. The weather was clear and dry. The air temperature was and the track temperature ranged from . Barrichello made a brisk start to maintain the lead into the first turn. While he provided room for drivers to pass him, none did. Behind Barrichello, his teammate Michael Schumacher made a fast start to slot into second position and Heidfeld rose from fifth to third having overtaken Ralf Schumacher on the outside. Räikkönen and Massa, meanwhile, drew alongside and Massa steered onto the grass dropping to tenth. Further back, Bernoldi made contact with the rear of his teammate Frentzen; both cars continued as Bernoldi entered the pit lane after the first lap. At turn two, an increase in speed led de la Rosa's throttle pick-up to start to cut out. He slowed, and retired in the pit lane at the end of the lap. In the meantime, Villeneuve experienced a minor loss of car control and hit Frentzen's car on the inside. The collision sent Frentzen into a gravel trap from which he slowly extricated himself. At the end of the first lap, Barrichello led his teammate Michael Schumacher, Heidfeld, Ralf Schumacher, Montoya and Coulthard. Heidfeld ran wide at Castrol Kurve at the beginning of the second lap and the Williams pair of Ralf Schumacher and Montoya demoted him to fifth. Barrichello and Michael Schumacher began to pull away from the rest of the field. There were overtakes further down the field. On lap two, Salo passed Button for eighth. Villeneuve overtook his teammate Panis for 14th position and Frentzen passed Webber on lap three. During the next lap Yoong lost two places to his teammate Webber, and Frentzen. Bernoldi retired from the race with a broken front wing and front brake pipe. Räikkönen in seventh retired at the side of the track with an engine failure on lap six. On lap seven Villeneuve passed McNish for tenth place, then ran wide. He made a second, successful attempt on the eighth lap, passing McNish who opted against a challenge. That same lap, Massa entered the pit lane to join the list of retirees with a failed left-rear suspension; it failed in turn two, causing the Sauber C21's right-front wheel to lift from the tarmac surface and its undertray to scrape along it. Villeneuve made a pass on Fisichella for ninth place on lap ten. Not long after Villeneuve overtook Button for