Damon Hill totally dominated in Argentina this weekend, fastest on Friday, he qualified for pole on Saturday and won the race on Sunday.

On race day Hill got away in the lead, behind him Alesi and Berger both got brilliant starts, while Villeneuve had too much clutch slip and dropped back to 8th.

World Champion Michael Schumacher stayed very close to Hill with Alesi and Berger behind him. Coulthard had moved up to fifth from ninth on the grid and Barrichello was in sixth.

The leading four began to pull away from the rest of the field as Gerhard Berger set the fastest lap of 1.32.977 on lap 2. By lap 5 Schumacher was the fastest on the track and he began to pressure Hill, Hill responded with a fastest lap of 1.31.693 and he and Schumacher began to pull away from Alesi and Berger. By Lap 6 the running order was Hill, Schumacher, Alesi, Berger, Coulthard and Villeneuve who had made up for his poor start.

Alesi then began to catch Schumacher and Villeneuve now past Coulthard then set a fastest lap of 1.31.093 on lap 11. Fastest lap times were being traded by the front five and Hill had extended his lead to 5 seconds.

The first retirement came on lap 19 when Mika Hakkinen stopped with a throttle problem. Shortly after this the pit stops began. Schumacher pitted on lap 22 (7.1 secs) and rejoined in fourth, Alesi pitted on lap 23 (5.0 secs) and rejoined fourth behind Schumacher. On lap 24 Hill (9.6 secs) and Berger (7.9 secs) both pitted and the race order was now Hill, Schumacher, Alesi, Villeneuve, Berger and Coulthard.

Villeneuve (11.8 secs), Coulthard (8.1 secs) and Irvine (8.3 secs) all pitted on laps 25 and 26.

It was on lap 26 that the drama started....

Luca Badoer hit the back of Pedro Diniz and the Forti landed upside down on the grass. Amazingly the marshals all stood and watched as Badoer struggled to get out of his upturned car. Because of the position of Badoer's car the safety car came on to the track.

This wiped out Hills five second lead over Schumacher, the driver that gained the most was probably Jacques Villeneuve who had been over 40 seconds behind Hill.

Barrichello (13.4 secs), Salo (12.8 secs) and Panis (10.0 secs) all pitted while the safety car was out.

On lap 29, with the safety car still out Katayama spun out, reportedly with gearbox trouble. This was followed on lap 30 by Pedro Diniz leaving the track engulfed in a fireball. The Mugen Honda engine blew up in spectacular fashion rupturing a fuel line in the process. The spinning Ligier was totally engulfed in flames as it pirouetted onto the grass. Fortunately Diniz did not panic and released himself very quickly and left the car at some pace!!.

The safety car went in on lap 32 and the cars started to speed up in readiness for the race resuming. Heinz Harald Frentzen spun off on lap 33 presumably because his tyres had cooled and Tarso Marques hit Brundle up the backside and spun out of the race. One lap later Brundle was forced to retire with rear wing damage, a result of his accident with Marques.

On lap 37 with the race now back on and the drivers settled down Hill set a fastest lap of 1.30.116. The running order was now Hill, Schumacher, Alesi, Berger, Villeneuve and Coulthard.

Lap 40 saw Schumacher pit again (12.6 secs) and rejoin in 8th position, the cars were still very close after the safety car. This promoted Jos Verstappen to sixth position and he began to pressure Coulthard for 5th.

Alesi pitted again on lap 44, but stalling his engine saw him rejoin behind Schumacher again, this time in 8th place. The order on the track was now Hill, Berger, Villeneuve, Coulthard, Verstappen and Irvine with Schumacher and Alesi behind them.

Alesi then appeared to out brake Schumacher, followed by Barrichello slipping inside the World Champion. Schumacher began to slow down and it became apparent that he had a problem. He retired on lap 46 with rear wing damage which had been caused while the safety car was out. Mika Salo retired on the same lap.

By lap 53 most drivers had completed their second pit stops and the running order was Hill, Berger, Villeneuve, Alesi, Barrichello, Coulthard, Irvine, Panis, Verstappen, Herbert and Montermini these were the only cars left.

Berger pitted on lap 57 supposedly for blistered tyres, two laps later he retired with what was reported to be suspension problems. This left the points runners as Hill, Villeneuve, Alesi, Barrichello, Irvine and Coulthard.

Verstappen was pressing Coulthard very hard and on lap 60 he squeezed inside the McLaren driver to put his Arrows into the points. Alesi continued to catch Villeneuve but he ran out of time and the race finished Hill, Villeneuve, Alesi, Barrichello, Irvine and Verstappen. With Coulthard, Panis, Herbert and Montermini the only other finishers.