to 36 laps and reducing the field to 18 cars. The race restarted at 14:45 local time. Ralf Schumacher's Williams was not lowered from a jack at the start of the third formation lap because his mechanics were immersed on replacing a rear wing beam for safety reasons after Montoya's rear wing broke. He avoided incurring a ten-second stop-and-go penalty and was required to start from the back of the grid. Fisichella made a fast start from sixth to pass the McLarens and Barrichello, but not Michael Schumacher for first into the La Source hairpin. Barrichello maintained third as Button moved to fourth, who did not have the necessary frontal grip to maintain his pace through the first corner. Coulthard was briefly ahead of Häkkinen before his teammate passed. Cresting a hill, both McLarens overtook Button as the BARs made contact and briefly drove off the circuit. On the lap, after Verstappen hit him, Heideld attempted to pass de la Rosa on the left at the La Source hairpin. The two made contact with Heidfeld retiring immediately with front wing and suspension damage. De la Rosa entered the pit lane the lap after with car damage. Up front, Michael Schumacher began to pull away from the rest of the field, increasing his lead over Fisichella to five seconds by the third lap. One lap prior, Montoya's car pulled to one side though he overtook four cars before he retired from an engine failure. On lap three, Trulli overtook Button for sixth. Button lost seventh to Alesi on the following lap. Michael Schumacher further extended his advantage to 14 seconds over Fisichella by lap six as Coulthard challenged the Benetton. Further back, Villeneuve passed Button for eighth. The first round of pit stops began at the conclusion of the lap when Trulli entered the pit lane. After his pit stop on lap seven, Panis crossed the white line to denote the pit lane exit, an infraction of the sporting regulations which entailed a ten-second stop-and-go penalty. Barrichello made his first stop on the ninth lap. Michael Schumacher led the rest of the field by 20 seconds when he entered the pit lane for the first time on the next lap. He rejoined the race in second. Fisichella led before his own stop at the conclusion of the lap. He retained second place. Panis took his ten-second stop-and-go-penalty on the 12th lap.