The race brought up a big mix of emotions. At the first start was a reminder 
of the tragedy of motor racing, which later on in the race raised the question 
of whether this prompted Alain Prost's decission not to race next year. In 
the second race was a reminder that the races can quite easily be a procession, 
with very little racing, and also a reminder of how refuelling can spoil the 
races.

As the cars lined up on the grid, it seemed that the green flag man had 
forgotten what he had to do. The cars were neatly lined up, and he didn't 
appear. Many seconds later he appeared, and finally the lights could turn on. 
Could this have lead to the problems at this first start? The cars got away, 
and off went Frentzen, Katayama, Badoer and a Forti. Others were involved 
also. It was only on the replay that it became clear of the horror of the 
incident. The Tyrrell of Katayama and the Minardi of Badoer touched. The 
Tyrrell was on the right hand side of the track at the time. The car was 
launched into the air (similar to Patrese's incident here a few years back), 
but was then launched into the left hand side of the track, and into the wall. 
From here, the Tyrrell bounced off and across the track again to hit the 
right hand side of the track. All the time the car was on its side or 
upside down. It finally came to rest upside down on the right of the track 
(all relative to direction of track). Katayama was firmly belted into the 
car, and was still in it. The race was immediatley stopped - there was no 
waiting, as soon as the accident occured it was red flagged. Some lessons 
obviously have been learnt. Katayama was removed from the car unconcious, 
and taken to hospital. Later on in the afternoon it was announced that he 
was now concious and talking. He had no broken bones. The Tyrrell showed 
its enormous strength in the accident with no obvious damage to the 
monocoque, with the wheels, wings and so on coming off to dissipate the 
energy. The suspension also showed that it "failed" in the correct way, 
protecting the driver.

At the restart, Coulthard took the lead, with Schumacher taking second place, 
and Hill falling to third. Within 1 lap, Coulthard had taken a healthy 1.2 
second lead from Schumacher. The top six drivers would remain in there 
positions for the majority of the race.
Coulthard
Schumacher
Hill
Berger
Herbert
Alesi

On lap 2, Coulthard set a fastest lap of 1m23.220s. By lap 3, Coulthard 
had a 2.688 second lead over Schumacher, who in turn was 0.7 seconds ahead 
of Hill. The Ferrari of Berger was losing around 2 seconds a lap to Hill, 
with Herbert and Alesi falling back at a similar rate as well from the driver 
in front. Positions on lap 3:
Coulthard
Schumacher
Hill
Berger
Herbert
Alesi
Brundle
Irvine
Barrichello
Hakkinen

On lap 7, Panis was given a 10 second stop-go penalty for a jump start. 
Lamy pulled into the pits and retired also from this lap. On lap 12, Panis 
spun out of the race after stopping for his 10 second penalty. As he was 
leaving that there was an obvious cloud of oily smoke pouring from the 
engine bay - could this have lead to his accident?

By lap 12, things were still very settled. The top six seemed quite happy 
to keep there station and not threaten to overtake.
Coulthard
Schumacher
Hill
Berger
Herbert
Alesi
Brundle
Irvine
Barrichello
Hakkinen
Blundell
Frentzen
Boullion
Salo
Montermini
Inoue
Badoer
Diniz

On lap 18, Schumacher came in for a 7 second pit stop. Hill took a 16.1 
second stop. There was clearly a problem with this stop, and this lead to 
a new tactic in the Williams team. Williams were not happy, and called 
Charlie Whiting (FIA technical delegate) to their pit. On the same lap, 
Berger and Brundle also came in.

On lap 19, Coulthard came in for his stop, 10.6 seconds. Still rather tardy, 
but not as bad as the stop of Hill. Herbert also came in for an 8.2 second 
stop. On lap 20, Hakkinen joined the party and pitted also. Things had 
settled down again, with only Alesi, Irvine and Frentzen of the top runners 
not to have pitted. 
Coulthard
Schumacher
Alesi
Hill
Berger
Irvine
Frentzen
Herbert
Blundell
Hakkinen

Alesi and Irvine later had stops, and positions resumed to normal.
Coulthard
Schumacher +5.810
Hill +23.273
Berger +38.592
Herbert +52.952
Alesi +1m01.647

On lap 34, Berger came in for a stop, with Schumacher in a lap later. This 
allowed Hill to move up to second. Williams were also ready for a stop - 
Coulthards. It was becoming clear that Hill would now only stop twice, rather 
than thrice, due to the problems at the first stop. This would prove decisive 
later on. On lap 36, Herbert came in for a 10.2 second stop, followed by 
Brundle also in. On lap 37, Coulthard came in for a 11.1 second stop, Badoer 
a 15.8 second stop. This allowed Hill into the lead. Schumacher was still down 
in third place. Hill made short work of the traffic, in a way rarely displayed 
this season. Whilst Hill was busy at the front, Schumacher was clearly not 
happy with third place, and started to make inroads into the second place of 
Coulthard.

Barrichello came in for a 9.6 second stop. By now, Coulthard was all over the 
gearbox of Hill. Lap 42:
Hill
Coulthard +0.534
Schumacher +4.427
Alesi +48.382
Berger +49.932
Herbert +1m04.780

Goodyear announced at this point that the tyres wear standing up well to 
the track, and that it would be possible to do a two stop race. Coulthard 
was really pushing the Williams of Hill, and finally Hill pits (11.5 seconds). 
Could this be his final stop? With this stop, Schumacher moved up to second, 
whilst Hill fell back to third. Lap 45:
Coulthard
Schumacher +3.895
Hill +27.891
Alesi +49.568
Berger (PIT)
Herbert

Hakkinen's car had enough at this point, and retired from 12th. On lap 47, 
Blundell came in for his pit stop. Alesi, Diniz, and Frentzen pitted a lap 
later. On lap 49, Boullion came in for his stop. Montermini was now to have 
an extra stop for speeding in the pit lane. Lap 50:
Coulthard
Schumacher
Hill
Herbert
Berger
Alesi
Brundle
Irvine
Frentzen
Boullion
Barrichello
Blundell
Salo
Badoer
Montermini
Inoue
Diniz

On lap 53, Coulthard came in for his third stop, and Schumacher came 
in also on the same lap. It was now Coulthard in the lead, with Hill 
second and Schumacher third.

On lap 55, it was announced that Alain Prost would not be racing next 
season. By now, Schumacher was bearing down on Hill. It started to look 
like the enforced pit-strategy was not going to pay off after all.

On lap 62, at the ridiculous 30mph chicane, Schumacher squeezed ahead of 
Hill who was struggling badly with tyre wear. And so it settled to the flag.

Coulthard
Schumacher
Hill
Berger
Alesi
Frentzen
Herbert
Brundle
Blundell
Irvine
Barrichello
Boullion
Salo
Badoer
Inoue
Diniz
Moreno

-- 
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://turnpike.net/metro/vollans/index.html