It was a formidable start off the grid for the Ferrari's with Eddie Irvine moving ahead of a slow starting Schumacher who was followed by Hakkinen and teammated David Coulthard. Schumacher eventually took the lead and looked well in command. But Hakkinen let himself lose clocking four fastest lap timings as he blazed ahead of Irvine on lap 14 after an aborted attempt in the earlier lap.

On lap 24 as Schumacher had his first pit stop, Hakkinen, eyeing his first Driver's Championship clocked the fastest lap timing of 1:20.450 seconds. This sudden burst of speed saw him come out of his pit-lane just ahead of Schumacher who faced problems to keep pace with theFinn falling as much as five seconds behind.

But with time running out, Schumacher-- the two times champion, came very close to an upset and finished 2.2 seconds behind Hakkinen. Coulthard and Irvine finished distant third and fourth respectively.

With only the Suzuka Grand Prix to go, Hakkinen looks in a better position to grab his first Championship.

FINAL POSITIONS (after 67 laps)

1 Mika Hakkinen (Fin) McLaren Mercedes; 2 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Ferrari; 3 David Coulthard (GBR) McLaren Mercedes; 4 Eddie Irvine (Ger) Ferrari; 5 Heinz-Herald Frentzen (Ger) Williams; 6 Gianfranco Fisichella (Ita) Benetton.