Race day was very wet and Michael Schumacher was fastest in the morning warm-up session. Despite the heavy rain it was decided that the race would start at the scheduled time without a safety car, unlike the previous season's race. At the start Häkkinen led from a fast-starting Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella. Behind them, Coulthard suddenly emerged from the opaque spray at a right angle to the racing line and hit the trackside wall. At the time, Coulthard claimed he had made contact with Eddie Irvine, but has since said "the reality is I just dropped a wheel onto the metal grille". The McLaren rebounded directly into the path of the oncoming field, causing a chain reaction. Some drivers, including the Jordans of Hill and Ralf Schumacher and Esteban Tuero of Minardi, managed to get through unscathed. Hill was just a few metres ahead of the carnage while Ralf Schumacher was behind. Drivers involved in the crash along with Coulthard included Eddie Irvine (Ferrari), Alexander Wurz (Benetton), Rubens Barrichello (Stewart), Johnny Herbert (Sauber), Olivier Panis (Prost), Jarno Trulli (Prost), Mika Salo (Arrows), Pedro Diniz (Arrows), Toranosuke Takagi (Tyrrell), Ricardo Rosset (Tyrrell) and Shinji Nakano (Minardi). Jos Verstappen managed to get his Stewart back to the pits but it was too badly damaged to continue. The race was stopped before the end of the first lap, in order to allow the damaged cars to be recovered and the track to be cleared.