two-stop strategy. McLaren also employed team orders, allowing the driver who entered the first turn in the lead to not be challenged. Further down the order, Diniz swerved to avoid contact with Verstappen ahead of him and lost control of the rear of his car. The resulting manoeuvre resulted in Diniz veering right across the track and colliding with Fisichella on the inside at approximately ; Fisichella veered sharp right into the barrier. Ahead of the three drivers, Zonta outbraked himself and drove into the rear of Michael Schumacher's car, sending Schumacher into a 180-degree spin. Schumacher stopped on the kerbs beside the outside grass. Trulli was close behind Barrichello and simultaneously went into the back of the latter's Ferrari, sending Barrichello onto the gravel to avoid hitting his teammate. Trulli struck the right-front suspension on Michael Schumacher's car. Approaching drivers were required to decide whether they wanted to steer left or right rather than driving straight. Diniz made contact with the sidepod of Salo's vehicle after his teammate noticed the wreckage and slowed, sending Diniz into a spin. Both the BAR and Prost drivers piloted their cars onto the gravel to avoid a collision. Ralf Schumacher spun and stopped close to Diniz and Fisichella's stationary vehicles but was able to restart his car and drive away. Race director Charlie Whiting deployed the safety car rather than issuing a stoppage, deciding that the incident did not warrant a race stoppage. Michael Schumacher drove his car onto the racing surface, anticipating a stoppage allowing him to drive the spare car. Marshals cleared debris and removed the stricken cars on the outside just off the racing line with recovery vehicles and removed debris. The safety car was withdrawn at the conclusion of lap two and the race restarted with Häkkinen leading. Verstappen made a pit stop to replace a damaged front wing that took 15.5 seconds to complete. Button was overtaken by Barrichello (nursing a damaged right-rear diffuser) and Frentzen and fell to eighth on lap three. At the third lap's completion, the race order was Häkkinen, Coulthard, Salo, De La Rosa, Herbert, and Barrichello. Both McLaren drivers began to pull away from the rest of the field and exchanged fastest laps, as De La Rosa passed Salo for third at the start of lap four. Barrichello passed Herbert for fifth on that lap. Frentzen in the Jordan became the race's fourth