 Häkkinen said that his race was "over" when the rain started to fall having not managing to achieve a higher finishing position. Jos Verstappen scored points for the first time since the 1996 Argentine Grand Prix. Verstappen said that was pleased with the result and praised his team for switching to wet tyres as he kept in contact with his mechanics. Trulli remarked that he had "never had to work so hard for one point" after the amount of pressure he came under in the race. Coulthard said that he lost the chance of victory when he stalled his car and admitted it was his mistake. On the other hand, he criticised his penalty as Coulthard believed that the race stewards should have been given more freedom by Formula One's governing body, the FIA, to decide whether a driver gained an advantage. After the race, Villeneuve and Diniz were penalised 25 seconds – which were added to their total race times – for their collisions with Diniz and de la Rosa respectively.
