Mika Hakkinen makes a good start to lead into the first corner with Eddie Irvine on his tail but David Coulthard does not get away as well and is overtaken by both Giancarlo Fisichella and Heinz-Harald Frentzen before they get to the first corner. Further back Jacques Villeneuve also makes a bad start and drops from ninth place to 13th. This proves to be a disaster for the Canadian as he is on a three-stop strategy.

In the early laps the order remains unchanged as Hakkinen begins to build a lead, clawing a gap of five seconds by the end of lap seven. Irvine is able to get clear of Fisichella but the Benetton driver is under considerable pressure from both Frentzen and Coulthard.

Alessandro Zanardi becomes the first man to retire when he comes into the pits with a differential problem on lap 10. The second retirement is Pedro Diniz who spins out on lap 20, while running in ninth position. On lap 23 Villeneuve is the first man to pit and he drops back to 18th. Most of the field has decided to adopt a two-stop strategy and the first to stop is Fisichella on lap 28. He is followed on lap 29 by Irvine, Hill and the seventh-placed Wurz. On lap 30 Frentzen stops and on lap 31 the leader Hakkinen comes in. He has a big enough lead to re-emerge still ahead. Coulthard stays out until lap 33 and he is able to run fast enough to get ahead of both Fisichella and Frentzen. Unfortunately he finds himself stuck behind Rubens Barrichello who has decided on a one-stop strategy in his Stewart-Ford. He runs in third place until lap 40.

The other men on one-stop strategies are Johnny Herbert, Olivier Panis and Mika Salo, who are all running in the midfield. The Ferrari driver does not stop until lap 44 and this clearly worries McLaren as they estimate that it might be possible for Irvine to run to the finish without a second stop. Hakkinen is given a pitboard to "push". Hakkinen quickly builds his lead to half a minute while Coulthard is able to chase after Irvine once he is clear of Barrichello. The second pit stops begin on lap 48 when Hill stops. He rejoins but goes off soon afterwards. Fortunately he gets back onto the track having lost only one place to Barrichello. On lap 50 Frentzen pits and he is followed by Fisichella on lap 52. The Italian's race ends in the pits however with an engine failure. On lap 54 Alesi stops but he is caught speeding in the pitlane and is later given a 10-second stop-go penalty which destroys any chance of a good result. He retires in the closing laps with mechanical trouble.

Hakkinen stops on lap 55 and is able to stay in the lead again although for a few laps he has the duelling Irvine and Coulthard in his mirrors. Both men stop on lap 58 but the stops are identical and they re-emerge nose-to-tail again. On lap 62, however, Irvine runs wide out at the back of the track and Coulthard is able to get ahead. He pulls quickly away. Frentzen runs to the finish in fourth with Barrichello fifth, although Rubens has to fight off a challenge from Hill for the last part of the race.