Häkkinen's win confirmed him as 1998 Drivers' Champion as title-rival Michael Schumacher retired with a punctured tyre on Lap 31.

Schumacher managed to climb the field during the course of the race and eventually retired from a punctured tyre sustained from running over debris from an incident that occurred previously.

[5] During the four-week break that followed the Luxembourg Grand Prix, Ferrari and McLaren performed private tests that were heavily scheduled.

[13] He was joined on the front row by Häkkinen, who was one-tenth of a second behind, after not being able to finish his last flying lap by running off in the gravel at the Degner corner.

The Ferrari driver was unable to attack the leading Finn, while Schumacher moved up the order, reaching twelfth place at the end of the first lap.

By lap four, Schumacher overtook his brother Ralf for seventh but was then stuck behind the fighting former world champions Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve.

On lap 28, Esteban Tuero missed his braking point going into the final corner, crashing into the Tyrrell of Tora Takagi.

When Schumacher passed over the debris, he suffered a slow puncture that blew up his right rear tyre three laps later, causing him to retire, an event not shown to UK viewers on ITV due to a poorly timed adbreak, forcing Murray Walker to inform viewers upon the return to the broadcast “And you are now looking at the new World Champion because this is what happened in the break!”.

"[16] Eddie Irvine was quoted saying: "What happened to Michael at the start didn't change our tactics for the race, it destroyed them.