fastest drivers having held the fastest lap early in the session. Race The race started at 13:00 local time. The conditions on the grid were dry and sunny before the race; the air temperature was and the track temperature was . Michael Schumacher maintained his starting line advantage heading into Copse corner followed by Häkkinen. Coulthard, driving on the inside line heading into Copse, was hit in the rear-end by Trulli who took the inside line and both spun with Trulli going into the gravel trap at Copse and Coulthard went across the grass verge and onto the pit lane exit road. Further back, Villeneuve was unable to shift into a higher gear because his automatic upshifting system failed and was forced to use to switch to a manual start. He then drove in a gear he did not intend to drive in, and applied his brakes hard locking his front wheels, rendering him unable to steer and made contact with teammate Panis, who retired from the race after going into the gravel trap at Copse next to Trulli's car. Montoya made a quick gateway, moving up from eighth to third by the end of the first lap and his teammate Ralf Schumacher made up five positions over the same distance. Frentzen, however, made a poor start and lost three positions before the first lap ended. Further behind, Verstappen made the best start in the field as he moved up from 17th to eleventh and Alesi moved up four positions. At the end of the first lap, Michael Schumacher led by 0.3 seconds from Häkkinen and both drivers were followed by Montoya, Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher, Räikkönen, Heidfeld, Frentzen, Alesi, Villeneuve, Verstappen, de la Rosa, Button, Bernoldi, Irvine, Burti, Fisichella, Coulthard and Alonso. Michael Schumacher started to maintain a 0.2-second lead over Häkkinen who began a challenge for the lead. Häkkinen set the fastest lap of the race so far on the third lap – a 1:25.861 – to close the gap to Michael Schumacher to one-tenth of a second. Coulthard suffered a rear-suspension failure and spun off into the gravel trap at Priory corner, ending his race. Verstappen passed Villeneuve and Alesi to take over ninth position on lap 4, whilst Fisichella went off the track and drove through the gravel trap at Copse and rejoined behind Alonso on the same lap. Michael Schumacher lost control of his car at