lap, as Häkkinen went through the chicane to avoid making contact with other drivers and fell to thirteenth. Verstappen progressed from nineteenth to eighth. At the end of the first lap, Montoya led by half a second from Barrichello, who in turn was followed by Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher, Coulthard and De La Rosa. Barrichello and Michael Schumacher started to maintain the gap between themselves and Montoya, and started to pull away from Ralf Schumacher. Bernoldi passed Villeneuve for 11th position on lap two, while Irvine dropped to ninth one lap later after he was overtaken by Verstappen and Räikkönen. He later fell behind Alesi, Bernoldi and Villeneuve on the fourth lap. Button retired from the race when his engine failed and smoke billowed from his car on lap five. Irvine lost a further three positions to Häkkinen, Panis and Frentzen one lap later. Coulthard became the third retirement of the Grand Prix after an engine failure on lap seven, which meant Verstappen inherited fifth and Räikkönen moved into sixth. Montoya had a blister on one of his rear tyres which caused him to slide under braking, and was slow exiting the Variante della Roggia chicane because he out-braked himself into the turn, which allowed Barrichello to take the lead on the entry to the second Lesmo corner on the ninth lap. Barrichello began to pull away from Montoya. Three laps later, Michael Schumacher unsuccessfully attempted to overtake Montoya into the second chicane because Montoya locked his brakes since Montoya overshot his braking point and shortcutted the corner to remain in second. Alesi passed Räikkönen for sixth that same lap while Häkkinen moved into tenth after passing Bernoldi on lap 13. Irvine retired on lap 14 because he lost horsepower in his car when a cylinder in his engine stopped working. Verstappen fell to seventh after he was passed by Alesi and Räikkönen on lap 16. Yoong, driving with steering affected by Button's front wing hitting his left-front tyre on the first lap, at the back of the field lost control of his car at Curva di Lesmo corner but continued driving; he avoided being hit by Montoya and Michael Schumacher. Michael Schumacher battled for Montoya for third until he became the first of the leading drivers to make a scheduled pit stop on lap 18, and rejoined the track in fourth. The Williams and Ferrari teams were employing different