Briton Jenson Button was seventh for BAR and Germany's Nick Heidfeld eighth for Sauber.
Button's Canadian team mate and feuding foe Jacques Villeneuve failed to start due to a damaged gearbox, a situation that undermined his much-publicized opinion before the race that Button was a weak team mate.
His absence also wrong-footed Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, whose Jordan should have been behind him on the grid and was flummoxed when the BAR went into the pits.
He made a mistake in lining up on the grid and the subsequent gear changes and reversals wrecked the launch control system so that he failed to start also.
Coulthard, winner in Australia, fell by the wayside on lap three with an electronics problem.
Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, second last year, found himself running around at the rear after his Williams was hit by Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia's Jaguar and lost its rear wing in the first lap mayhem.
RSS