championship was in Australia and unsurprisingly, the two McLarens of Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard started 1–2 ahead of Ferrari's Michael Schumacher. Schumacher, for the second consecutive race (after last year's final race), stalled on the parade lap and started at the back. The McLarens were first and second into the first corner, and then pulled away until both broke down, Coulthard when his gearbox failed and Häkkinen with electrical trouble. This left Eddie Irvine in the second Ferrari to take his first ever career win ahead of Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Ralf Schumacher in the Williams. The second race was originally to be in China on 21 March , then Argentina on 28 March, but both were cancelled before the season began. This left an unusual five-week gap before the next race, in Brazil. Häkkinen and Coulthard started 1–2 again in Brazil, and Schumacher was outqualified by the Stewart of home hero Rubens Barrichello. Coulthard faltered at the start, and he had to be pushed into the pitlane, rejoining three laps down. Häkkinen looked dominant, but then got stuck in third gear temporarily, and was passed by Barrichello and Schumacher. Barrichello was on a two-stopper, and pitted early, leaving Schumacher leading only to be jumped by Häkkinen during the stops. Häkkinen won, ahead of Schumacher, and Frentzen took third after Barrichello's engine blew up. The first European race of the season was in San Marino, and even though the 'tifosi' were out in full force for Ferrari, McLaren locked out the front row of the grid for the third successive race, and the Ferraris of Schumacher and Irvine were confined to the second row. Häkkinen, who was on a two-stopper, raced away from the field early on, only to lose control and crash on the 18th lap. This left Coulthard and Schumacher to battle it out, and the German jumped his rival in the stops to win, sending the tifosi wild. Coulthard was second, and after Irvine retired with an engine failure, Barrichello took third. Häkkinen took pole again at Monaco, but Schumacher prevented a lockout of the front row, by beating Coulthard. Schumacher beat Häkkinen on the run to the first corner and then pulled away. Häkkinen lost even more time when he went up an escape road in Mirabeau, and lost out to Irvine and Coulthard. Coulthard retired from third with a mechanical failure soon after. Schumacher