At the start of the race, the track was wet but drying. No-one
dared to try to start on slicks, however. Schumacher got away
well, with Alesi and Hakkinen close behind. Inoue spun on the
first lap, but did continue. Lap 1:

Schumacher
Alesi +1.586
Hakkinen +3.393
Hill +4.659
Irvine +6.302
Coulthard +6.678

Lap 3:

Schumacher
Alesi +2.916
Hakkinen +8.139
Hill +8.918
Irvine +11.390
Coulthard +11.934

It was on lap 3 that both Ferraris were awarded stop-go
penalties for jumping the start. Blundell was having a storming
drive, from 23rd on the grid to 16th by lap 5. Alesi, after his
stop-go rejoined in 10th place, behind Frentzen. Alesi then
swarmed all over the back of the Sauber. Meanwhile, Berger came
in for his 10 second penalty. The Ferrari mechanics, however,
were preparing for a pit stop. Alesi got ahead of the Sauber for
9th place, and then made inroads into the Benetton of Herbert.
He finally got by at 130R, and then came in for slicks - on a
still damp track. He rejoined the race in 10th place. 

Alesi was a joy to watch around the track, but then he spun. He
was disputing 10th with Pedro Lamy, tried to get by, but touched
and went off the track. Alesi was soon back on Lamy, and took
the place. Whilst this was happening, the Benetton of Herbert
and the Williams of Hill were in for fuel and slicks. What
followed was most interesting. Alesi was the only one of the
drivers to stop for slicks who was making any real use of them -
lapping 5 seconds clear of the next fastest driver (Schumacher
on wets). On lap 10, Schumacher came in, allowing Hakkinen into
the lead, and Irvine to move up to second. Coulthard followed
Schumacher into the pits also. On lap 11, Alesi set a fastest
lap of 1m51.404 - this was 10 seconds a lap faster than the
other runners! Then, Alesi kept a 5 second a lap advantage over
the field, as he caught and prepared to take the Williams of
Hill.

The Williams was not having an easy time of it. Alesi, on the
other hand, was loving every minute of it, and in a quite
inspired and daring move he took Hill around the outside at the
chicane! A most brilliant move. Hakkinen now pitted for his
slicks, and surrendered the lead. Alesi, however, was determined
to make the day his, and was lapping still 3 seconds a lap
faster than the field. This was a class act, and I for one
cannot wait to see the performance of Alesi in a Benetton.
Remember, Alesi had already by now stopped twice, once for a
stop-go penalty, and once for tyres. He was effectively 30
seconds down on the rest of the field. Positions on lap 12:

Schumacher
Alesi +6.862
Hill +9.760
Hakkinen +18.248
Irvine +23.655
Coulthard +25.737

Katayama, still suffering from dislocating his thumb by sticking
it in the gear change mechanism, stuffed the car into a wall,
and was out. By now, Berger was on the tail of Herbert, and
attacking. Alesi was making inroads in the other Benetton, now
only 4 seconds behind. Then 3, then 2...... Positions on lap 15:

Schumacher
Alesi
Hill
Hakkinen
Coulthard
Irvine
Barrichello
Frentzen
Berger
Herbert
Salo
Panis

On lap 16, Barrichello goes out. He spun on the wet, somehow got
ahead of Irvine in the process, and bashed the left rear of his
team mate. He then continued across the track, out of control,
and into the wall and retirement. This wouldn't be the last time
Irvine was assaulted in this race. After many laps in the 1m47
bracket (and clear of the field), Alesi found a extra couple of
seconds on lap 18, and banged in a 1m45.858s. This was
absolutely magic. Alesi was doing things in the Ferrari that
made Schumacher and his Benetton look quite ordinary. Lap 20:

Schumacher
Alesi +1.971
Hill +11.832
Hakkinen +25.807
Coulthard +31.826
Irvine +46.053

Frentzen was now into the pits with his front wing missing. He
had a drama on the track which involved attacking Irvine's right
rear side of the car. Irvine now had a matching pair, and looked
to be the one everyone was aiming at. On lap 21, others in the
field started to find the sort of times that Alesi had. First it
was Coulthard (1m44.941), then Alesi retalliated a lap later
with a 1m44.552. Then Schumacher found it also, taking the
fastest lap to 1m44.281. A lap later, Alesi found more time
again, and took the battle to 1m43.659s. It seemed whenever
anyone found a couple of tenths on Alesi he could find another
half second on top of that. This was a driver clearly enjoying
himself. Then, tragedy, Alesi's Ferrari started to belch massive
amounts of smoke, and he was out. Alesi had been the star and
class of the field, but the Ferrari let him down.

Schumacher was now relatively unchallenged, with second being
Hill, a mere 20 seconds behind. On lap 27, Mika Hakkinen set a
fastest lap, 1m43.395, and then pitted. As Hakkinen took this
fastest lap, we saw one of the rarest sights in F1, Ronzo
smiling. He would be smiling more by the end of the afternoon.
Irvine, meanwhile, had pitted for a look at the car, and had a
piece of the rear wing torn off to correct it.... Things are
mighty technical in Formula One. Finally, Schumacher comes in
for his stop. This allows Hill into the lead, but this was
rather academic as he had yet to make his stop. Lap 33:

Hill
Schumacher +9.926
Coulthard +14.479
Hakkinen +41.034
Herbert +1m08.509
Irvine +1m16.465

On lap 34, Coulthard pitted and rejoined still in third. Hill
then pitted, but was passed whilst in the pit lane, and dropped
to second. Situation normal. Diniz, meanwhile, quietly reitres.
His job of being lapped done. Then, whilst the marshalls are
dealling with the Forti at Spoon, Hill comes bouncing off the
gravel, collects it and drives around the outside of the trap to
rejoin the race. Another mistake from Hill? Possibly not this
time, as at a similar time Schumacher was radioing into the pits
to say that the track was wet around the back of the track at
Spoon. Hill rejoins in 4th place, and then pits for a new nose
cone. All this sounds very familiar. Whilst Hill is in the pit,
Blundell also does the same at Spoon. Hill rejoins the race in
5th. Coulthard, feeling some sympathy for his team-mate, decides
to make him not look such a clot, and do the same at Spoon also.
He rejoined, but then at 130R, his side-pods decided they didn't
like having so much gravel in them, and dumped it onto the track
for his rear tyres to spin on. Nice one. Frank didn't look too
impressed in the pits. Frentzen also joins the Spoon club, and
one started to wonder if everyone would be joining in. This was
starting to look more like Mornington Crescent than Formula One.
Hill, to add to his problems, was awarded a 10 second penalty
for speeding in the pits. This became rather academic, as he
soon spun at Spoon again. This time he was out. Flavio was now
in the pits rejoicing. His team had won the Constructors
Championship.

Around lap 44, it started to drizzle again around the front of
the circuit. Lamy spins, possibly due to this, at the chicane.
On lap 51, Ronzo announces that against all rumours, Mark
Blundell will be driving a McLaren at Australia, and not
Magnusson. And so, Schumacher won, but the drive of the race was
surely that of Alesi. Had his car not given up, he would have
surely have won.

Schumacher
Hakkinen
Herbert
Irvine
Panis
Salo
Blundell
Frentzen
Badoer
Wendlinger
Lamy
Inoue

-- 
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