. If you get a yellow card for fouling, then you know you have to be careful because if you get another one you are off. But if you are fouling all the time and not getting a yellow card, then you know you have got nothing to fear. It is not the rule that exists which is the problem, but the inconsistency in its application."
• R. Schumacher gets a steering rod replaced.
  • Weather during race: Cloudy (20 C)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.   18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

M. Schumacher (Ferrari) G Irvine (Ferrari) G Hakkinen (McLaren-Mercedes) B Villeneuve (Winfield-Williams) G Wurz (Benetton-Playlife) B Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes) B Alesi (Sauber-Petronas) G Herbert (Sauber-Petronas) G Fisichella (Benetton-Playlife) B Barrichello (Stewart-Ford) B Panis (Prost-Peugeot) B Verstappen (Stewart-Ford) B Salo (Arrows) B Diniz (Arrows) B Frentzen (Winfield-Williams) G R. Schumacher (Jordan-Mugen) G Nakano (Minardi-Ford) B Not Classified Takagi (Tyrrell-Ford) G Trulli (Prost-Peugeot) B Tuero (Minardi-Ford) B Hill (Jordan-Mugen) G Rosset (Tyrrell-Ford)B B: Bridgestone G: Goodyear

1h 34m 45.026s + 0m 19.575s + 0m 19.747s + 1m 06.965s 1 lap 1 lap 1 lap 1 lap 1 lap 2 laps 2 laps 2 laps 2 laps 2 laps 3 laps: front suspension 3 laps 6 laps   11 laps: engine 16 laps: spin 30 laps: gearbox 52 laps: throttle & gearbox 55 laps: air pressure

• Fastest Lap: David Coulthard 1m 17.523s

The Standings

Drivers Championship table

Hakkinen (McLaren-Mercedes)	50
M. Schumacher (Ferrari)	44
Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes)	30
Irvine (Ferrari)	25
Wurz (Benetton-Playlife)	14
Fisichella (Benetton-Playlife)	13
Villeneuve (Winfield-Williams)	11
Frentzen (Winfield-Williams)	8
Barrichello (Stewart-Ford)	4
Alesi (Sauber-Petronas)	3
Salo (Arrows)	3
Herbert (Sauber-Petronas)	1
Diniz (Arrows)	1
Magnussen (Stewart)	1

Constructor Championship table

McLaren-Mercedes	80
Ferrari	69
Benetton-Playlife	27
Winfield-Williams	19
Stewart-Ford	5
Sauber-Petronas	4
Arrows	4