Lap by lap report

Lap 60 - Coulthard wins, Hakkinen 2nd, Schumacher 3rd, Ralf 4th, Button 5th, Trulli 6th

Lap 59 - Hakkinen steadies pace, but Michael Schumacher sets a fastest first sector despite being 20 seconds behind the leaders.

Lap 58 - Villeneuve retires from seventh.

Lap 57 - Hakkinen sets fastest lap, then promptly gets 'Easy' sign shown him on pitboard.

Lap 57 - Trulli draws up to the back of Villeneuve, applying some pressure. He takes sixth into Priory.

Lap 55 - Frentzen claims the retirement is due to a mechanical fault, the same as at Imola

Lap 52 - Nick Heidfeld spins into retirement at Becketts. Frentzen is losing a considerable amount of ground, losing a place to his team mate in 8th, and Villeneuve. He pulls off to retire in the pits after waving to the crowd.

Lap 51 - Frentzen begins to slow. It appears from the in-car footage that he cannot change gear. Ralf Schumacher and Button pass him.

Lap 49 - 1. Coulthard, 2. Hakkinen, 3. Schumacher, 4. Frentzen, 5. R Schumacher, 6. Button, 7. Villeneuve, 8. Trulli, 9. Fisichella, 10. Salo 11. Wurz

Lap 48 - Herbert pits with hydraulic pressure problems. He rejoins after having the system repressurised.

Lap 47 - Button rejoins behind Michael Schumacher.

Lap 46 - Ralf Schumacher pits. Irvine in the pits for 25.4 seconds after he stalls and can't find 1st gear.

Lap 45 - Button pits from third.

Lap 45 - Alesi pits from the back of the field.

Lap 44 - Michael Schumacher begins to take time out of Hakkinen who, relatively speaking, looks to be struggling.

Lap 44 - Diniz pits. Hakkinen 11 seconds behind Coulthard, two seconds behind Ralf.

Lap 43 - Coulthard leads by 7.2 seconds.

Lap 40 - Frentzen down to sixth, behind Michael Schumacher.

Lap 40 - Gene pits. Frentzen charging to get ahead for his second stop. Frentzen pits and Coulthard leads, Ralf second, Button third.

Lap 39 - Frentzen - Coulthard= 1.7 seconds
- R Schumacher, 6.6 seconds.

Lap 39 - Fisichella makes second pit stop, lasting 8.3 seconds.

Lap 39 - 1. Frentzen, 2. Coulthard, 3. R Schumacher, 4. Button, 5. Hakkinen, 6. Schumacher, 7 Villeneuve, 8. Fisichella, 9. Trulli, 10. Irvine, 11. Alesi, 12. Diniz, 13. Herbert, 14. Gene, 15. Heidfeld, 16 Mazzacane, 17. Salo, 18. Wurz

Lap 37 - Michael Schumacher pits from the lead, and rejoins 6th.

Lap 37 - Trulli pits from 7th.

Lap 37 - Barrichello retires from the pits with a hydraulic pressure failure. Ferrari pits get ready for Schumacher. Zonta spins into retirement at the exit of Stowe.

Lap 36 - Barrichello spins from the lead. The Brazilian comes into the pits, and the mechanics do not expect him. A mechanical failure is expected.

Lap 35- Barrichello stays out again. Schumacher is second and has yet to stop. Frentzen is third ahead of Coulthard, R Schumacher, Button and Hakkinen, all of whom have stopped

Lap 34- Coulthard is coming in for his only stop, he rejoins behind Frentzen but ahead of both Williams. Villeneuve also pits

Lap 33- Coulthard has opened up a 2.6s advantage over Barrichello

Lap 32- Hakkinen comes out behind both Williams in what will become sixth place

Lap 31- Coulthard passes Barrichello for the lead on the outside line into Stowe and instantly pulls away to set the fastest lap. Hakkinen pits from third

Lap 30- Barrichello, Coulthard and Hakkinen are tied together at the front, around 24s ahead of the Villeneuve-Schumacher battle. Frentzen, R Schumacher and Button are closing on the BAR and the Ferrari

Lap 29- Zonta pits from tenth

Lap 28- De la Rosa pulls off the track and stops in the pit lane exit

Lap 27- Frentzen has nearly caught the back of the Villeneuve-Schumacher battle for fourth, Zonta sets the fastest lap and Herbert pits from 11th

Lap 27- Irvine pits from 11th, Coulthard takes a look at passing Barrichello into the Abbey chicane

Lap 26- Coulthard and Hakkinen close right up on Barrichello. Ralf Schumacher came out of the pits ahead of Button

Lap 25- Button pits from fourth and rejoins after a 10.3s stop, quite slow leaving the pit box

Lap 24- Frentzen pits from second, as does R Schumacher from sixth. Ralf has a problem on the right rear and takes 9.3s, 1.2s slower than Frentzen.

Lap 23- Williams team prepare for a pit stop, Alesi, Gene and de la Rosa all pit for normal stops

Lap 22- Verstappen is wheeled back into the Arrows garage. Hakkinen sets fastest lap on 1m27.7s.

Lap 21- Verstappen has made it back into the pits. Mazzacane pits for a regular stop in 8.4s.

Lap 20- Frentzen sets fastest lap. Fisichella had his nose cone changed during the pit stop.

Lap 19- The lead battle gets more tense as Frentzen locks up into Vale and Barrichello sets his best lap of the race

Lap 18- Fisichella pits from 11th position

Lap 17- Villeneuve gets sideways out of Club but still holds off the increasinly distant Schumacher. The top six are, if anything, getting even closer together

Lap 16- Top six remain absolutely together but unable to pass because of turbulence

Lap 15- Salo pits from 13th place

Lap 14- Wurz pits from 15th place and will rejoin last. It appears to be a scheduled stop in 8.1s

Lap 12- Coulthard sets fastest lap but seems no closer to Frentzen. The lead runners now seem to be holding station. Neither Benetton has pitted despite the mechanics coming out into the pit lane. Schumacher is 16.5s behind the leaders in eighth place and is even dropping back from Villeneuve

Lap 11- Barrichello sets fastest lap (1m28.8s) and has a slight advantage over Frentzen who has the two McLarens and the two Williams very close behind. Villeneuve is a distant seventh and has Schumacher and Verstappen close behind. They are followed by Trulli and Fisichella, then a gap before Irvine, who is holding up the rest of the field

Lap 10- Hakkinen sets fastest lap

Lap 9- Benetton are preparing for a pit stop. Fisichella is 11th, Wurz is 20th

Lap 8- Button sets the fastest lap and closes right in on Hakkinen after the Finn outbraked himself into Brooklands and ran very wide, losing time to those in front

Lap 7- Ferrari believe that Hakkinen and Schumacher touched on the run down to the first corner. Hakkinen refused to give way and blocked Schumacher but camera angles gave a very vague impression of how close they got

Lap 6- Barrichello is still 0.9s in the lead as Frentzen sets the fastest lap of the race

Lap 5- Verstappen is hassling Schumacher as the Ferrari remains stuck behind Villeneuve, the BAR lapping a second off the pace of the leaders

Lap 4- Barrichello leads by 0.8s but his advantage over Schumacher in eighth is already 8.9s

Lap 3- Villeneuve dropping away from top six but Schumacher is still stuck behind him. Barrichello leads by 0.8s with 3.7s covering the top six and all looking very comfortable

Race order after 2 laps- Barrichello, 2 Frentzen, 3 Coulthard, 4 Hakkinen, 5 Button, 6 R Schumacher,7 Villeneuve, 8 M Schumacher, 9 Verstappen, 10 Trulli, 11 Fisichella, 12 Irvine, 13 Salo, 14 Alesi, 15 Zonta, 16 de la Rosa, 17 Herbert, 18 Diniz, 19 Wurz, 20 Heidfeld, 21 Gene, 22 Mazzacane

Lap 2- Ralf sets fastest lap and closes on Button for fifth

Lap 2- Ralf Schumacher passes Villeneuve for sixth into Stowe, Barrichello still leads Frentzen and Coulthard

Lap 1- Michael Schumacher passes Ralf into Stowe but is repassed into Vale. He tries to retaliate into Bridge but is held off

Race start: Barrichllo holds lead, Schumacher makes good start but is squeezed out by Hakkinen. Barrichello leads Frentzen, Coulthard, Hakkinen, Button, Villeneuve, Schumacher, Schumacher

13.00: Cars set off on the formation lap, all drivers away without problems

12.53: Conditions are dry at Silverstone and the sun is out, but showers are forecast later. Given the speed at which the weather has changed this weekend, anything could still happen over the next 60 laps.