On lap 6 Fernando Alonso got it badly wrong at the Variante Alta chicane, hopping the kerb and sending his European Minardi into the outside tyre wall and in the process ripping off the car's right front corner. Arrows driver, Jos Verstappen, having started 17th, coasted to a halt on lap 7 with a blown engine. At the front, Schumacher and Coulthard continued to pull away from the rest of the field at an alarming rate and were into a race of their own. Having held up the Ferrari duo, Olivier Panis was finally passed at Rivazza by Barrichello on lap 8 and Schumacher on lap 9 and dropped back to 8th position.
Lap 12 it was Ralf Schumacher, Coulthard, Trulli, Hakkinen, Montoya, Barrichello with the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher, struggling to hold onto the 4 cars in front of him. Kimi Raikkonen, having put in another good performance, was out on lap 18 with steering failure. Exiting Tosa, the Sauber speared off the circuit and hit the outside wall nose first. It was the end of a solid drive from the young Finn which may well have resulted in another points finish. Jenson Button then stopped for fuel from a lowly 17th position having started 21st in a Benetton Renault that looked horrible to drive and was understeering terribly. Coulthard and Schumacher were now setting identical lap times whilst still pulling away from Trulli's Jordan Honda in 3rd place.
Jean Alesi, running 18th, began the pit stops with a 10.9s on lap 22 followed by Fisichella's Benetton. Michael Schumacher's race went from bad to worse on lap 24 when he picked up a left front puncture and had to crawl back to the pits for almost an entire lap. He pitted without incident and was on his way again after 12.8s to rejoin the field in 17th place. The Ferrari driver was put out of his misery by retiring his car two laps later, saying "It wasn't a great weekend all in all, the start wasn't great, then I had a gear problem and then the mechanical problem that caused the puncture" he added "Ross (Brawn, Technical Director)told me to stop and I was pretty glad actually because the brakes seemed damaged."
Running 3rd, Trulli was the first of the front runners to pit on lap 26 and was stationary for 9.0s and rejoined behind his team mate Frentzen who was battling with the BAR's of Panis and Villeneuve for 7th. On lap 27 Montoya made his first pit stop this season and got going again after 9.5s rejoining behind Trulli's Jordan. Having been told to step on the gas, the leading Williams of Schumacher then set a new lap record with a 1:25.524s and was 7 seconds ahead of Coulthard when the McLaren driver pitted on lap 28. Taking on fuel and a new set of Bridgestone's, the Scot rejoined without losing 2nd place. Behind him, Montoya having hounded Trulli for a few laps, put an audacious move on the Jordan around the outside of the Tamburello chicane.
