Summery

David Coulthard has won the race for McLaren, the first in 50 Grands Prix. He really showed he could lead a race and stay ahead in the beautiful painted West-McLaren-Mercedes from Michael Schumacher, who was second in the Ferrari. Schumacher also drove a superb race and showed that the new Ferrari could last a race and compete for the win. Mika Hakkinen made the day a big success for McLaren with his third spot, leaving McLaren boss Ron Dennis emotional.

Notes

• The race officials let Pedro Diniz start this rave even though he didn't get within the 107% qualifying time. The reason for this is that Diniz had driven times within the 107% rule during free practice but suffered technical difficulties in qualifying.
• Damon Hill failed to start the formation lap because his throttle snapped.
• Irvine braked very late and ended entering the first corner beside Herbert and Villeneuve pushing Villeneuve and Herbert out because there was just not enough room. Irvine retired with a punctured left front tyre after the next bend.
• Ralf Schumacher spins off: end of story on lap 1.
• Verstappen looses control causing him to go through the gravel at high speed. He tried to overtake Katayama and when he was beside him Katayama came to the outside causing Verstappen to go through the dust and loosing it because of this in the next chicane (lap 2).
• Alesi is getting a pit board sign for at leat five laps that he has to come in for fuel but Alesi doesn't leaving him out of fuel on lap 34.
• Pedro Diniz goes into the pits but can continue after a lot of time.
• Salo returns to his team in the pits because his engine misfired. The problem was fixed after a pitstop of 5m 15s. Only the engine stopped all together on lap 42.
• Barrichello made an impressive start for the new Stewart team. But retired on lap 49.
• Puffs of smoke came from the front wheels of Frentzen for a lot of laps and finally the left front brake gave away causing Frentzen to spin off just three laps before the finish. Villeneuve had already said that Williams had a broblem because the brakes didn't last for more than couple of laps.

• Weather during race: Cloudy (28 degrees)

1. Coulthard 1:30.28.718s
2. Schumacher + 20.046s
3. Hakkinen + 22.177s
4. Berger + 22.841s
5. Panis + 1:00.308s
6. Nicola Larini 1:36.040s
7. Nakano 2 laps
8. Frentzen 3 laps
   
9. Trulli 3 laps
10. Diniz 4 laps

    Not Classified

11. Barrichello 9 laps
12. Salo 16 laps
13. Magnussen 22 laps
14. Alesi 24 laps
15. Katayama 26 laps
16. Fisichella 44 laps
17. Verstappen 56 laps
18. R. Schumacher 57 lap
19. Irvine 58 laps
20. Villeneuve 58 laps
21. Herbert 58 laps
22. Hill didn't start

• Fastest lap: Frentzen: 1: 30.585s

Quotes

• Coulthard: "It's an absolutely fantastic start to the year. I never thought I'd be that emotional, but I was crying in the car during the warm-down lap."

• Magnussen: "A Wishbone bend and I had to go in."

• Hill on his start: "Well, it wasn't really a start. The throttle just snapped."

• Hill added: "I am philosophical because I always knew it was going to be tough getting reliability. But I thought I would get more than one lap in. We knew things were tricky and things were going to go wrong. It was about what we expected."

• An emotional Ron Dennis said: "A lot of things came to mind."

• Herbert: "It's very dissapointing. It's been a fantastic start of the weekend. As we came into the corner he was being pushed by Eddie, and I could see he was having trouble. He couldn't stop, and he hit me and we went off, and that was it."

• Villeneuve: "It's touch to finish the race like that. It's true that I didn't have a great start but that's not where I lost it. Approaching the turn, I was on the inside of Herbert and, suddenly, Irvine went on the dirt (on the inside) and he tried a kamikaze pass. It's not the first time he's done something like that. It doesn't surprise me, coming from him."

• Verstappen: "I had a very good start, straight up the middle and passed a few cars. I caught and overtook Ukyo, but as I went past he came to the right and I had to go into the sand. Then as I braked for the next bend, the fast chicane, I turned in and it just went away from me."

• Salo: "I made a good start but found myself on the right-hand side of Nakano and had to go on the grass to avoid him, so I lost all the places I'd gained. The first pit stop was really good and I got out in front of Magnussen and Katayama who had been holding me up. The car felt nice, much better than yesterday, but unfortunately the engine then started to misfire and I had to come into the pits. The team fixed the problem and I rejoined the race, but the engine stopped with 11 laps to go."

• Irvine: "I made a very good start and was alongside Coulthard at the first corner and then inside Villeneuve who moved over on me. He obviously had not seen me. The impact punctured my left front tyre. After the start I was going well and I was sure I could maintain my position. It was simply a typical racing accident, like the one I had with Hakkinen on Friday. It was a shame as I had done a lot of work on my starting technique over the winter."

• Schumacher: "I am happy with the result of today's race because I could not have done better. Naturally I was worried, when I was called back to the pits on lap 50 as I knew I would lose second place. I achieved the podium finish I had hoped for and these six points are a good way to start the season. I felt I was quicker than Coulthard and Frentzen but it is very difficult to overtake on this track. I did not make a very good start, but it might have been for the best as otherwise I might have got involved in the accident at the start."

Drivers Championship table

Coulthard (McLaren)	10
Schumacher (Ferrari)	6
Hakinnen (McLaren)	4
Berger (Benetton)	3
Panis (Prost)	2
Larini (Sauber)	1

Constructors Championship table

McLaren-Mercedes	14
Ferrari	6
Benetton-Renault	3
Prost-Mugen	2
Sauber-Petronas	1