entered the pit lane for his final pit stop which lasted 7.9 seconds. He rejoined in the lead, three seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher. At the completion of lap 48, with the front-runners completing their pit stops, the first six drivers in the order was Coulthard, Michael Schumacher, Häkkinen, Barrichello, Villeneuve, and Trulli. At the tail-end of the field, Gené and Alesi made contact on lap 52 and both drivers were sent spinning sideways. Both drivers continued in their respective positions. Further up, Ralf Schumacher passed Trulli to clinch sixth position at turn five. Häkkinen, meanwhile, was less than one second behind Michael Schumacher by lap 53 and continued to battle the latter for second position as his tyres degraded quicker than the McLarens. Irvine overtook Diniz for twelfth position two laps later. On the 58th lap, Häkkinen was close behind Michael Schumacher and nearly outdragged him at the exit of Lycee corner. Michael Schumacher ran wide to hold off Häkkinen. During lap 59, Häkkinen overtook Michael Schumacher when the latter ran wide as a result of his locking the rear wheels under braking for the Adelaide hairpin. Michael Schumacher retired with engine failure on the same lap. Coulthard slowed slightly because he felt his lead was safe. He crossed the finish line on lap 72 to take his third victory of the season and the ninth of his Formula One career in a time of 1'38:05.538, at an average speed of . Häkkinen finished second 14.7 seconds behind, ahead of Barrichello in third, Villeneuve in fourth, Ralf Schumacher in fifth and Trulli rounded out the points scoring positions in sixth. Frentzen in seventh held off Button in eighth place who was being closed up to Fisichella in ninth during the final laps of the Grand Prix. Salo, Diniz and Heidfeld followed in the next three positions, with Irvine, Alesi and Gené the final classified finishers. Post-race The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and in the subsequent press conference. Coulthard described his race weekend as "exhausting" because of the problems his team encountered during the event. He also apologised for the hand gestures he made towards Michael Schumacher after his first overtaking manoeuvre on the latter. Häkkinen stated that he was happy with his second-place result and praised his team's efforts. He also spoke of how he watched Michael Schumacher's racing lines and believed