pit for tyres. Trulli became the first front runner to pit on lap 21, followed by Villeneuve, Frentzen and Ralf Schumacher. Coulthard managed to pass Barrichello on the outside on lap 22 for second place at the exit of the Adelaide hairpin. Coulthard entered the hairpin wide and was provided with more speed to overtake Barrichello who did not swerve into Coulthard. Häkkinen, Button, Michael Schumacher, Coulthard and Barrichello all made pit stops over the following three laps. Verstappen pulled onto the side of the pit straight to retire with gearbox problems on lap 26. Coulthard was able to close the gap on Michael Schumacher to under a second by lap 32, having set the fastest lap of the race in the process, a 1:19.479 on the 28th lap; the latter was struggling with his tyres in the warm climate. He attempted to overtake Michael Schumacher two laps later but Schumacher defended his position. Coulthard slowed to avoid a collision and made the middle finger hand gesture in his immediate anger towards Michael Schumacher. The manoeuvre allowed Häkkinen to close up on the two leading drivers. On the previous lap, Mazzacane spun off at the third corner and retired. Wurz locked his brakes going into turn 15, causing him to beach his car in the gravel trap and retired on lap 36. Button became the first driver to pit twice on lap 39. Coulthard went down the inside of Michael Schumacher into the Adelaide hairpin as Schumacher steered wide to cover. He forced Michael Schumacher onto the outside verge upon exiting the turn and moved into the lead on lap 40. Michael Schumacher's right front wheel made slight contact with Coulthard's left rear tyre exiting the hairpin. Michael Schumacher then immediately withstood Häkkinen's attempts to overtake him. Frentzen and de la Rosa became the next two drivers to make pit stops on the same lap. Michael Schumacher and Häkkinen made pit stops for the second time on lap 43 and both emerged in third and fourth respectively. Barrichello's pit stop on the 44th lap lasted 16.8 seconds and saw him drop to fifth because his team had difficulty fitting a cross threaded wheel nut on his right front tyre. This eliminated Barrichello from contention for the victory. De La Rosa retired in the pit lane with transmission failure after completing 45 laps. At the conclusion of the 46th lap, Coulthard