end of the warm-up but before the race at 11:15 local time, a second minute of silence was organised by the Italian National Olympic Committee prior to the beginning of the Drivers' Parade. Race The race started at 14:00 local time, running for 53 laps over a distance of . It took place in sunny weather conditions; the air temperature was and the track temperature ; forecasts predicted no rainfall throughout the race. During the race's buildup on a flat-bed truck at the pre-race drivers' parade and on the starting grid, Michael Schumacher attempted to organise a pact that would see no overtaking at the first two chicanes. The plan failed, with Villeneuve, Benetton team principal Flavio Briatore and Arrows owner Tom Walkinshaw refusing to accept the pact; Briatore threatened to sack both of his team's drivers if they complied with the pact. Schumacher had been keen to avoid any accidents at the start, due to a combination of the effects of the 11 September 2001 attacks earlier that week; the death of fire marshal Paolo Gislimberti in a pile-up at the beginning of the previous year's race; a major accident in the previous day's ChampCar race in Germany, in which former Formula One driver Alex Zanardi was critically injured, resulting in the amputation of both legs, and multi-car accidents at the beginning of both the Porsche Supercup and International Formula 3000 support races. Heidfeld lost hydraulic pressure on the grid; he was required to use the spare Sauber monocoque and start from the pit lane. Fisichella did the same because he had a leaking fuel filler in his car. When the race started, Montoya maintained his pole position advantage going into the first corner, with Barrichello in second. Ralf Schumacher passed Michael Schumacher at the Variante Goodyear chicane but Michael challenged Ralf for third at the exit of Variante della Roggia. He got past on the inside into the Curve di Lesmo after Ralf pushed him onto the grass into the turn. Further back, Trulli was hit by Button, who drove too fast on the slippery outside line going into the chicane, and was sent into a spin and became the first retirement of the race. As yellow flags were waved, Button made a pit stop at the end of the lap for a replacement front wing. Irvine moved from 13th to seventh by the end of the first