The race itself was an interesting one to say the least - with two starts and theatrical maladies on the grid. Juan Pablo Montoya threw away his 2nd career pole by stalling his Williams first time around, and team mate Ralf Schumacher was left marooned on the grid for the re-start - his mechanics somehow forgetting to remove the 'jack' from his car. All of which left elder brother Michael free to take a 5th win at the famed Spa circuit, and his 8th of the season so far. "Certainly the problems Williams had at the starts helped us," announced Shumacher, "because I am not sure I would have beaten my brother off the grid. But we did not have to find out." Qualifying a distant 9th, David Coulthard finished a creditable second in the McLaren having spent most of his afternoon trailing the 'oil-spitting' Benetton of Giancarlo Fisichella. "I'm quite happy with the result but it doesn't look quite as good as it sounds because obviously a lot of cars dropped out," declared the Scot. "Three cars went out before the start proper but I still had a little bit of fun. Still, given the weekend I've had, I'm happy to have got second place." Aided with a few aerodynamic tweaks, Fisichella was the surprise of the race and took a fine third place - his first podium since Interlagos last year. Starting 8th, the Italian rocketed into contention at the start proper and was elated with the result. "This was a brilliant result," he announced. "Our new aerodynamics package has made the car much more competitive - it is easier to drive, easier to set up and it has much more grip than before. This has been a great day and I would like to thank the whole team for a great job!" Enduring a torrid qualifying session - which saw him line up 7th, Mika Hakkinen continued his season of woe by finishing a distant 4th for McLaren. "This was a dramatic day but unfortunately I couldn't charge the last part of the race to make inroads on Fisichella because of a handling imbalance, so I had to settle for fourth."
