Benson and Hedges Jordan led today's Australian Grand Prix in a strong showing of its competitiveness before Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jarno Trulli were forced to retire their Jordan Mugen-Honda EJ10s. The race was won by Michael Schumacher, with team mate Ruben Barrichello giving Ferrari a one-two victory to put them into the lead in the World Championship.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jarno Trulli had an ultimately disappointing day; Frentzen lost the chance of taking second place when a hydraulic leak, and not, as first suspected, a gear box problem, forced him to retire. His race ended shortly after a long pit stop in which he had been delayed by a jammed fuel nozzle. Jarno Trulli, running a one stop strategy like his team mate, was battling for third place when he suffered a broken exhaust which caused the engine to fail, leading to his retirement on the 36th lap.

The race had many casualties besides Jordan. Both McLarens failed to finish when Hakkinen and Coulthard retired with engine failures in the first half of the race. Jaguar drivers Irvine and Herbert did not see the chequered flag; Herbert retired after only one lap, and Irvine spun off only five laps later when he was caught up in a spectacular accident involving Pedro De La Rosa's Arrows which caused the safety car to come out.

Ralf Schumacher finished the race third, giving BMW a podium finish in their first Grand Prix with the Williams. BAR scored their first points thanks to Villleneuve's fourth place finish. Benetton and Sauber also won points - Fisichella finished 5th and Salo 6th.

After his first race with Jordan, Trulli said, "I made a very good start but unfortunately I was stopped by Schumacher and Barrichello and I wasn't able to move up from sixth. I was comfortably following Barrichello and Heinz-Harald (Frentzen) for the majority of the race. Then, several laps after the Safety Car had gone in, I had a problem with the exhaust which lead to the end of my race. The car is potentially very good - we just need to improve the reliability."