his teammate Häkkinen in second. The Ferrari cars of Michael Schumacher and Barrichello, Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher, Irvine, Verstappen, de la Rosa and Fisichella followed in the top ten. While the session passed relatively peacefully, Marques crashed into an Armco metal barrier at Anthony Noghes corner. Race The race took place in the afternoon from 14:00 local time. It lasted 78 laps over a distance of . The weather was dry and sunny, with the air temperature and a track temperature between . Several teams began on the soft compound tyres; a one-stop strategy was determined to be ideal, with some drivers making their first pit stops early to advance their position and others stopping later because of a similar performance level. At the start of the formation lap, an electronic launch control software glitch caused Coulthard's engine to stall, prompting the McLaren mechanics to restart his engine; he was required to begin from the back of the grid. His teammate Häkkinen was stuck behind him; he drove away before the final car passed him and was allowed to start from third place. Michael Schumacher made a clean start to lead the field into Sainte Devote, ahead of Häkkinen and Barrichello. Montoya passed Irvine for fifth when the latter ran wide attempting to pass Ralf Schumacher on the left at Sainte Devote corner. Behind the two, Verstappen lost control of his car and made contact with Burti. Verstappen fell to 20th as Burti had one of his endplates removed. On the run to the exit of Portier corner, Heidfeld and Bernoldi connected, causing Heidfeld to be launched over one of Bernoldi's wheels, and sending him straight into a barrier, making him the race's first retirement on lap one. At the first lap's conclusion, Michael Schumacher led Häkkinen by 1.5 seconds; the duo were followed by Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher, Montoya and Irvine. Montoya recorded the race's fastest lap at that point as he attempted to overtake his teammate Ralf Schumacher. On lap two, Burti fell to 20th when Verstappen and Coulthard passed him. Up front, Michael Schumacher extended his gap over Häkkinen to 1.6 seconds at the start of lap three. That lap, Montoya shifted down a gear, slowed and collected understeer. This put him wide at the entrance of the Swimming Pool complex and hit a barrier. This moved Irvine and Trulli to fifth and sixth respectively. Further back, Marques was