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The race was dominated, however, by the fight between championship protagonists Michael Schumacher (Benetton) and Damon Hill (Williams). Hill, who started from pole position, retained his lead during the opening stages of the race whilst Schumacher, who started alongside him on the grid, fell behind Alesi in the run to the first corner. Despite being held up behind the slower Ferrari until it pitted, Schumacher used a more favourable one-stop strategy to move ahead of Hill, who made two pit stops for fuel and tyres, on lap41. Four laps later, Hill attempted to pass Schumacher, but the two collided and were forced to retire from the race. This promoted the battling Herbert and Coulthard into the fight for the lead. Coulthard passed Herbert, but dropped back to third after incurring a stop-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
* Barrichello had originally qualified fifth, but received a 5-place grid penalty for a gearbox change between FP3 and qualifying. He moved back up to ninth, after Heidfeld's penalty.
Nick Heidfeld originally qualified eighth (1:49.307), but was sent to the back of the grid, for his car being underweight after qualifying. His team also changed the gearbox and engine.
‡ Nakajima set his time during the second part of qualifying, as he failed to make the top ten.
* Sutil and Barrichello received five-place grid penalties for speeding in a neutralised yellow flag zone, following an incident involving Sébastien Buemi in the second part of qualifying.
Jenson Button (7th, 1:32.962) and Fernando Alonso (12th, 1:31.638) also received a five-place grid penalty for the same offence.
Buemi (10th, no time) himself received a five-place penalty for driving his damaged Toro Rosso back to the pits, and impeding other cars.
Heikki Kovalainen (9th, no time) received a five-place grid penalty for changing his gearbox after a crash during Q3.
† All times were recorded in the second part of qualifying, as they did not make the top ten originally.
