It was a struggle from the start for both Jordan drivers as they ran in sixth and eighth places, sandwiching the Williams of Ralf Schumacher.
‘I had to push hard from the beginning,’ said Trulli. ‘I made a good start and overtook Irvine going into the hairpin on the first lap. Then I passed Schumacher under braking for the last corner but he was able to get back in front because the Williams had better traction out of the corner.
‘My first pit stop worked very well and, on the new set of tyres, I was flying. I got ahead of Heinz-Harald and pushed hard but it was very difficult to close the gap on Villeneuve, who was ahead of me in fifth place. I got the gap down to three seconds but then my tyres started wearing out. After the second and final stop, I was able to get close to Villeneuve again but I didn’t have the speed to get by. In fact, that allowed Schumacher to overtake me but at least we can look forward to a new engine at the next race in Austria.’
Frentzen was very unhappy with seventh place after running in the top six in the first phase of the 72-lap race.
‘It was disappointing,’ said Frentzen. ‘The car oversteered throughout the entire race and I was a little upset with Jarno when we touched wheels as he tried to overtake me and that damaged something on my car.’
‘On the day,’ said Eddie Jordan, ‘we were just not as quick as Ralf (Schumacher) and Williams. It was a struggle for both our drivers but we’ve got Austria to look forward to now. The fight goes on!’
Coulthard took the fight to Ferrari and snatched the lead from Michael Schumacher before the championship leader dropped out with engine failure after 58 laps. McLaren scored a one-two as Mika Hakkinen led home the third-place Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello. After the race, Coulthard was openly critical of Schumacher’s blocking tactics at the start and during the race. The Scotsman slashed Michael Schumacher’s championship lead to 12 points after the Ferrari driver retired from second place with engine trouble.

Jordan Grand Prix