The world Champion, Mika Hakkinen, gave McLaren their first victory of the new season but the mechanical problems that wrecked the opening to their campaign continued to dog the team. Hakkinen, beginning the race in pole position, shot away from the start and began to immediately stretch out a lead. But on the third lap, a sudden gearbox failure allowed Brazil's Rubens Barrichello to steal the lead, closely followed by the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher.

"I thought, at that time in the race, that the race was over for me," the Finn said afterwards. "Coming around the first turn, everything was cool, I had made a good start, the car was going fine, and I was beginning to stretch out a lead, but then I tried to select a high gear and there was no gear whatsoever. Obviously I thought the game was over but the team told me to keep going and somehow I was able to continue."

And continue Hakkinen did, passing Schumacher when the German pitted after 38 laps and never relinquishing the lead thereafter.

Hakkinen's victory was in stark contrast to the fortunes of team-mate David Coulthard, whose misfortunes again highlighted the reliability difficulties McLaren continues to have with its new MP4/14 car.

In Australia both Hakkinen and Coulthard were forced to retire early in the race with mechanical failure but this time it was Coulthard who bore the brunt of the bad luck.

From the start of the race the Scot was in trouble, unable to select a gear as the red start lights went out and having to be pushed back to the garage from where he eventually rejoined the race - three laps down. His misery was compounded, however, as the car continued to malfunction and despite two visits to the pits to attempt a rectification of the problem, Coulthard was eventually forced to retire on lap 28.

It was a similar tale of dashed hopes for Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, whose dream of a maiden grand prix victory on home soil went up in a pall of smoke after 42 laps.

Barrichello had thrilled local fans by putting his Stewart Ford into third place on the starting grid in Saturday's qualifying session and sent his compatriots even crazier when he blasted his Stewart into the lead as Mika Hakkinen slowed with his third-lap gearbox trouble. The Brazilian held that lead until a pit stop on lap 27, relinquishing first place to Michael Schumacher, who had also taken advantage of Hakkinen's problem to move into second. Rejoining the race in fourth, Barrichello began a game of catch-up, first audaciously passing Eddie Irvine on an inside line into the Descida do Sol corner and then clawing back seconds on Hakkinen. But it all came to nothing after five more laps as the Stewart's engine gave out and smoke billowed from the back of Barrichello's car, leaving the Brazilian who had promised his fans something special, with his head in his hands and his hopes of a first Brazilian victory since Ayrton Senna won at the Australian Grand Prix at Adelaide in November 1993. For Hakkinen, though, the afternoon was much more profitable. Tactically the Finn won the battle after 38 laps when Schumacher, then in the lead, pitted, leaving the world champion free to march into the lead. Hakkinen then stayed out for a series of fast laps and by the time he was called into the pits had opened up enough of a gap to rejoin the circuit after refuelling more than five seconds ahead of the Ferrari. From there it was a foregone conclusion as the Finn began to stretch a comfortable lead, which was never dented by the slower Ferrari.

"It was obvious Mika was quicker than me throughout but I managed to hold him off for some time," said Schumacher afterwards. "My pit stop was planned as the best way to keep him behind me, but he put in some fast laps and there is nothing you can do about that."

However, Schumacher admitted he was pleased with the second place. "It is good," he said. "Already in the warm-up we seemed to be more competitive and that was good. The second long gap we had on qualifying was obviously unacceptable but the gap today was all right and we can live with it. With the improvements we have coming, we can live with that."

Jordan's race was a rollercoaster ride in which disaster turned to elation and turned once again towards potential catastrophe before racing rules came to the rescue.

Starting with Damon Hill and Heinz Harald Frentzen on seventh and eighth on the grid respectively, both drivers made an awkward start, Frentzen bypassing Hill to steal seventh but simultaneously allowing the Benettons of Giancarlo Fisichella and Alexander Wurz to sneak around the outside, the Italian moving to fifth and the Austrian into seventh ahead of Hill. Hill's day went from bad to worse, when, as he attempted to overtake the Benton the young Austrian refused to relinquish the corner and collided with the Jordan damaging the steering and forcing the Briton to retire.

Frentzen offered more promise rising to third and seeming to offer a guaranteed third place ahead of Williams's Ralf Schumacher. But within sight of the finish line the Jordan ground to a halt, out of fuel, and Frentzen's four points were only rescued by the rules which allowed him retain position because the Williams was a lap down when Hakkinen crossed the finish line.