The race took a dramatic turn (!) at the very first corner when Schumacher (2nd on the grid) dived under Villeneuve to take the lead - Villeneuve ran wide and onto the grass. Meanwhile . . . Fisichella spun across the track and caused havoc as Hill, Frentzen and others tried to avoid him. Meanwhile. . . Barrichello had car problems on the grid and could not move - RACE STOPPED.
Before the restart the grid was a mass of activity as many teams fought to fix their cars. Villeneuve, Hill and Alesi all underwent repairs. Irvine, Fisichella and Frentzen had too many problems and took to the spare cars.
At the restart Michael once again beat Jacques to the corner but this time everyone made it through without incident. One lap later Jacques blasted past Michael on the start line then Berger moved into third past Hakkinen and so was set the race to come.
Berger stayed near the front for the entire race, Panis came forward as Schumacher dropped back. On lap 38 a lone wheel was seen running down the pit entrance lane, this was from Nakano who entered his pits on 3 wheels (a new tactic to save time??) and left on four.
Having been up to fourth World Champion Damon Hill retired in the pits in spectacular fashion on lap 69 as oil from his gearbox catches fire.
In the last few laps of the race Berger tries hard to catch Villeneuve but finishes second only 4.2s behind.
If the warm-up times are repeated in the race it should be a hot one - the top 10 drivers are all in the same second. Don't miss our LIVE COVERAGE.
A disappointing 8th on the grid for Frentzen and an excellent 9th for world-champion Damon Hill.
Jean Alesi was a surprising third, Ralph was in front of Michael and Damon came in 9th.