passed by Verstappen for 17th and Burti entered the pit lane to replace his damaged front wing. Marques lost a further position through a pass by Coulthard for 18th place on lap four. Michael Schumacher increased his lead over Häkkinen by another six-tenths of a second on the fifth lap with the latter under pressure from Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher. Häkkinen then went slightly faster to lower the gap to 2.5 seconds and set a new fastest lap under 1 minute and 23 seconds to be 1.6 seconds adrift on the eighth lap, to which Michael Schumacher responded with his own fastest lap. That lap, Verstappen overtook his teammate Bernoldi for 16th and the latter now had Coulthard behind him. On lap 10, Barrichello began to drop back with a cramp in his right foot, and was advised over the radio by Ferrari's technical director Ross Brawn to consume more water and move his toes, causing Barrichello to brake earlier than expected. Two laps later, Coulthard attempted an unsuccessful pass on Bernoldi at Tabac corner. Häkkinen's car began to pull to the right on lap 13, and Barrichello overtook him at the exit of the tunnel for second. He entered the pit lane for a 50-second pit stop on the 14th lap to have his car's suspension push rods checked by his mechanics. No damage was found. On the 14th lap, Panis retired with a steering problem, and Häkkinen did the same two laps later because his problem persisted. In the meantime, Verstappen got ahead of Button for 12th on lap 15. Button retook the position temporarily soon after as Verstappen re-passed him. Coulthard continued to duel Bernoldi for position but still could not effect a pass. On the 18th lap, tenth-placed de la Rosa had an hydraulics issue losing him gearbox and throttle control. He pulled off at the side of the track to retire on the next lap. On lap 26, Burti, who had a long brake pedal, missed the Sainte Devote corner braking point. He stopped away from the barrier and he retired when his reverse gear failed. Coulthard tried again to overtake Bernoldi on the next lap but the latter defended his position. That allowed Michael Schumacher to lap Coulthard, who could not use the situation to pass Bernoldi. On lap 31, Trulli retired from fifth at La Rascasse turn with flames coming from the rear