since compound wear was being increased by braking hard for the first chicane. Heidfeld's car was being worked on by mechanics who managed to get to the side of the track before the formation lap begun to avoid incurring a penalty. Michael Schumacher maintained his lead going into the first corner withstanding Häkkinen's attempts to pass on the inside by switching lines. Barrichello on the inside line made a slow start and dropped from second to fifth position, which saw the fast starting Villeneuve become stuck behind the Ferrari. Heading into the first corner, Salo and Irvine made contact and both drivers went into Diniz. Irvine had suspension damage that necessitated his retirement from the Grand Prix while Salo sustained a left-rear puncture and Diniz's front wing was removed. Entering the Variante della Roggia chicane, (the circuit's second chicane) a multi-car accident occurred. Barrichello attempted to pass Trulli on the inside and the following Frentzen on a light fuel load struck the left-rear corner of teammate Trulli's vehicle with his right-front corner at nearly after losing control of his car. Frentzen then hit the right-rear corner of Barrichello's Ferrari with his vehicle's left-front corner. All three cars spun and collected Coulthard who was in the process of attempting to turn into the chicane. All four cars spun into the gravel trap and created a thick cloud of dust and smoke. The right front wheel from Frentzen's car struck fire marshal Paolo Gislimberti (who had moved from his post and took his fire extinguisher with him) on the upper body exposed through the barrier on the circuit's left-hand side. The following four drivers, Villeneuve, Ralf Schumacher, Button and Wurz, passed through the scene without incident. Behind them, Herbert was blinded by the cloud and the unsighted De La Rosa rammed into the rear of Herbert's Jaguar. De La Rosa was launched around into the air, barrel rolling and somersaulting. He went over the top of Coulthard's McLaren and landed upside down across the suspension of Barrichello's car in the gravel. All involved drivers sustained no serious injuries. The rest of the field was able to pass through the accident scene without incident. Herbert retired in the pit lane with a missing wheel and Zonta sustained a front puncture from being hit by De La Rosa. FIA race director Charlie Whiting did not stop the race and abort the first start to