on that lap and Trulli overtook Irvine for fifth on lap 16. That lap, Villeneuve retired with a race-long gearbox problem. The Ferrari and McLaren teams employed different pit stop strategies – the Ferrari team planned for two stops in the anticipation they would build up a large enough lead over McLaren on the circuit. The McLaren squad, however, scheduled a single pit stop because they theorised that the long length of the pit lane would cost them time. Michael Schumacher led by 17.6 seconds over the rest of the field when he commenced the first round of pit stops for fuel and tyres four laps later. He rejoined the track in third and Barrichello led the next two laps until his stop. On lap 21, Irvine lost control of the rear of his car entering the Bico de Pato hairpin and crashed into a tyre barrier. Six laps later, Barrichello entered the pit lane with a hydraulic motor problem that spread from the steering wheel to the throttle linkage. As Barrichello exited the car to retire a small fire was extinguished by his mechanics. Trulli made the first of two stops from fourth at the end of the 28th lap and he emerged in seventh. At the front of the field, Häkkinen pulled away to lead Michael Schumacher by 12 seconds until he slowed with a loss of oil engine pressure on the 30th lap. He slowed and retired in his garage. Michael Schumacher retook the lead, with the yet-to-stop Coulthard second, Verstappen third, and Fisichella fourth. Coulthard lapped to within a tenth of a second of Michael Schumacher as the latter slowed slightly due to an imbalance in all four of his tyres as Ralf Schumacher challenged Fisichella for fourth. On lap 32, Gené retired from eleventh with an engine failure. Verstappen and his teammate de la Rosa made their first pit stops on laps 35 and 37. Four laps later, Frentzen was the first driver on a one-stop strategy to enter the pit lane. Coulthard made his only stop on lap 43 and remained in second position. Michael Schumacher led by 48 seconds when he made his second pit stop on the 51st lap and retained the lead. On the same lap, Fisichella made his only stop and kept third place. On lap 51, Herbert retired in the pit lane with a gearbox failure. De la Rosa