Throughout the weekend the weather in Spain had been fine, the night before the race the heavens opened and soaked the track. The downpour continued on race day and was to continue for the duration of the race.
During the acclimatisation session Heinz Harald Frentzen lost the back of his Sauber as he rounded the last corner and entered the start / finish straight. The car spun round and hit the tyre wall backwards at around 130 mph. Frentzen was unhurt but his car was reduced to the cockpit, engine and right front wheel, with the rest being spread across the track. This caused the red flags to come out and the session was suspended while the debris was cleared.

As the race itself approached, it looked like we might see the first safety car start, the race organisers decided that it was OK to have a normal start and so the cars lined up in the pouring rain.

Hill and Schumacher both got terrible starts and Villeneuve followed by Alesi led from Hill into the first corner. By the end of the second lap Lamy, Rosset, Coulthard, Fisichella, Panis and Irvine were all out, reducing the field from 20 to 14.

On lap 3 Johnny Herbert left the track, he managed to keep the Sauber going and rejoined, lap 4 saw Hill go off, he too managed to keep it going and rejoined back in fifth place. The running order was Villeneuve, Alesi, Berger, Schumacher, Hill and Barrichello. Alesi began to press Villeneuve and set the first fastest lap of 1.51.673.

Schumacher then began to assert himself and closing on Alesi he set the fastest lap of 1.49.045, he managed to pass Alesi in brilliant style, while elsewhere Hill went off again and rejoined in eight place promoting Frentzen into the points. The running order was now Villeneuve, Schumacher, Alesi, Berger, Barrichello, Frentzen, Verstappen and Hill. Ukyo Katayama spun and went out on lap 9.

Schumacher then began to close on Villeneuve, Hill lost control at the same corner that claimed Frentzen earlier in the day and his Williams slid along the retaining wall. With his suspension undoubtedly damaged Hill retired on the spot. Schumacher went past Villeneuve in a carbon copy of the movement which saw him pass Alesi and he went on to set another fastest lap of 1.46.543.

With no-one ahead of him Schumacher put on a brilliant display of car control as he drifted through corners, the back end of his Ferrari stepping out just enough through the corners and he was lapping nearly four seconds faster than anyone else on the track. Eventually setting the fastest lap of the race in 1.45.517.

On lap 17 Jos Verstappen did a complete 360, never leaving the track and continued on his way, Diniz and Salo both left the circuit and rejoined and on lap 18, as Schumacher approached the back markers, Martin Brundle retired with gearbox problems. This left just 10 cars on the track and Schumacher was 23 seconds in the lead.

With so few cars on the circuit, the track remained completely waterlogged as the rain replaced water displaced by tyres before the next car arrived. This made the circuit harder to drive and Herbert and Salo both spun, Salo going out, Herbert managing to keep going. Herbert retired 3 laps later.

Schumacher continued to lap much faster than the rest of the field and his lead was now 37 seconds. Schumacher pitted on lap 23 (7.2 secs) and rejoined in the lead.

By lap 30 there were only nine cars left, Schumacher, Villeneuve, Alesi, Berger, Barrichello, Frentzen, Verstappen, Hakkinen and Diniz. Schumacher had a 42 second lead and the other cars were starting to pit. This caused the usual upset to the running order as some cars pitted before others, the last pit stop being made by Barrichello on lap 43, by this time Schumacher's lead was in excess of 70 seconds !. Alesi managed to pass Villeneuve in the pits and so went second.

Barrichello pitted and retired with clutch problems on lap 45 and Jos Verstappen spun out of the race, with Berger also out this left just six cars running and for the second race in succession Ligier were in the points.

With so few cars running, the Jordan team managed to fix Barrichello's clutch and he rejoined the race some 6 laps down on sixth place Diniz. The repair didn't last, less than half a lap in fact, and Barrichello retired (again) from the race. This left the running order Schumacher, Alesi, Villeneuve, Frentzen, Hakkinen and Diniz

Schumacher now seemed to be power sliding on purpose, as he slid the Ferrari round the corners looking like someone having fun in a 20 million dollar toy, great stuff to watch!.

As the race came to a close Villeneuve put on a charge and was catching Alesi, but with no real chance of passing the Benetton he eased off and the race finished Schumacher, Alesi, Villeneuve, Frentzen, Hakkinen and Diniz. Schumacher, Alesi and Villeneuve the only drivers on the same lap.

Spainsh GP Results