The 53-lap race was won by Heinz-Harald Frentzen, driving a Jordan-Mugen-Honda, after McLaren's Mika Häkkinen, seeking to defend his Drivers' Championship title, spun off while leading comfortably.

Häkkinen's rival Eddie Irvine finished sixth in the other Ferrari, thus moving level on points with the Finn at the top of the Drivers' Championship.

Häkkinen was expected to do well on the fast Monza circuit, and duly claimed pole position by half a second from Frentzen.

But on lap 30, going into the Rettifilo, Häkkinen made a mistake changing gear – selecting first instead of second[3] – and spun off, in a virtual repeat of his unforced error at San Marino earlier in the year.

When these had been completed, Salo had moved back ahead of Barrichello and into third, while Coulthard and Irvine had both leapfrogged Zanardi and were now fifth and sixth.

Coulthard finished half a second behind the Stewart driver, but nine ahead of Irvine, who himself held off Zanardi for the final point.