Stewart discovered a possible design problem with the car as both Herbert and Barrichello had fires on the grid after the parade lap. It appears that engine or exhaust heat caused the engine cover to burn. With the spare set-up for Barrichello he started from the pitlane while Johnny could only watch. Note: It now appears both Stewart's suffered oil leaks on the grid which ignited on the hot exhaust.

At the first start the Stewarts had there synchronised fire extinguishing then when the cars moved off for the second parade lap Michael Schumacher was stuck on the grid. This left the second row empty at the start with Michael at the back and Barrichello at the pit exit.

The McLarens quickly established a lead pulling out 2-3s per lap in the early laps, then the slowed and on lap 14 David Coulthard came into the pits to retire with a Hydraulic problems. On the same lap Jacques Villeneuve running about 8th suffered a rear-wing failure when it fell off on the straight this brought out the safety car.

By now Michael Schumacher was up to seventh place and Rubens just behind in eighth. As the Safety car came back in for a short break Hakkinen was slow along the pit straight. Eddie Irvine was along side poised to overtake as they crossed the line and he took the lead which he held to the end of the race. It was a free for all behind as Hakkinen found himself back in about 8th by the first corner.

The safety car returned on lap 19 when Alex Zanardi spun, this coincided with the second McLaren retirement. Hakkinen pitted then returned to the track to trail around for two laps before finally calling it a day.

Michael Schumacher was not having a good afternoon. Although he made up several places from the start and was in sight of the top six during the safety car incidents he suffered a puncture and broken front wing during the melee. He pitted and returned in last place. He also suffered gearbox problems and had to pit again for a new steering wheel which appeared to solve the problem but by then it was too late.

The safety car also caused problems for Rubens who was given a ten second stop go penalty for something which happened while it was out. He overtook Michael Schumacher under a yellow flag. Although from what he says the choice was overtake Michael or test out the Ferraris rear-impact characteristics when they came up to some slow moving traffic.

Eddie Irvine had a run to the finish after Hakkinen dropped back and retired, although there was rarely more than ten seconds separating the top three with the yellow Jordan of Frenzten always large in his mirrors.

Rubens was showing the promise of the Stewart with a series of fastest race laps before his stop and recovering to finish fifth from his pit lane start. How different it may have been if he hadn't had the engine cover fire at the start.
Race Result

Johnny Herbert was not so lucky in the other Stewart. His front-left shock absorber broke on his first run and there wasn't enough time to fix it. Why he couldn't take the spare I don't know or maybe he did. Before qualifying Herbert had been having a very good weekend, being third fastest on saturday morning practice.

Marc Gene failed to make 107% of the pole time but is allowed to start after satisfying Stewards that he had a car problem during the session and he had gone quicker in previous practice sessions.
Qualifying Times

Hakkinen decided to get the McLaren mechanics back in the swing of things by crashing at 100mph causing a lot of damage to his car.
Practice Times

Meanwhile over at Sauber Johnny Herbert had his best weekend of the season starting fifth he finished sixth to score his only championship point of 1998.

McLaren dominated the weekend, finishing with a 1-2 and lapping the entire field. There was also that controversial 'after you, Mika' moment when Coulthard let Hakkinen past to win. Frentzen was the best of the rest completing the podium.