The race marked the debut for Stéphane Sarrazin, who drove the Minardi for an injured Luca Badoer. Badoer had injured his hand in a testing accident, and Sarrazin - then the test driver for Prost - was drafted in to Minardi. As Luca Badoer returned for the following race, and he was still the test driver for Prost, it was Stéphane Sarrazin's only entry in Formula One.
Race
At the start of the race, pole sitter Mika Häkkinen raced off with the lead, while his McLaren teammate David Coulthard stalled on the grid. McLaren at this point had been reeling from a double-DNF at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, and Coulthard's failure raised eyebrows at the team. Coulthard's car was pushed into the pit lane, where it was restarted as the leaders began lap 4. On lap 4, local heroRubens Barrichello took the lead of the race from Mika Häkkinen after Häkkinen's car suffered a temporary transmission malfunction and was unable to select any gears. Häkkinen was also passed by Michael Schumacher before his car regained the ability to select gears. Barrichello was able to stay in front until he pitted on lap 27. It was the first time a Stewart car had led a race. The crowd of roughly 80,000 cheered wildly as "Rubinho" built a lead of about 5 seconds over Schumacher. Alexander Wurz and Damon Hill collided on lap 10, ending Hill's race. Rubens Barrichello fell to fourth place after his pit stop, and Michael Schumacher took over the lead. David Coulthard's day ended when he pulled off the track with a mechanical failure. Stéphane Sarrazin had a massive crash on the pit straight on lap 31 after suffering a wing failure, with him spinning more than six times. On lap 35, Barrichello passed Eddie Irvine under braking into the first corner to take third place. Michael Schumacher came in for a pit stop on lap 38, allowing Mika Häkkinen past. Häkkinen had been held up by Schumacher, so he began trying to build up enough of a gap so he could come out ahead of Schumacher after his own pit stop. Lap traffic delayed his progress at first, but after one lap he was able to turn in a couple of fast laps. He pitted on lap 42, and his fast laps combined with quick work by his pit crew allowed him to easily retain the lead over Schumacher. On lap 42, Pedro Dinizspun off and beached his car after trying to pass another car to the inside. Rubens Barrichello's race ended on the same lap with a blown engine. Eddie Irvine came in for an unscheduled pit stop on lap 55 to clear the radiators of his overheating Ferrari, dropping him back to fifth. Mika Häkkinen won the race, with Michael Schumacher second. Heinz-Harald Frentzen was classified third despite running out of fuel on the final lap, as the next car was a lap down. Ralf Schumacher finished fourth after being closely pursued by Eddie Irvine for the last few laps.
