At the start of the race the two McLarens get away well with David Coulthard taking the lead ahead of Mika Hakkinen. Michael Schumacher is third while Jacques Villeneuve makes a good start to grab fourth from sixth on the grid. Also in trouble is Alexander Wurz who makes a good start but then fin himself stuck in third gear. He is swallowed up by the pack and is hit from behind by Damon Hill.

Further back Rubens Barrichello loses his rear wing, hit from behind by his team-mate Jan Magnussen. Rubens spins out later in the lap. In all the chaos Giancarlo Fisichella, Jean Alesi and Jarno Trulli all make up places, Trulli leaping from 16th on the grid to 10th.

At the end of the first lap Hill, Magnussen and Wurz all pit but all manage to rejoin.

Up at the front Coulthard sets two fastest laps as he begins to build an advantage while Michael Schumacher cannot keep up and drops quickly away. Behind him Villeneuve manages to stay ahead of Eddie Irvine, who comes under heavy pressure from Fisichella.

In the first 10 laps Coulthard is able to build a lead of nearly three seconds, while Michael Schumacher drops seven seconds behind Hakkinen. Further back in the field Johnny Herbert is forced to retire with rear suspension trouble after just 12 laps.

On lap 17 Hakkinen suddenly slows down. He has a problem with fourth gear. He retires at the end of the lap, leaving Schumacher in second place, but nearly 15secs behind the leader.

On the next lap Giancarlo Fisichella spins off at Villeneuve Corner and hits the barriers heavily with his right rear. At the same time Wurz retires with engine trouble which were caused by his problem at the start. Also going out at the same time is Pedro Diniz, who comes into the pits with technical problems.

The first pit stops come on lap 21 when Ralf Schumacher pits. He is followed the following lap by Jean Alesi and Jarno Trulli. Olivier Panis pits on lap 23 and Damon Hill on lap 24.

The frontrunners stay out until lap 26 when the top three runners all come in together. Irvine stays out for one more lap but his is a faster stop and so he gets ahead of Villeneuve to grab third.

The reshuffle puts Jean Alesi into fifth place ahead of Frentzen and for the next few laps the two enjoy a lively battle. Up front the order is static although in the midfield Panis forces his way past Ralf Schumacher. Mika Salo has a problem with the refuelling rig and has to make two stops while Shinji Nakano's engine blows up and he retires.

Everyone is on a two-stop strategy and the second stops begin with Alesi on lap 40. Four laps later Coulthard, Frentzen and Villeneuve all pit, while Irvine again stays out longer, pitting on lap 46. The order settles down with Coulthard 20secs ahead of Schumacher and Irvine over half a minute behind his team-mate. For a couple of laps Schumacher closes the gap but then it stabilises, although Coulthard begins to lose ground because his final set of tyres had been used in qualifying. There also seems to be a slight overheating problem as Team boss Ron Dennis leaves the pitwall three times to check on the Mercedes-Benz data banks at the back of the McLaren garage.

In the final laps Coulthard controls the gap but Schumacher is able to close to within four and a half seconds at the finish. Irvine is third with Villeneuve just a couple of seconds behind him. Frentzen is fifth with Alesi a lap down in sixth place.

In the midfield Trulli drops out after an off at Rivazza while Panis stops with a blown engine in the final laps. Hill also goes out in the final laps with technical trouble.