Jaguar driver Johnny Herbert was the first person to retire, retiring with clutch problems on lap 2. By lap 4, the two McLarens of Häkkinen and Coulthard, along with Schumacher, were already pulling away from Frentzen's Jordan, who was five seconds behind Schumacher. On lap 7, the front suspension on the Arrows car of Pedro de la Rosa failed, sending him into a tyre barrier. Herbert's teammate, Irvine spun trying to avoid the Arrows car. Irvine could not get the Jaguar going again as it suffered an engine failure. Both retired from the race. The safety car was deployed to slow the other cars down so the marshals could clear up the wreckage. When the green flag was given at the end of lap 10, Coulthard slowed dramatically and came in for a pit stop with engine problems. Coulthard returned to the track, but the problem continued and forced his retirement on lap 11. Schumacher was now promoted to second, with Frentzen in third place. Barrichello was in fourth place, with Trulli fifth. Behind the top five, BAR driver Jacques Villeneuve was in sixth place, heading a queue of cars down to 12th place Button. Häkkinen retired on lap 18, with the same problem as his teammate; a double retirement almost identical to the 1999 race. With Häkkinen's retirement, Schumacher led by 16.5 seconds from Frentzen in second. Schumacher made his one and only pit stop on lap 29, giving Frentzen the lead. Schumacher rejoined the track in third, just in front of Trulli. Barrichello was the next driver of the front running cars to pit on lap 33, but the Ferrari team switched him to a two stop strategy so that he could move ahead of Frentzen. Trulli retired his Jordan car on lap 36 with gearbox problems. The retirements and pit stops moved Button up the order, putting the Williams driver in third place before his pit stop on lap 36. Frentzen also made a pit stop on lap 36, but the Jordan mechanics experienced problems while refuelling the car, costing Frentzen over ten seconds in the stop. Frentzen rejoined the track in sixth, however retired three laps later with gearbox problems. Barrichello took the lead on lap 45, overtaking teammate Schumacher before making his second pit stop. Barrichello rejoined the track second. The retirements of the McLaren and Jordan team cars elevated Ralf Schumacher, Button's Williams teammate,