Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard dominated in practice and the opening stage of the race but retired with technical problems; the new McLaren MP4/14 proved to be very fast but not yet reliable, a trait shared by a number of Adrian Newey designed cars.

[4] Michael Schumacher also had problems[5] during this eventful race, which gave his Ferrari teammate Eddie Irvine the opportunity to take his first Grand Prix victory.

[6] Heinz-Harald Frentzen was the first car on track and initially topped the list, but Mika Häkkinen took the lead halfway through the first session.

The Stewart team performed well; Rubens Barrichello and Johnny Herbert ended the session in sixth and seventh position, behind Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Giancarlo Fisichella and Jarno Trulli.

The debutants (Marc Gené, Pedro de la Rosa, and Ricardo Zonta) and the returnees (Alessandro Zanardi and Luca Badoer) were at the back of the field, but the final two positions were occupied by Olivier Panis and Michael Schumacher.

On his next attempt, Häkkinen spun and crashed into the wall in the last turn before the main straight, causing the first red flag of the season.

The Sauber team had somewhat more serious problems: Pedro Diniz stopped on track as a precaution when warning lights lit up, while his teammate Jean Alesi hit the wall.

The first quick time on Saturday was set by Ralf Schumacher, and Frentzen momentarily topped the list as well before Coulthard took the lead.

Hill was fourth, followed by Jacques Villeneuve, who beat Michael Schumacher and did better than his BAR teammate Zonta, who completed only three laps and ended the session last, again.

The results of the qualifying session were basically the same as the year before: Häkkinen[7] beat Coulthard, while Michael Schumacher lead the rest of the field.

After ten minutes, Herbert was the first to go out and set a time, followed by Zanardi who was marginally quicker on his fourth consecutive fast lap.

By the same reasoning, the Minardi team issued an official request that Gené be allowed to start, which was subsequently granted by the Stewarts of the Meeting.

Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard had dominated all sessions throughout the weekend with laptimes over a second quicker than anybody else, and with both cars starting from the front row of the grid, the race was looking to be an easy win for the McLaren team.

The first signs of trouble came before the race had even begun; while the other drivers made their way to the dummy grid, pole sitter Häkkinen was still in the pits with a problem.

Häkkinen made good use of his pole position at the second race start and took the lead, followed closely by Coulthard, Irvine, Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher and Fisichella.

Further back Alesi immediately slowed to a stop with a broken gearbox, while Trulli made a good start from twelfth on the grid and tried to pass Hill in turn three.

The cars touched; Hill spun into the gravel and retired, while Trulli continued and took seventh place from Villeneuve on the following lap.

While the McLarens pulled clear of the rest of the field, Michael Schumacher had started his push to the front and was back up to eleventh after only nine laps.

Several drivers swerved around the slow McLaren, including Barrichello who was later given a stop-and-go penalty because he passed Michael Schumacher before the start/finish line.

At the finish line Irvine was first,[9] winning his first Grand Prix,[10] ahead of Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher, Fisichella and Barrichello.