At the start of the race the two McLarens get away fast and it is David Coulthard who leads Mika Hakkinen into the first corner. Behind them Michael Schumacher takes third place with Heinz-Harald Frentzen fourth. Further back Jean Alesi makes a great start to take seventh from 11th place on the grid. Ralf Schumacher makes a very poor start and drops to 13th.

In the course of the second lap Michael Schumacher is able to overtake Hakkinen and moves to second and begins to chase Coulthard. Frentzen is struggling with a heavy fuel load and is passed by Eddie Irvine on lap two, by Jacques Villeneuve on lap three and by Jean Alesi on lap three.

Schumacher closes quickly on Coulthard and on lap five he challenges for the lead when Coulthard slide wides at the back hairpin. The two cars collide. Coulthard spins while Schumacher is able to keep going. Coulthard rejoins but has dropped to sixth position.

Schumacher builds up a lead very quickly, suggesting that he is on a two-stop strategy while the McLarens and Williams cars are running with heavy fuel loads. Irvine runs in a lonely third place while there is a lively battle between Villeneuve, Alesi and Coulthard for fourth place. Pedro Diniz retires with gearbox problems on lap 14 and soon afterwards Ralf Schumacher has a spin. He pits for new tyres but spins out of the race on lap 23. Also out early on are Jan Magnussen with mechanical problems and Mika Salo with gearbox trouble.

The order remains fairly static until lap 27 when the two-stop runners begin their pit stops. First into the pits is Jean Alesi, who gets out without damage, despite being snagged with an wheel gun as he departs from the Sauber pit. He is followed into the pits by Michael Schumacher on lap 28 and Irvine on lap 29. David Coulthard - who is on a one-stop strategy - stops on lap 32 to get out of traffic.

For the middle section of the race Hakkinen leads with Schumacher second and Villeneuve up to third until he stops on lap 37. The other one-stop runners come in with Frentzen, Fisichella and Wurz all stopping. Hakkinen does not stop until lap 42, which leaves Schumacher in the lead once again. Hakkinen is second with Irvine ahead of Alesi, Wurz and Villeneuve. Frentzen's hopes of a good result evaporate during his pit stop when the car stalls and he loses a lot of time.

Schumacher keeps the lead but there is a problem with the rear light of the Ferrari having worked itself lose. In the end it falls off the car before the end of his middle stint. Alesi is the first of the two-stop runners to pit for a second time and he loses fourth place to Wurz.

Further back Damon Hill runs into the back of Johnny Herbert. Hill pits for a new nose but Herbert is forced to retire with a punctured tyre after half a lap. On lap 53 Coulthard and Villeneuve collide at the Senna Corner. Villeneuve is forced to retire but Coulthard again manages to keep going.

Schumacher pits for the second time on lap 53. He is able to rejoin in the lead. Two laps later Irvine pits and emerges just ahead of Wurz. On lap 60 Wurz challenges for third place and the two cars collide. Four laps later Irvine makes a mistake and Wurz gets ahead but drizzle means the track is now slippery and Wurz has a spin on lap 66 which lets Irvine back into third place.

On lap 67 Schumacher slides off the track and runs across a sandtrap but is able to rejoin in the lead. Mika Hakkinen backs off dramatically and drops back six seconds on one lap. At the same time Coulthard has a spin while trying to pass Fisichella. Fisichella then goes off and so Coulthard gets sixth place. In the closing laps Esteban Tuero crashes his Minardi heavily at the first corner, Olivier Panis retires his Prost with mechanical troubles and Heinz-Harald Frentzen has a spin on the last lap.