The 44-lap race was won by Michael Schumacher, driving a Ferrari. Giancarlo Fisichella finished second in a Jordan-Peugeot, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen third in a Williams-Renault after Mika Häkkinen's McLaren-Mercedes was disqualified due to a fuel irregularity. Schumacher's Drivers' Championship rival, Jacques Villeneuve, finished fifth in the other Williams-Renault, having started from pole position. This was the first Formula One World Championship race to start behind a Safety Car.
With the win, Schumacher extended his lead over Villeneuve in the Drivers' Championship to 11 points with five races remaining.
Michael Schumacher started from third on the grid after qualifying had been dominated by his World Championship rival, Jacques Villeneuve. In the morning warm-up, Schumacher was only 15th. However, heavy rain started to fall around half an hour before the scheduled race start and continued for around twenty minutes, completely changing the conditions and resulting in the field starting behind the safety car, the first time this happened in Formula One history.
Ralf Schumacher, who had qualified sixth, spun and crashed his Jordan at Stavelot while going to take his place on the grid. He was forced to start from the pit lane in his spare car. Explaining the incident, Ralf Schumacher said: "I had nothing to lose, and I lost it."
Of the front runners, both Williams drivers and Jean Alesi in the Benetton - alongside Villeneuve on the front row - started on full wet tyres while the others started on intermediates. The safety car circulated for the first three laps, and at the end of lap 4 - the first racing lap - Villeneuve continued to lead from Alesi and Schumacher.
Schumacher made a brave pass inside Alesi at the La Source hairpin at the start of lap 5, then overtook Villeneuve at the Rivage loop on the same lap. By the end of the lap he was already 5.8 seconds ahead, and on the next lap he stretched this lead to 16.9 seconds, with Giancarlo Fisichella - whose Jordan had also started on intermediates - moving into second after Villeneuve unexpectedly pitted.
Pedro Diniz, driving for Arrows Yamaha, showed strong pace on Bridgestone intermediate tyres. He passed Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Johnny Herbert, and David Coulthard on track to reach third place. However, a slow pit stop for dry tyres dropped him to 12th place. He eventually recovered to 7th place.
Schumacher continued to pull further away, and by lap 12 his lead had reached a full minute, while Villeneuve had dropped to 16th following a second pit stop. The track was drying and drivers were pitting for slick tyres. Schumacher pitted on lap 14 and thereafter cruised, eventually winning by 26 seconds. Fisichella held off the McLaren of Mika Häkkinen for second; the top six was completed by Frentzen, Johnny Herbert, and Villeneuve, who had charged back in the later stages of the race and set the fastest lap.
After the race, Häkkinen was disqualified due to a fuel irregularity, thus promoting Frentzen to third, Herbert to fourth, Villeneuve to fifth, and Gerhard Berger to sixth.
Ralf Schumacher and Trulli would start from the pitlane.
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.