track began to dry. By the beginning of the fifth lap Häkkinen increased his lead over Trulli to 9.1 seconds, ahead of Michael Schumacher, Button and Coulthard. Schumacher then took second place from Trulli at La Source. Button was anxious to recover from his error and attempted to follow Schumacher down the inside at the same corner, but Button and Trulli collided. Trulli was sent into a spin, becoming the first retirement of the race after he stalled the engine. Button lost two positions to Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher approaching Eau Rouge turn and he spent the following few laps checking if his car was undamaged; he sustained front wing and minor steering damage. As the dry line continued to appear on the circuit, Alesi's pace on the dry tyres saw him lap faster than the race leaders and encouraged other teams to bring their drivers into the pit lane for dry tyres. Michael and Ralf Schumacher were the first leaders to pit for dry tyres on lap six. Häkkinen made a pit stop from the lead on lap seven, followed by Button, and re-emerged ahead of Coulthard to retain the lead. Coulthard was required to remain on the circuit on deteriorating wet-weather compound tyres while his team tended to his teammate Häkkinen. He made his pit stop on the eighth lap, re-emerging in ninth position. All drivers made pit stops by the end of lap nine. The race order at the time was Häkkinen, Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher, Alesi, Button, and Villeneuve. During that lap Barrichello overtook Frentzen for seventh, whilst Verstappen and Fisichella collided after Verstappen tried to pass the slowing Benetton at the Bus Stop chicane. Verstappen sustained damage to his front wing, and Fisichella later retired with an electrical problem that was caused by a loss of power. By the beginning of lap 13, Michael Schumacher closed the gap from Häkkinen to about 4.6 seconds after setting four consecutive fastest laps. Later in the lap, one of Häkkinen's wheels touched a damp kerb at Stavelot corner and he was sent spinning sideways for several hundred yards at high-speed into the grass; Michael Schumacher took the lead, as a consequence of Häkkinen's error that lost the McLaren driver ten seconds. Nick Heidfeld was the race's third retirement when his car developed an engine failure caused by a broken gearbox that affected the common oil circuit. Alesi, the