most of the session. Mazzacane went through the gravel and crashed at the first chicane; he drove the spare Minardi entry and then Gené's race car to qualify. Heidfeld separated the two Minardi drivers in 21st. Qualifying classification Warm-up The drivers took to the track at 09:30 Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4) for a 30-minute warm-up session. It took place in cloudy and windy weather conditions that meant that the ambient temperature was below . Drivers reported issues with their cars to their teams. Michael Schumacher recorded the fastest overall time in his Ferrari with a lap of 1:18.932. His teammate Barrichello was second-quickest. The McLaren pair rounded out the top four fastest drivers; Häkkinen in third in front of Coulthard in fourth. Amongst the slower runners, the engine cover was shed from Heidfeld's car on the main straight. Zonta recorded no lap times due to an engine failure on his first lap out of the pit lane and Irvine was observed driving on wet-weather tyres on a dry circuit. Race The race started before 100,000 spectators at 14:00 local time and lasted 69 laps over a distance of . The conditions on the grid were dry and cloudy before the race. The air temperature was and the track temperature . Coulthard's McLaren stalled due to a clutch problem and gave a signal to his mechanics for help as the drivers began the formation lap. The mechanics restarted Coulthard's car even though they were told not to do so over the McLaren team radio, a violation of safety regulations. Coulthard was able to take his grid position before the entire field passed him. Coulthard accelerated faster than Michael Schumacher off the line though the Ferrari driver defended his position going into the first corner. Häkkinen, meanwhile, withstood Barrichello's initial attempts to pass him for third. During lap one, Villeneuve progressed from sixth to third by passing on the outside, while Verstappen went from 13th to 10th over the same distance. Häkkinen was forced wide by Villeneuve's manoeuvre and Barrichello passed him on the outside for fourth into turn two. Further down the field, a clutch fault left Irvine stalled on the grid. He was pushed by marshals to the pit lane exit. Unlike previous years, when the field was involved in a multi-car collision, all drivers emerged without damage. At the first lap's completion, the top six drivers in the order