Takuma Sato's San Marino Grand Prix lasted only 5 laps thanks to a transmission problem which robbed him of gears.  The Japanese driver was forced to pit his Jordan Honda EJ12 and the team reset the gearbox during a lengthy stop, but when he rejoined he could only find first gear and was instructed to pull off the circuit.

Sato had started well, overtaking Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Arrows to hold 13th position on lap 1.  However any hoped he had of making further progress ended suddenly on lap 5. 

"A disappointing end to the weekend," said Takuma afterwards.  "I was on my fourth lap with everything working fine until then, when suddenly I felt a problem with the gear which left me stuck in first gear.  I made it back to the pits and the team tried to set the electrics, but the same problem re-occurred as soon as I went out so I had to pull over and retire from the race."