Report

As at Monaco the race started under a cloud. Very big clouds, and they were
pouring rain. Unfortunately, the race also paid a lie to the accepted
gospel that rain and cars good racing make. This was to be a rather tedious
affair. All the runners were to start on wets - not even Verstappen opting
for slicks. Goodyear had decided not to run the monsoon tyres, but the FIA
were deliberating whether to start the race behind the pace car. In the end
they didn't and a normal start was used. On the formation lap, Mika Salo
was left stranded on the grid, and was allowed to start in the spare car.

As the lights went out, it was a Williams that took the lead, however Alesi
was charging, and was up to second, behind Villeneuve. Hill was down to
third with Berger following, and both Ferrari's behind him - Irvine leading
Schumacher after a bad start from the German. Before even the first corner,
Lamy was already off the track after a collision with Coulthard. Both were
out of the race. Fisichella's Minardi was also badly damaged, with the
left-front wing dangling precariously. Panis pitted at the end of the first
lap and was out of the car. By the start of the second lap Irvine was also
out of the race, having gone onto the grass, and was left stranded, unable
to get traction against the wet grass. The retirements by the end of lap
two looked like Monaco II - Lamy, Rosset and Coulthard on lap 1; Irvine,
Panis and Fisichella on lap 2.

And so by the end of lap 2 it was still Villeneuve in command, with Alesi,
Hill, Berger, Schumacher, Barrichello, Herbert, Frentzen, Brundle, Diniz,
Verstappen and Hakkinen behind. Herbert then spun his Sauber on to the
gravel, but kept it going, and rejoined the track. On the next lap Hill did
the same thing. Meanwhile, in the lead Villeneuve was under pressure from
Alesi, who was in charging form. A little further back, Schumacher was
after Alesi after disposing of Berger, and Hill's own little problem.

 Villeneuve Alesi  Schumacher  Berger  Hill   Barrichello
 Lap 7      0.771       1.519   8.657  11.766      16.666

Hill was off the track again, and back on the track again. It wasn't
looking like a good race for the Englishman. Schumacher was making a race
of it at the front, and was after Alesi with big attacks, trying to go
around the outside of the French-Scicillian, who was already wide in the
corners. Finally, the German got by, and was after Villeneuve.

 Villeneuve Schumacher  Alesi  Berger  Barrichello Frentzen
 Lap 9           0.458  1.952   8.234       15.604   21.510

Katayama was the next to join the list of retirements, whilst Hill was a
desperate 8th, and 28 seconds behind Villeneuve, with Verstappen ahead of
him. On lap 12, Hill spun for the third and final time on the exit onto the
pit straight. The car sluing into the barrier, and he was out. Hill was
later to admit that he made mistakes during the race. Schumacher was
driving an inspired race at the front, and was soon into the lead ahead of
Villeneuve, and streaking away. His Ferrari a clear 4 seconds a lap faster
than everyone else in the field. Read that again - Four seconds is a huge
difference in lap times, and this advantage he was to maintain for a long
time. Verstappen, meanwhile, was worried that he hadn't spun, and so on lap
16 he did a full 360-degrees to prove he could do it. Diniz also joined the
gravel fans, leaving the track, around the outside of the trap by the
barrier and back onto the track. Salo also joined in the fun, and also
redecorated the front end of the car a rather attractive shade of brown.
Just to add to it, Herbert does likewise, spinning off, narrowly misses the
tyre-wall, and rejoins the track. So by lap 17 the race was down to 10
runners - Schumacher, Villeneuve, Alesi, Berger, Barrichello, Frentzen,
Verstappen, Hakkinen, Herbert and Diniz. Schumacher was now 3 seconds a lap
slower. He didn't have to worry, as the rest of the field slowed down by
the same amount, maintaining his 4 second a lap cushion.

 Schumacher Villeneuve  Alesi   Berger  Barrichello Frentzen
 Lap 23         37.150  40.043  44.556       52.126 1m02.496

Herbert was next to join the list of retirees, taking the runners down to
9. Schumacher pitted at the end of lap 23, and was out in 7.2 seconds. He
kept 20 seconds of his lead, and then extended it out again over the next
few laps. He was by far one of the earliest pitters of the front runners.
After the rest of the field (all 8 of them) had done their stops,
Schumacher was still busily extending his lead. By lap 29 the order was
Schumacher, Villeneuve, Barrichello, Alesi, Berger, Frentzen, Verstappen,
Hakkinen and Diniz. Villeneuve then pitted, and dropped to 4th. Barrichello
was now up to second. On lap 42, Schumacher made his second stop - he was
some 67 seconds ahead of Barrichello prior to the stop. Rubens then went
into the pits, and rejoined in 4th. A minor shake-up at the front of the
field meant it was now Schumacher, Alesi, Villeneuve, Barrichello, Berger,
Frentzen, Verstappen, Hakkinen and Diniz. That was about as exiting as it
got over the following laps.

Berger and Barrichello were soon out, along with Verstappen reducing the
runners to six. Diniz was now in the points.... This clearly riled Eddie
Jordan, as they tried to fix the clutch of Barrichello, sensing points in
the offing, and soon the runners were seven again. This was short lived -
or rather Barrichello's clutch was, and this time he stopped on the track.
For the last few laps the only minor attraction was Villeneuve trailing
after Alesi. It was never going to amount to a proper attack, but added a
little excitement to what had been a rather tedious race. The only other
thing to get you going was if the race would run full distance or to 2
hours. The pace that Schumacher was going at, though, meant it finished
just 11 seconds shy of the the two hour mark.

            1. Schumacher
            2. Alesi
            3. Villeneuve
            4. Frentzen
            5. Hakkinen
            6. Diniz


-- 
Stephen M Baines

 "[The Autosport sticker] started to peel off in the middle of Eau Rouge
 and it distracted me. In fact it was the first thing to hit the barrier"
    Tiff Needell - Jaguar XJR-15 Challenge - Interview with Autosport

       F1/TouringCars http://metro.turnpike.net/vollans/index.html