 The race took place in the afternoon from 14 : 00 CET ( UTC + 1 ) , in dry and sunny weather . Villeneuve started the race in pole position , with Schumacher in second . Just a few moments before the start of the race , a blue liquid came out of Villeneuve 's Williams . However , this did not influence his car during the race . Schumacher 's getaway at the start was better than Villeneuve 's and he had taken the lead by the time they reached the first corner . Schumacher would lead 40 of the first 47 laps of the race Frentzen also got a better start than Villeneuve and overtook him . Under the orders of the Williams team , on lap eight Frentzen let teammate Villeneuve past . Schumacher made his first pit @-@ stop on lap 22 and Villeneuve made his first stop the following lap . Both retained their positions . During the first round of pitstops the McLarens swapped places with David Coulthard leading Mika Häkkinen and Frentzen dropped to fifth position behind both of them . The order of the leaders after the second round of pitstops on lap 43 and lap 44 remained the same but with Villeneuve closer to Schumacher . 
