Before the race starts Pedro Diniz suffers a suspected engine failure with his Arrows and has to start from the pitlane in the spare car. On the parade lap both Jean Alesi and OIivier Panis are slow away from the grid but as Alesi was not the last away he is allowed to regain his grid position. Panis has to start at the back.

At the start Mika Hakkinen gets away well with Coulthard behind him. Further back Giancarlo Fisichella makes a good start to pass both Johnny Herbert and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Further back Rubens Barrichello fails to get away from the line in his Stewart.

At Turn 6 on lap 2 Ralf Schumacher collides with Jan Magnussen and Toranosuke Takagi retires in the aftermath of the incident.

On lap 3 Pedro Diniz retires from the race, the spare Arrows grinding to a halt at Turn 12.

The McLarens pull away from the field at a rate of three seconds per lap, while Michael Schumacher struggles to keep Jacques Villeneuve and Fisichella behind him. At the start of lap 6 Schumacher's Ferrari stops with an engine problem at the first corner.

After 10 laps Hakkinen and Coulthard are half a minute ahead of the rest of the field, while Villeneuve fights to hold off Fisichella and Johnny Herbert. Further back Frentzen is at the head of a train of cars including Irvine, Damon Hill and Alexander Wurz.

Further back F1 new boy Esteban Tuero is given a 10 second stop-go penalty for jumping the start. He is then given another for speeding in the pitlane.

By lap 20 the McLarens are a minute clear of the field when the first pit stops begin with Hill stopping on lap 19 and Wurz on lap 20. Two laps later Fisichella pits as well.

On laps 24 and 25 Hakkinen and Coulthard do their routine stops without drama and re-emerge in first and second once again. In the following laps Herbert and Villeneuve stop but find themselves behind Fisichella when they rejoin. Third and fourth places are held by Frentzen and Irvine and when they stop on lap 33 Frentzen gets out ahead of Fisichella but Irvine is caught behind the Italian.

Further back in the field Tuero and Salo both retire with mechanical problems.

On lap 35 Villeneuve pushing very hard goes off onto the grass but manages to stay ahead of Herbert. The following lap Hakkinen comes suddenly into the pitlane and is waved through by the McLaren team. There had been an error of communication with the engineers. Coulthard takes the lead.

Hakkinen charges after Coulthard again and closes the gap dramatically and then he pits again on lap 40. He loses some time because of a problem with the clutch. Coulthard pits without drama on lap 42.

For a brief period Fisichella is in third place after passing Frentzen but he has to pit again on lap 41 and drops back to seventh place. Three laps later he retires with mechanical problems. Jean Alesi also retires with mechanical problems.

After Fisichella pits Frentzen and Irvine battle for third, while behind them Villeneuve and Herbert dispute fifth place. The battles continue all the way to the finish.

At the end of lap 56 Coulthard comes onto the start-finish line and backs off slightly, allowing Hakkinen to go past him and into the lead. Coulthard and Hakkinen had agreed before the race that they would hold position after the first corner and David felt that Mika should win because of the pitlane problem.

Frentzen finishes third with Irvine just behind him, while Villeneuve holds off Herbert for fifth place.