Although clouds filled the sky as the drivers made their way to the grid for the start of the formation lap, the weather forecast is for a dry race here at Silverstone this afternoon, however there was speculation that rain could fall at some stage. The formation lap goes off without a hitch and the cars line-up to await the start of the British Grand Prix. The lights go out and it's go at Silverstone!

Michael Schumacher streaks into the lead as fourth placed man Jarno Trulli has a coming together with David Coulthard. Both men go off the circuit and Olivier Panis touches his teammate Jacques Villeneuve and gets tangled up in the chaos. Coulthard regains the circuit in second last place, however Trulli and Panis are forced into retirement. Mika Hakkinen keeps his second place but Juan Pablo Montoya made it through the chaos to take third. Barrichello is up into fourth followed by the second Williams of Ralf Schumacher.

Race over for Coulthard as he takes to the gravel with what is thought to be a suspension failure. There go the Scots' hopes of taking his third successive victory on home ground.

"I obviously got damaged in the contact with Jarno on Copse's Corner," David explained. "I was on the radio explaining I had this big problem and the team said let's just look at the data. I knew it was only a matter of time and it obviously let go."

Lap four and Mika Hakkinen is challenging Michael Schumacher for the lead and takes it! McLaren's hopes now lay with the Finn to take as many points away from Ferrari as possible. He begins to stretch out a lead and by lap six he is two seconds in front of the reigning world champion.

Jos Verstappen makes his way past Jean Alesi for ninth place, meanwhile, the sole remaining Jordan of Heinz-Harald Frentzen has dropped down to eighth place behind both Sauber drivers. Luciano Burti becomes the next man to retire from this event, the Prost Acer driver forced to pull over after smoke billows from the back of his car on the start/finish straight. Lap eight and Hakkinen is now eight seconds ahead as Juan Pablo Montoya closes in on the second placed Ferrari of Michael Schumacher. Is the German carrying a heavy fuel load?

There is oil on the circuit left behind from Burti's ailing Ferrari engine. Lap 11 and Jacques Villeneuve makes his way past Alesi as well, the Frenchman now dropping back to eleventh place. Meanwhile, Kimi Raikkonen, who is currently in sixth place, is putting pressure on the fifth placed Williams of Ralf Schumacher. Pedro de la Rosa begins to home in on Alesi as well as Hakkinen continues to pull away, the Finn now over 17 seconds and the gap from second to third has closed to seven tenths of a second with Montoya gaining on the Ferrari with every lap.

Mika Hakkinen sets the fastest lap of the race on lap 15 with a 1:23.964 stretching the gap to over 22 seconds. Montoya continues to harry Michael Schumacher, bringing the gap down to three tenths of a second. He takes the place away on the inside of Woodcote after the Ferrari driver makes a minor mistake. The Colombian instantly pulls away from the Ferrari, however he is 25 seconds behind the sole remaining McLaren.

Lap 21 and the Sauber mechanics appear and Kimi Raikkonen comes in for his first stop followed by race leader Mika Hakkinen. Raikkonen has a slight problem and is briefly delayed, however Hakkinen has a good stop and makes it back out in front of Michael Schumacher but behind Juan Pablo Montoya. The Colombian leads the British Grand Prix by six tenths of a second. Michael Schumacher is 6 seconds behind the McLaren as the dark clouds begin to make their presence known.

Lap 26 and Montoya pits, 8.2 seconds for the Colombian as Mika Hakkinen retakes the lead, 7.7 seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher. Hakkinen sets a new fastest lap of 1:23.514 as Montoya rejoins the circuit in fifth place behind his teammate who is closing in on third placed Rubens Barrichello with only half a second between them. It appears as if Barrichello could be holding the Williams duo behind him as Montoya gets ever closer to Ralf. The Williams men are in heavy discussion about the situation as the first of the one stoppers come into pitlane.

Lap 33 and Hakkinen sets yet another fastest lap, 1:23.405, stretching his lead over Michael Schumacher to fourteen and a half seconds, however the Ferrari driver has yet to stop. Ralf Schumacher enters the pits for his first and only stop on lap 36, 12.5 seconds for the Williams driver. Heinz-Harald Frentzen, in seventh, is challenging the sixth placed Sauber of Nick Heidfeld as Montoya looks for a way past Rubens Barrichello. Disaster for Ralf Schumacher as the German driver is forced to retire from the British Grand Prix, parking his Williams in the gravel at the side of the circuit with suspected gearbox problems.

Hakkinen and Schumacher pit together on lap 39, and the Finn retakes the lead, however both Barrichello and Montoya go through before Michael retakes the circuit in fourth place. However the two men in front of him have to stop. Montoya continues to put the pressure on Barrichello, the Colombian driver only three tenths behind and desperately trying to get past. Lap 42 and Montoya eases off and veers into the pits for his second stop, hoping to take the position that way instead. Heidfeld, Frentzen and Verstappen are all in the pits as well and Heidfeld retains his fifth place. Barrichello comes in and gets back out in front of Montoya.

Problems for the only Minardi in today's event, Fernando Alonso, as he loses his left front wheel. The team replace it and send him back out, however the Spaniard is now two laps down on Mika Hakkinen. Enrique Bernoldi and Giancarlo Fisichella almost have a coming together in pitlane as they both rushed to take thirteenth place. Irvine pits from ninth place while teammate Pedro de la Rosa sits down in twelfth.

Montoya, who was only three tenths behind Barrichello before their stops, is now falling back and trails the Brazilian by six and a half seconds. Lap 52 and only the first four cars are on the lead lap. Hakkinen is over 28 seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher and Montoya is still dropping back, the fourth placed Williams now just over nine seconds. The laps tick down and positions look set to remain the same.

Final lap around the Silverstone circuit and Mika Hakkinen takes his first victory of the season and his first at the British Grand Prix!.

The top six from the British GP were Mika Hakkinen, Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kimi Raikkonen and Nick Heidfeld.