At the start Mika Hakkinen led from a fast-starting Jacques Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella. Behind them, David Coulthard suddenly emerged from the opaque spray at a right angle to the racing line and hit the inside retaining wall. At the time, Coulthard claimed he had made contact with Eddie Irvine, but has since said "the reality is I just dropped a wheel onto the metal grille". The McLaren rebounded off the wall directly into the path of the oncoming field, and combined with the miserably wet conditions, caused a massive chain reaction that took out more than a dozen cars. The race was stopped before the end of the first lap, in order to allow the damaged cars to be recovered and for the track to be cleared.
1998
Open Wheelers
Formula 1
McLaren MP4-13
Ferrari F300 Benetton B198 Stewart SF02 Sauber C17 Prost AP01 Arrows A19 Tyrrell 026 Minardi M198
Belgium
Permanent Circuit
Spa-Francorchamps
Belgian Grand Prix
No
Sutton; AtlasF1
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