better run at the first turn, and can gain ground by sweeping across in front of those caught on the inside." Coulthard removed the tailplane from his car's rear aerofoil to reduce the effect of an understeer. Coulthard had better start of the front runners off the line, though Michael Schumacher moved into his path to retain the lead. Coulthard then moved to his right but was blocked and had to slow, which allowed Barrichello to pass him for second. Salo made the best start in the field moving from twelfth to ninth by the conclusion of the first lap, while Irvine lost four positions over the same distance as Ralf Schumacher dropped from fifth to seventh. At the completion of the first lap, the top six drivers were Michael Schumacher, Barrichello, Coulthard, Häkkinen, Villeneuve, and Frentzen. Michael Schumacher began to pull clear from the rest of the field and set consecutive fastest laps. Barrichello began to delay the McLaren drivers to allow his teammate to extend his lead. Further down the field, Trulli passed Ralf Schumacher for seventh on lap two. Heidfeld was overtaken by Alesi for 14th on the same lap. On the following lap, Ralf Schumacher retook seventh from Trulli. Heidfeld lost a further position to Fisichella on lap four. Ralf Schumacher started to challenge Frentzen for sixth on the fifth lap. At the front of the pack, Michael Schumacher was in control, extending his lead over Barrichello to five seconds by lap ten. Button took tenth position from Irvine on lap twelve, while Heidfeld collided with Alesi at the Adelaide hairpin while attempting to overtake Fisichella, sending his teammate into a spin who fell to 18th. Button moved into ninth place when he passed Salo on lap 13. Zonta, who was running 17th, suffered brake problems on lap 17 and collided with the tyre barriers which caused his retirement from the Grand Prix. By the 18th lap, Michael Schumacher had extended his lead over Barrichello by 6.2 seconds, who in turn was continuing to hold up Coulthard in third. Häkkinen was a further 1.4 seconds behind his teammate but was drawing ahead of Villeneuve in fifth. Herbert made an unscheduled pit stop due to a gearbox issue that caused him to gradually lose the use of all his gears and he retired three laps later. Meanwhile on the same lap, Alesi became the first driver to