At the start of the race both the front rows get away well but Jacques Villenueve's BAR stalls and the French-Canadian is nearly hit by several other cars. This means that the midfield is bunched at the first chicane and Jarno Trulli goes off after a brush with Mika Salo.

Up at the front Mika Hakkinen drives a remarkable first lap and is 1.7secs ahead of David Coulthard. Michael Schumacher is third with Eddie Irvine fourth. Next up is Rubens Barrichello, chased by Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher and Damon Hill. Jean Alesi has a great first lap to run ninth from 13th on the grid.

Hakkinen sets a string of fastest laps as he quickly builds a dramatic lead of 8.3secs in the first 10 laps, suggesting that he is running with a light fuel load. Behind him Schumacher can make little impression on Coulthard. The order down through the field remains relatively static. Pedro de la Rosa and Alexander Wurz tangle at Tosa on lap five and both retire.Coulthard makes a mistake and runs wide on lap 14. Mika Salo's drops two places which he had made up at the start and Olivier Panis has a quick spin. The first pit stop comes on lap 15 when a frustrated Alesi comes in for his first stop, indicating that he is on a three-stop strategy.

At the end of lap 16 Hakkinen exits the final corner and runs over the kerb. The Finn is caught out when the car suddenly snaps and he loses control and smashes into the wall along the start-finish straight. The Finn admits that the accident was his fault. The crash leaves Coulthard 3.7secs ahead of Schumacher and the gap remains stable as the pair begin to work their way through traffic.

Rubens Barrichello is the first of the two-stop runners to come into the pits on lap 24 and he is followed in the course of the next five laps by Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher, Eddie Irvine and Damon Hill. Ralf Schumacher retires just after his pit stop with a mechanical problem. On lap 31 Michael Schumacher comes in for a quick stop and then begins a charge to make enough time to be ahead of Coulthard when the McLaren driver pits. Coulthard has a lot of trouble with traffic and when he pits on lap 35 he is five seconds behind Schumacher. It is clear from his pace that the Ferrari driver will have to stop again but Coulthard continues to struggle in traffic, causing McLaren boss Ron Dennis to ask teams to keep lapped cars out of the way. Coulthard does not help his cause by running wide at one point.

Schumacher's pace is remarkable and in seven laps he is able to increase his lead by 15secs. This means that when he pits again on lap 45 he is ahead. Ferrari's jubilation is slightly dented on lap 47 when third-placed Irvine suffers an engine failure. Frentzen is unfortunate and spins off on Irvine's oil. Irvine's retirement give third place to Barrichello with Hill in fourth. Johnny Herbert is running fifth with one-stopper Giancarlo Fisichella in sixth, under pressure from Alessandro Zanardi.

After his second stop Schumacher is able to control the gap to Coulthard while attention turns to battles further down the order. Barrichello comes under threat from Hil but manages to hold off the Jordan driver. On lap 59 Herbert's race comes to an end with a blown engine and Zanardi spins of on his oil, promoting Fisichella to fifth and Alesi to sixth. Salo also retires in the last few laps with mechanical trouble.