Lot of drivers had many reasons to be optimistic here.

David Coulthard, Fresh off that amazing Austria win, took pole position here. (and it would actually become his LAST ever pole)

Schumacher aimed at tying Graham Hills 5 wins at Monaco record.

Eddie Irvine had always gone well here too, but also Mika Hakkinen was looking in good shape.

This could go any which way, unfortunately for one driver, a 1998 Japanese GP repeat was about to ruin it all.

Where a NEW team got its first EVER podium here in 1997, the team that it took over would also get its first podium here.

Michael Schumahcer would also be the first German driver to start 150 races and the Benetton team would be the 10th constructor to start 250 races.

Drivers Standings AFTER the race:-

 1 | (DEU) Michael Schumacher | 52
2 | (GBR) David Coulthard | 40
3 | (BRA) Rubens Barrichello | 24
4 | (DEU) Ralf Schumacher | 12
5 | (DEU) Nick Heidfeld | 8
6 | (CAN) Jacques Villeneuve | 7
7 | (ITA) Jarno Trulli | 7
8 | (COL) Juan Pablo Montoya | 6
9 | (DEU) Heinz-Harald Frentzen | 6
10 | (FRA) Olivier Panis | 5
11 | (GBR) Eddie Irvine | 4
12 | (FIN) Kimi Raikkonen | 4
13 | (FIN) Mika Hakkinen | 4
14 | (NLD) Jos Verstappen | 1
15 | (FRA) Jean Alesi | 1
16 | (ITA) Giancarlo Fisichella | 1

Constructors AFTER race:-

1 | Ferrari | 76
2 | McLaren-Mercedes | 44
3 | Williams-BMW | 18
4 | Jordan-Honda | 13
5 | BAR-Honda | 12
6 | Sauber-Petronas | 12
7 | Jaguar-Cosworth | 4
8 | Arrows-Asiatech | 1
9 | Benetton-Renault | 1
10 | Prost-Acer | 1

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