In a surprise, Giancarlo Fisichella took third in his Benetton, over half a second behind Häkkinen but over three-tenths ahead of Michael Schumacher's Ferrari in fourth.

Rubens Barrichello dropped out on lap 12 with a suspension failure in his Stewart; his teammate Jan Magnussen suffered the same problem shortly before half distance.

Wurz appeared unaffected, but on lap 43 his suspension broke due to damage from the collision and he had a huge accident coming out of the tunnel, finally stopping at the Nouvelle Chicane.

By this point, Salo had moved up to fourth behind Häkkinen, Fisichella and Irvine, with Jean Alesi fifth in the Sauber and Villeneuve sixth.

On lap 73, Alesi's gearbox failed, promoting Pedro Diniz in the second Arrows to sixth, just ahead of the recovering Michael Schumacher.