After the appeal and reinstatement of the Ferrari results at the Malaysian GP, Eddie Irvine was leading the Drivers World Championship as the F1 teams arrived in Japan. Pole position on the grid was taken by Michael Schumacher, 2nd on the grid was Mika Hakkinen (who was the only challenger for the Drivers World Championship), 3rd David Coulthard, 4th Heinz-Harald Frentzen but Eddie Irvine could only manage 5th on the grid.
Hakkinen stormed away at the start of the race, taking the lead from Michael Schumacher whom was second; Olivier Panis who had stormed through the leaders took the third place. Irvine was up to 4th and David Coulthard was back to 5th and Frentzen 6th. Alex Zanardi coasted to halt with electrical problems finishing a very disappointing season with Williams (there are rumours that a question mark hangs over his seat with Williams for next year).
By lap 8 Hakkinen had opened a 5-second lead over Schumacher, the rest of the leaders settled in their running positions. Damon Hill in his last F1 race was having miserable time down the field and left the course but managed to steer across the gravel trap and get back on the tarmac, he then toured into the pits for his car to be checked.
On lap 17, Panis was the first of the leaders into the pits, which seemed to show he had been running with light tanks. Irvine was now up to 3rd. At the front Hakkinen increased his lead over Schumacher, with Irvine 3rd, Coulthard 4th and Frentzen 5th.
Hakkinen made his scheduled pit stop followed by the other lead cars. When all the stops were complete, Hakkinen was still in the lead by 7.5 seconds from Schumacher 2nd, Coulthard as result of some nifty pit work was up to 3rd, Irvine was now 4th, 5th Frentzen and 6th Ralf Schumacher.
The cars behind Coulthard including Irvine bunched up behind him.
Frentzen was the first of the lead group to make the second scheduled pit stop but soon followed by other lead cars
The order on lap 35 was 1st Hakkinen, 2nd Schumacher, 3rd Coulthard, 4th Johnny Herbert in the Stewart-Ford (still to make his pit stop), and 5th Irvine.
Coulthard spun and hit the barrier with some force and lost his nose cone. He managed to limp back to the pits for a replacement but he was now well down the field. When he returned to the track, he was running just in front of Michael Schumacher who seemed to have some difficulty overtaking him until a few blue flags were waved at Coulthard. At the front the order was 1st Hakkinen, 2nd Schumacher, 3rd Herbert (still to make a stop), and 4th Irvine.
The race now entered its closing stages; Hakkinen made his second scheduled stop and retained his lead. Coulthard returned to the pits and retirement following his earlier shunt.
The race now settled with the order 1st Hakkinen, 2nd Schumacher, 3rd Irvine, 4th Frentzen, 5th Ralf Schumacher and 6th Jean Alesi. These were the positions at the chequered flag. An ecstatic Mika Hakkinen not only won the race but also took the Drivers World Championship - one of the small group of drivers who have taken consecutive Drivers Championships. Although the 2nd and 3rd places by the Ferrari drivers gave Ferrari the Constructors World Championship (Ferrari's first Constructors Championship for 16 years) Michael Schumacher was rather glum faced and complained about the driving tactics of David Coulthard.
McLaren team finished second in the Constructors championship but Ron Dennis was very pleased that his driver Hakkinen had taken the Drivers World Championship. Jordan took 3rd place in the constructors' championship (their highest position).
This was F1's first visit to the new up to the minute track in Malaysia, which has taken some £75M to create. General reaction seemed to be quite favourable from the drivers. The big news however was Michael Schmacher's return and that he took pole position by nearly one second from his team mate Eddie Irvine, 3rd place on the grid was David Couthard, and Mika Hakkinen 4th.
On the parade lap Trulli's engine failed but all the other cars made it to the grid. On the start the lead cars got cleanly away but further back Damon Hill was spun by Fisichella and his race was finished in the first few yards. The order was Michael Schumacher 1st, Eddie 2nd, David Coulthard 3rd, Mika Hakkinen 4th, Rubens Barrichello 5th and Johnny Herbert 6th.
Schumacher pulled away in the first few laps, then slowed to allow Irvine to take the lead. There was then a tussle between Schumacher and Coulthard with Coulthard moving into second place. Ralf Schumacher running 9th spun off the track into retirement.
Coulthard closed on Irvine but on lap 15 Coulthard slowed and coasted towards the pits but he pulled off the course into retirement. The order now was 1st Irvine, Schumacher 2nd, Hakkinen 3rd, Barrichello 4th, Herbert 5th and Alex Wurz 6th.
Irvine was on two stop strategy and after his second stop, the order was 1st Schumacher, 2nd Hakkinen and 3rd Irvine, Herbert 4th, Barrichello 5th and Frentzen up to 6th.
In the closing stages Hakkinen had to make a 'splash and dash' pit stop and returned to the track in 5th place. The order was Schumacher 1st, Irvine 2nd, Herbert 3rd, Barrichello 4th, Hakkinen 5th and Frentzen 6th. Schumacher slowed and allowed Irvine to take the lead (in accordance with team orders). Hakkinen was now on a charge and moved up to 3rd but could not catch the leading Ferraris who cruised in formation across the finishing line. The order at the chequered flag was 1st Eddie Irvine (giving him the lead in the Drivers Championship), 2nd Michael Schumacher, 3rd Mika Hakkinen, 4th Johnny Herbert, 5th Rubens Barrichello, and 6th Heinz-Harald Frentzen (from a start of 14th on the grid).
Mika Hakkinen seemed very disappointed with the result and McLaren's boss Ron Dennis commented that Ferrari's tyres were worn down to 'slick tyres' rather than the regulation grooved tyres but there was further controversy when during post race scrutiny when it was found that the 'barge boards' on both Ferrari's did not meet the required specification. Ross Brawn gave a press conference at which he stated that Ferrari were trying to establish how the boards had been produced with about 1cm undersize. He claimed that it would give no performance advantage and that Ferrari would appeal the ruling that excluded the two Ferraris from the race result.
The result of the exclusion of Irvine and Schumacher from the results was that Mika Hakkinen was elevated to first place (with 10 points) and won the Drivers Championship but all this was subject to appeal.
Ferrari's results were reinstated after the appeal hearing by the FIA in Paris, so Eddie Irvine wins with Michael Schumacher second, and Eddie moves into the lead in the Drivers Championship. So it is all the last race on this years calandar.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen demonstrated the improved form for the Jordan Team by Taking pole position, David Coulthard was 2nd on the grid, Mika Hakkinen 3rd and Ralf Schumacher 4th.
The red light at the start of the race was held for along period leading to jump-start by the first rows of the grid.
At the second attempt all the cars got away from the grid but there was an accident at the first corner. Damon Hill who had lost power in his car baulked Alex Wurz. Wurz pulled out to avoid Hill and clipped Diniz sending the Diniz's in a roll, the car landing upside down and the roll bar dug into the soft earth and failed. Diniz was trapped under his car but fortunately without serious injury. The safety car came out while the wreckage was moved from the track.
The order at the restart was Frentzen 1st, Hakkinen up to second place, Coulthard 3rd, and Ralf Schumacher4th. Coulthard was challenging his teammate Hakkinen. Eddie Irvine had moved up to 6th place.
Alex Zanardi and Zonta touched, spinning Zinardi's car but he managed to remain on the track and although it stalled the track marshals were able to push the car into a safe place. Eddie Irvine was pressurising Fisichella, forcing the Italian to run wide onto the grass and allowing Irvine to move up a place. Ralf Schumacher was now challenging Coulthard but Coulthard held off Ralf's attempts to take 3rd place.
The weather started to play a role in the race, with rain falling. Ralf Schumacher managed to get by Coulthard and take 3rd place. Hakkinen came into the pits for wet tyres followed by some of the other lead cars, but the rain then stopped.
The order now was Frentzen 1st, Ralf Schumacher 2nd, Coulthard 3rd, Fisichella back up to 4th and Irvine 4th. Irvine came into the pits to change to slick tyres but there was confusion with only three tyres ready.
The track was still wet and slippery and Ralf Schumacher left the track. Hakkinen was struggling on his wet tyres to keep up with the leaders and came into the pits to change to slick tyres.
At the front of the race Coulthard challenged Frentzen for the lead but Heinz- Harald held off the challenge. Both Frentzen and Coulthard made their scheduled pit stop together and left the pits in the same order as they arrived but no sooner was Frentzen back on the track than his car slowed and stopped. Coulthard was now in the lead.
The rain returned but was only falling on some parts of the circuit. Coulthard slid off the track into the barriers on a wet stretch of the track. Ralf Schumacher was now 1st; Fisichella 2nd but Fisichella slide off the track but managed to regain the tarmac. This allowed Johnny Herbert in the Stewart to close on the 2nd placeman. Ralf Schumacher made his pit stop allowing Fisichella to take the lead. Ralf Schumacher returned to the track in 2nd place ahead of Herbert.
In the difficult driving conditions Fisichella spun off the track and stalled his engine, so Ralf Schumacher was now back in the lead. But Schumacher rear tyre suffers a puncture forcing him into the pits and allowing Johnny Herbert to take the lead.
With 5 laps remaining the order was 1st Herbert, Trulli up to 2nd, and Rubens Barrichello 3rd. Hakkinen was recovering and moved up to 6th place when Irvine's Ferrari slid across the grass.
At the chequered flag the order was 1st Johnny Herbert (giving the Stewart -Ford team their first win), 2nd Trulli, 3rd Barrichello (giving Stewart 1st and 3rd), 4th Ralf Schumacher, 5th Mika Hakkinen, and 6th Gene.
Jackie Stewart was very emotional at his team taking its first GP victory, next year the Team is known as Jaguar.
Monza Italian GP Round 13 September 12th
Mika Hakkinen took pole position and led the early part of the race until on lap 30 he made a mistake at the chicane and crashed out of the race.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen who had qualified second and was running second in the race took the lead and led to the chequered flag.
Ralf Schumacher finished in second place for Williams. Third place at chequered flag was Mika Salo (saving the reputation of Ferrari in front of their home crowd). Salo started 6th on the grid.
Fourth place went to Rubens Barrichello who started 7th on the grid. David Coulthard finished 5th having recovered from a poor start and a number of excursions off the track.
Sixth place was taken by lack lustre Eddie Irvine who started 8th on the grid but struggled through out the race.
The championship is now a three horse race between Hakkinen, Irvine and Frentzen
The MacLarens took the first two positions on the grid - Mike Hakkinen taking pole and David Coulthard second. The next two places were taken by the Jordans of Heinz-Harald Frentzen 3rd and Damon Hill 4th. Eddie Irvine could only manage 6th on the grid in the Ferrari. The big news during practice was the spectacular crashes of the two BAR Reynard cars. Fortunately Jacques Villeneuve and Zonta were able to walk away from the wrecks uninjured.
When the red lights extinguished, Mika Hakkinen almost jumped the lights and then hesitated on the line. David Coulthard was able to grab the lead but the two MacLaren drivers fought for the lead and briefly touched at the first corner without any damage. The order at the end of the first lap was 1st Coulthard, 2nd Mika Hakkinen, 3rd Frentzen, 4th Irvine, 5th Schumacher and 6th Alex Zanardi (having his best-run todate in the Williams. The major looser was Damon Hill whom was now running 7th. The order of the race now settled.
By quarter distance Coulthard was pulling away from Hakkinen 2nd.
Frentzen was the first of the leaders to make his scheduled pit stop, quickly followed by the other lead cars. The race positions of the leading four cars remained unchanged - 1st Coulthard, 2nd Hakkinen. 3rd Frentzen and 4th Irvine.
At the second round of pit stops Hakkinen had a delayed exit because of problem with the fuel line allowing Coulthard to extend his lead further.
In the closing stages of the race the order was 1st Coulthard, 2nd Hakkinen, 3rd Frentzen, 4th Irvine, 5th Ralf Schumacher and 6th Hill and that was the positions at the chequered flag. So the finishing positions down to 5th place were the same as at the end of the first lap!! There were few overtaking manoeuvres and the race was were processional. Ron Denis the MacLaren Team boss commented that the race was very satisfying for them but probably boring for everyone else.
Mika Hakkinen retakes the lead in the Drivers Championship by one point from Eddie Irvine.
Mika Hakkinen took pole position with Eddie Irvine second on the grid. Eddie's teammate Mika Salo could only manage to qualify his Ferrari towards the back of the grid.
Everybody got away safely on the first lap and at the end of lap the order was 1st Hakkinen, Irvine holding on to second place, Giancarlo Fisichella up to 3rd, Heinz-Harald Frentzen 4th, David Coulthard after a poor start running 5th and Damon Hill 6th.
By lap 5, Hakkinen had lead of nearly 4 seconds over Irvine who in turn was pulling away from Fisichella.
Fisichella was the first of the lead cars to make a schedule pit stop. When all the lead cars had stopped, the order was 1st Hakkinen, 2nd Irvine, 3rd Barrichello (still to make his first stop), 4th David Coulthard, 5th Fisichella and 6th Frentzen. Barrichello made his pit stop moving Coulthard up to 3rd and he began to close on Irvine.
At about two thirds distance Hakkinen had extended his lead to over 30 seconds from Irvine 2nd, with Coulthard just behind Irvine.
The drivers made their second pit stop. Fisichella came into the pits and retired with major mechanical problems.
Hakkinen made his pit stop and was able to regain the track still in 1st place. Irvine and Coulthard came into the pits together but rejoined the track still in the same order – Irvine 2nd and Coulthard 3rd. But Coulthard continued to apply pressure. Irvine ran wide across the grass and regained the track but Coulthard had passed and taken 2nd place.
The order was now Hakkinen 1st, Coulthard 2nd, Irvine 3rd, Frentzen 4th, Barrichello 5th but under threat from Hill 6th. That was the order to the chequered flag. The Hungarian race has produced some exciting races in the past but this was not one of them
Mika Hakkinen took pole position but second place was taken by the Jordan of Heinz-Harld Frentzen, David Coulthard was third, Mika Salo was the first Ferrari on the grid in 4th place and his team mate Eddie Irvine 4th. There was 22 cars on the grid.
Hakkinen held his first place, but Salo made a flying start up to 2nd,Coulthard 3rd, Frentzen 4th but under pressure from Rubens Barrichello. Irvine was running 6th. In the surge from the grid, Jacques Villeneuve was sent flying off the track collecting Diniz on the way.
After the frenzie of the first lap, the order settled with Hakkinen pulling away in the lead. BArrichello moved up to 4th and began to close on Coulthard, and in turn Coulthard closed up on Salo.
Barrichello's Stewart-Ford slowed and coasted into the pits and retirement. Frentzen was now back up 4th, with Irvine 5th and Ralf Schumacher up to 6th.
By lap 10, Coulthard closed on Salo and ran into the back of the Ferrari, Coulthard loosing part of his front wing. Coulthard made a pit stop to have a new nose cone and wing fitted. Coulthard returned to the race in 11th place. Irvine closed on Frentzen who was now running 3rd.
The order was Hakkinen 1st, Salo 2nd, Frentzen 3rd, Irvine 4th, Schumacher Jnr 5th and Alex Wurz 6th. Damon Hill was running 7th but ran off the track. Hill regained the track but pulled into the pits and retirement, claimimg that he had no brakes.
The front runners started making their pit stops. Irvine with some slick pit work was able to return to track in front of Frentzen. Hakkinen came into the pits but there was problems with the refueling rig and Hakkinen rejoined the race in 4th place. The race order now was Salo 1st, Irvine 2nd, Frentzen 3rd, and Hakkinen 4th. Coulthard was given a 10 second pit stop penalty for some vigerous overtaking as he attempted to move back up through the field.
This wasn't McLaren's day, Hakkinen was closing on Frentzen in 3rd place when his rear tyre failed, damaging his rear wing and spinning his car off the track. The car ran into a large tyre barrier but fortunately Mika Hakkinen was able to climb out of the car unhurt.
Up front Salo allowed his team mate Irvine to overtake and move into the lead.. The order finally settled at the chequered flag as 1st Eddie Irvine, 2nd Mika Salo, 3rd Heinz-Harald Frentzen, 4th Ralf Schumacher, 5th a recovered David Coulthard, and 6th Olivier Panis. Eddie's back to back wins moves him into a clear lead in the Drivers Championship.
The qualifying at the A1 ring was dominated by McLaren, with Mika Hakkinen on pole position and David Coulthard 2nd. Eddie Irvine now taking the role of lead driver for Ferrari (with Michael Schumacher side lined with his broken leg possibly until the end of the season) was 3rd, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen 4th on the grid.
On the opening lap as the cars scrambled for position the two McLarens touched and Hakkinen spun off the track but was able to regain the tarmac but in final place - what a disappointment for the World Champion.
The order was 1st David Coulthard (apparently with no damage from the contact with his team mate, 2nd Rubens Barrichello in the Stewart-Ford running a revised car with an upgraded engine, 3rd Eddie Irvine, 4th Heinz-Harald Frentzen, 5th Mika Salo (super sub) running the second Ferrari but with front wing damage following a collision with Johnny Herbert.
Salo was forced to make a lengthy pit stop to change the car's nose cone. Jacques Villeneuve moved up to 5th. Further back Hakkinen was now moving rapidly through the field and was up to 16th place.
Coulthard extended his lead to 5 seconds from Barrichello 2nd, Irvine 3rd, Frentzen 4th, Villeneuve 5th and Ralf Schumacher 6th. Ralf however then spun off the track and got stuck in a gravel trap ending his race. Pedro Diniz now moved up to 6th.
Villeneuve began to fall back down the field. Jean Alesi was on a charge and Hakkinen was now just outside the points positions - Diniz was up to 5th, Alesi 6th and Hakkinen 7th. On lap 25 Diniz who was on a two-stop strategy made his first pit stop, soon followed by his Sauber teammate Alesi. So the order now was Coulthard 1st with 13 second lead over Barrichello 2nd, Irvine 3rd, Frentzen 4th, Hakkinen 5th and Villeneuve 6th.
Hakkinen closed and moved passed Frentzen and set about chasing Barrichello. Villeneuve coasted into the pits and retirement.
The lead cars on a one-stop strategy began making their pit stops. The two McLarens made their pit stops but Irvine stayed out for as long as possible in the lead putting in some blistering laps. Ferrari then called Irvine in and made a very slick pit stop and got him back out again in front of Coulthard. So Irvine was still in the lead, Coulthard 2nd, Barrichello 3rd and Hakkinen 4th. Hakkinen was able to move by Barrichello to take 3rd place. Alesi retired when running in 6th place.
The order on lap 53 was Irvine !st, Coulthard 2nd, 3rd Hakkinen, 4th Barrichello, 5th Frentzen, 6th Alerx Wurz. Barrichello's engine expired taking him out of the race.
Coulthard closed on Irvine in the remaining laps but Irvine held on soaking up the pressure to take the chequered flag, 2nd David Coultard, 3rd a recovered Mika Hakkinen, 4th Heinz-Harald Frentzen, 5th Alex Wurz and 6th Pedro Diniz. A well deserved win by Ferrari and their new lead driver Eddie Irvine. Eddie 'Motor-mouth' Irvine as a reputation for being out spoken and 'telling it how he sees it ' but Eddie has clearly become a major challenger for the Drivers World Championship - only 2 points behind Hakkinen. The rest of the racing season could be very interesting.
McLaren and Ferrari dominated the first four places on the grid at Siverstone. Pole position was taken by Mika Hakkinen, 2nd place by Michael Schumacher, third place was taken by David Coulthard and 4th by Eddie Irvine.
At the start of the race two backmarkers stalled on the grid but the lead cars were already away with Irvine getting ahead of Schumacher and Hakkinen roaring off in the lead. The race was red flagged because of the stalled cars but the leaders were still travelling at racing speed and Schumacher made a move to overtake Irvine but he failed to take a bend. Schumacher's car kept straight on at racing speed, tobogganing across the gravel trap without loosing any appreciable speed and hit the tyre wall head on. The front of the car hitting the barrier.
Schumacher although clearly hurt was still alert but had to be lifted from the car and removed by ambulance and then by helicopter to Northampton General Hospital were it was confirmed he had broken his right leg in two places. Initially indications are that Schumacher will be out of Grand Prix racing for at least two months. Ferrari later indicated that there had been a rear wheel brake failure.
There was a 40-minute delay to clear the track and reform the grid.
At the second attempt to start the race. Hakkinen stormed away in the lead and Irvine moved through to second, with Coulthard third. But once more there was a back marker stranded on the grid but this time the Safety Car came out and the race continued under the caution flag to allow the stricken car to be removed.
The Safety Car pulled off the track and the order at the restart of racing was 1st Hakkinen, 2nd Irvine, 3rd Coulthard, 4th Heinz-Harald Frentzen, 5th Ralf Schumacher and 6th Damion Hill. The first three cars began to pull away from the others in the lead group.
The lead cars began making their first pit stops. Hakkinen came in from his lead position but experienced problems with changing his rear wheel. After one lap he returned to the pit for the wheel to be changed again. - Loosing him valuable time.
At the front the order now was 1st Coulthard, 2nd Irvine, 3rd Ralf Schumacher, 4th Frentzen and 5th Hill. Hakkinen lost a wheel but was able to drive on three wheels back into the pits, where he took on new wheels but was now a lap down on the leaders.
Jacque Villeneuve suffered mechanical failure stopping his car on grid, causing the Safety Car to come out again while Villeneuve's car was removed.
On the return to racing conditions the order was 1st Coulthard, 2nd Irvine, 3rd Ralf Schumacher, 4th Frentzen, 5th Hill, and 6th Barrichello. Hakkinen however was not happy with his car and returned to the pits and retired. McLaren later confirmed that there was a mechanical failure with the wheel hubs of his car.
At about two thirds distance the lead cars made their second pit stop. Irvine stopped before Coulthard, allowing Coulthard to set a scorching lap before making his pit stop. Coulthard was able to return to the track still in front of Irvine. In the pit stop shuffling, Hill briefly led the race and a great cheer could be heard from all his supporters. When all the cars had made their second stop the order was 1st Coulthard, 2nd Irvine, 3rd Ralf Schumacher, 4th Frentzen, 5th Barrichello and 6th Hill. But Barrichello stopped out on the course with technical problems moving Hill up to 5th and Diniz to 6th.
The race settled in the closing few laps with Frentzen challenging Ralf Schumacher but the order remained at the chequered flag - 1st David Coulthard, 2nd Eddie Irvine, 3rd Ralf Schumacher, 4th Heinz-Harald Frentzen, 5th Damon Hill and 6th Diniz.
Another action packed race with neither of the leaders in the Drivers World Championship scoring any points. Eddie Irvine now equals his teammate's score in the points table.
Rothmans cigarette company have announced that their long term sponsorship of the Williams Team will come to an end at the finish of the 1999 season. Williams carried the blue colours of Rothmans for several years and more recently the red of Rothman's Australian Winfield brand.
Rothmans decision reflects the changes which are taking place in F1 racing. BMW are expected to meet the short fall in Williams racing budget.
Rain and deep standing water on the track caused problems during qualifying and gave rise to an interesting grid. On pole position was Rubens Barrichello in the Stewart-Ford, second place was Jean Alesi. David Coulthard was 4th, Michael Schumacher 6th, Mika Hakkinen 14th and Eddie Irvine 17th. The requirement to qualify within a certain percentage of the pole position driver was suspended because of the conditions.
On race day, the race started in dry conditions but rain was forecast to fall within 30 minutes of the start time. Everybody got away cleanly at the start and at the end of the first lap Barrichello was in the lead, with Coulthard up to second place, 3rd Alesi, 4th Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Schumacher 5th and Hakkinen on the first lap had carved through the field and was running 9th.
Coulthard closed on Barrichello and Hakkinen continued his charge up to 6th place. Coulthard took the lead from Barrichello and started to pull away in the lead. Schumacher was in 5th place was now under pressure from Hakkinen.
At the front Coulthard experienced a mechanical failure and pulled off the track into retirement. Barrichello was now back in the lead, Alesi 2nd, Frentzen 3rd, Hakkinen was now up to 4th and Schumacher 5th and Panis 6th. Hakkinen was now challenging Frentzen and was soon up to 3rd and pressing Alesi. Further back Eddie Irvine was on a charge but at the front Hakkinen forced his way by Alesi to take 2nd place.
At this point the rain started to fall, Irvine decided to make a pit stop for rain tyres but the Ferrari team were not ready for him and valuable time was lost. The rain was now pouring down and all the lead cars made a dash for the pits for rain tyres. Damon Hill who was running well down the field made contact with an Arrows car as he left the pits and punctured his tyre. Hill toured back to the pits and retirement with other mechanical problems. At this point Hill announced that this could be his last race.
The order was 1st Barrichello, 2nd Hakkinen and 3rd Alesi but Alesi spun off the track and beached the car in a gravel trap. This moved Frentzen up to 3rd position. The rain was now falling very hard, with a lot of standing water on the track causing the Safety Car to come out on track and general caution to be shown.
With 37 laps remaining (just over half distance) the safety came in and the race resumed. The lead cars were 1st Barrichello, 2nd Hakkinen, 3rd Frentzen, 4th Schumacher, 5th Panis, and 6th Trulli. Hakkinen began to challenge Barrichello but he spun his car. Although he recovered he was back in 7th place. The order was now 1st Barrichello, 2nd Frentzen, 3rd Michael Schumacher, 4th Panis, 5th Trulli, and 6th Ralf Schumacher. Michael Schumacher overtook Frentzen to move up to 2nd, and started to challenge Barrichello. Schumacher managed to get by Barrichello but Rubens managed to retake the lead. Irvine overtook Hakkinen to move up to 7th.
Michael Schumacher managed to get by Barrichello and settled in the lead. Pulling away from Barrichello 2nd, Frentzen 3rd, Panis 4th, Ralf Schumacher 5th and Irvine now up to 6th. By now only 12 cars were left in the race.
Irvine came into the pits for new wet tyres, allowing Hakkinen to move up to 6th. Hakkinen was soon by Panis to take 5th place. Schumacher in the lead seemed to be having some gear selection problems allowing Barrichello to close on him. Michael Schumacher came into the pits for new rain tyres and to change the steering wheel which includes the gear selection mechanism. The order was now Barrichello 1st, Frentzen 2nd, Mika Hakkinen back up to 3rd place, Panis 4th, Trulli 5th and Michael Schumacher had returned to the race in 6th position.
Hakkinen took 2nd place from Frentzen and began to challenge Barrichello for the lead. After holding off Hakkinen for a number of laps, Barrichello lost the lead to Hakkinen. The order was now 1st Hakkinen, 2nd Barrichello, 3rd Frentzen with 16 seconds lead over M. Schumacher 4th, with Ralf S. 5th and Irvine 6th. Hakkinen and Barrichello came into the pits for new rain tyres allowing Frentzen into the lead. Hakkinen was now 2nd, Barrichello 3rd, M. Schumacher 4th, R Schumacher 5th and Irvine 6th. The last 3 were looked in a duel. Irvine tried to get by Ralf but in turn Ralf overtook his brother for 4th place, and Irvine also moved by Michael. It was by now clear that Frentzen did not intend to make any last minute pit stops - his tyres were getting worn but he had enough fuel to get to the finish.
The order at the chequered flag was 1st Heinz-Harald Frentzen (giving the Jordan Team their second ever win), 2nd Mika Hakkinen, 3rd Rubens Barrichello, 4th Ralf Schumacher, 5th Michael Schumacher, and 6th Eddie Irvine (allowing Michael to finish ahead of him in accordance with his contract with Ferrari
H2>Round 6 Canadian Grand Prix - 13th June .......Mika Hakkinen holds on to first place in an all-action race
Just when F1 has been criticised for lack of overtaking and boring races along comes the Canadian GP to change it all!!!!!
Pole position was taken by Michael Shumacher in the Ferrari, with Mika Hakkinen in McLaren Mercedes in second place.
The weather on race day was very hot. Almost immediately at the opening of the race there was an accident which brought out the safety car while the debris was cleared away. When the safety car pulled off the course with the cars in line of stern on the rolling lap the order was 1st Schumacher, 2nd Hakkinen, 3rd Eddie Irvine, and 4th David Coulthard.
Coulthard put pressure on Irvine but up front Schumacher opened a gap of over two seconds on his rival Hakkinen. The two leaders traded fastest laps.
The next major incident was Damon Hill loosing control and his Jordan hit the wall breaking his rear suspension. Barrichello also toured around the course into pits and retirement.
By lap 24 some of the cars started to make their first pit stop.
Up front Michael Schumacher lost control (at the same point which caught out Damon Hill) and like Hill he hit the wall and effectively ending his race. The order was now Hakkinen 1st, 2nd Irvine and 3rd Coulthard, 4th Fisichella in the Benetton. Jacques Villeneuve running 8th was the next to go off at the point that had taken out Hill and Schumacher. Villeneuve hit the wall heavily leaving his car in a dangerous place. Villeneuve hobbled away from the wreck. The safety car came out again to allow the marshals to remove the BAR car.
All the lead cars took the opportunity to make their pit stops. After the pit stops the race order remained 1st Hakkinen, 2nd Irvine, and 3rd Coulthard. Coulthard began to pressurise Irving and pulled out to overtake but Irvine held his line and the two cars touched bringing them both off the track but somehow both managed to recover and get back on the tarmac. Coulthard made a pit stop to check the damage.
The order at the front was now Hakkinen 1st, 2nd Fisichella, and 3rd Heinz-Harald Frentzen. The lead group was now among back markers and Frentzen passed Fisichella to take second place, 4th Ralf Schumacher, 5th Johnny Herbert but under pressure from the charging Eddie Irvine. David Coulthard also trying to drive through the field received a 10-second penalty for speeding in the pits and this effectively finished his chance for finishing in the points. Irvine continued to carve through the field, moving ahead of Herbert. The next to 'fall' to Irvine's charge was Ralf Schumacher. Irvine was now up to 4th.
In the closing laps Frentzen lost control of the Jordan car hitting the wall and bringing out the safety car yet again and this was how the race finished still under caution flags (the first time that a grand prix had finished with the safety car out). The order at the chequered flag was Mika Hakkinen 1st, Giancarlo Fisichella 2nd, Eddie Irvine 3rd, Ralf Schumacher 4th and Johnny Herbert 5th. If there was an award for 'driver of the race' this should go to Eddie for his recovery and charge to finish on the podium. This win takes Hakkinen back into the lead in the World Championship.
Pole position was taken by Mika Hakkinen, 2nd on the grid was Eddie Irvine (out qualifying his Ferrari team partner Michael Schumacher for the first time) 3rd place was David Coulthard and 4th Schumacher.
At the start of the race Hakkinen and Coulthard got away in first and second, Jacques Villeneuve who had qualified 6th in the BAR car came through to take 3rd place, Schumacher held 4th and Irvine down to 6th. The early stages of the race settled in this running order.
Eddie Irving was the first of the lead group to make a pit stop, quickly followed by Hakkinen, Schumacher and Jacque Villeneuve. Schumacher managed to get out of the pits in front of Villeneuve. Coulthard was the last of the lead group to make a pit stop but overshot the pit position.
When the dust had settled, the order was 1st Hakkinen, 2nd Coulthard, 3rd Schumacher, 4th Irvine, 5th Villeneuve and 6th Trulli. Schumacher was now on a charge and put in some fastest laps and started to 'pull in' Coulthard.
The lead cars then made their second pit stops. Villeneuve came into the pits and retirement. After the second round of pit stops the order was 1st Hakkinen, 2nd Coulthard, 3rd Schumacher, 4th Irvine, 5th Damon Hill, and 6th Ralf Schumacher. Hill was the last of the lead group to make his pit stop and returned to the track in 8th place.
In the closing stages there was a tussle for 6th place between Trulli, Barrichello and Hill but Trulli held on to 6th Place.
The order at the chequered flag was 1st Mika Hakkinen, 2nd David Coulthard, 3rd Michael Schumacher, 4th Eddie Irvine, 5th Ralf Schumacher, and 6th Trulli
Mika Hakkinen grabbed pole position in the closing minutes of practice, with Michael Schumacher 2nd, David Coulthard 3rd and Eddie Irvine 4th.
At the start of the race Schumacher charged through to take the lead. Hakkinen appeared to suffer wheel spin and was relegated to 2nd. Irvine also got by Coulthard to take 3rd. Coulthard was now down to 4th. Schumacher pulled away from Hakkinen and the pattern of the race was established.
Further down the grid Ralf Schumacher and Damon Hill made contact. Hill's car had to be removed from the track, bringing his race to an end.
Irvine closed and began to challenge Hakkinen. Coulthard dropped away but still held 4th place. At the front Michael Schumacher had 27-second lead over Hakkinen. Irvine was the first of the lead group to make a pit stop and was able to return to the track still in 3rd place. Coulthard pulled into the pits and retirement with gearbox problems. Rubens Barrichello was now up to 4th.
By lap 41 Schumacher had increased his lead over Hakkinen to 45 seconds. Hakkinen skidded on some oil on the track and had to take to the escape road but was able to return to the track still in second place. Irvine now closed on Hakkinen.
Hakkinen made a pit stop and returned to the track in 3rd place behind Irvine. Irvine made a further quick pit stop but was able to return to the track still in second place.
The order was now 1st Schumacher, 2nd Irvine, 3rd Hakkinen, 4th Heinz-Harald Frentzen, 5th Barichello and 6th Fisichella. Barrichello spun and struck the barrier moving Fisichella up to 5th.
On the final lap Schumacher had a 34-second lead over his teammate Irvine, Hakkinen 3rd, Frentzen 4th, Fisichella 5th and Alex Wurz 6th and this was the positions at the chequered flag.
Michael Schumacher's win makes him the most successful Ferrari driver of all time.
Alex Zanardi at least managed to finish the race, even if he was outside the points
The F1 circus returns to Europe, the first stop Imola for the San Marino GP.
The McLaren team took the front row of the grid - Mika Hakkinen on pole and David Couthard 2nd, the Ferrari boys: Michael Schumacher 3rd and Eddie Irvine 4th and 5th on the grid was Jacques Villeneuve in the BAR car (the highest grid position for the new team).
At the start of the race, everyone got away safely from the grid except Villeneuve who suffered a major failure that left him stuck on the grid and out of the race.
At the front, Hakkinen stormed away with Coulthard 2nd and Schumacher 3rd. Hakkinen dominated the first part of the race but he misjudged the kerbs and his wheels got on the grass turning him into the barriers and out of the race. A great cheer was given by the partisan crowd that the main challenge to their Ferrari hero was out of the race. Coulthard was now in the lead with Schumacher 2nd.
At the pit stop the Ferrari team were able to make a very slick stop which returned Schumacher into the lead, with Coulthard now second. Schumacher began to pull away and put in some blistering laps. Irvine was running 3rd. Schumacher then made a very quick slick second stop returning him to the track still in the lead, in front of Coulthard. Eddie Irvine pulled off the track with a major mechanical failure that put Frentzen up to 4th in the Jordan but this was to be short lived when Frentzen left the track. This promoted Rubens Barrichello in the Stewart-Ford into 3rd place, Damon Hill was now 4th and Fisichella 5th.
The order at the chequered flag was 1st Michael Schumacher (taking him into the lead in the Drivers' Championship), 2nd David Coulthard, 3rd Rubens Barrichello, 4th Damon Hill, 5th Fisichella, and 6th Jean Alesi
The McLarens demonstrated their speed by taking pole and second position on the grid - Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard in that order. The surprise was Rubens Barrichello who took 3rd place on the grid in the Stewart-Ford. Michael Schumacher had to make do with 4th place. The British American Team had a difficult time during practice with Zonta crashing heavily and suffering lacerations to his leg and Jacques Villeneuve having to start at the back of the grid because of irregularity with his fuel.
The starting grid in Brazil is on a slope so there is always the risk of someone stalling when the cars pull away and David Coulthard was left standing on the grid. The McLaren team was able to push him back to the pits and get the car started but Coulthard was to run at the back of the field some 3 laps down on the leaders and to retire with hydraulic problems. At the end of the first lap Hakkinen was in the lead, 2nd Barrichello, 3rd Schumacher, 4th Eddie Irvine, 5th Fisichella, and 6th H-H Frentzen.
But within a few laps Hakkinen's car suddenly slowed with an intermittent hydraulic fault and to a great roar from the partisan Brazilian crowd, Barrachello took the lead, followed by Schumacher. Hakkinen recovered to run in third place.
Barrachello's who was running on soft tyres on a two stop strategy began to slow as the tyres began to fade. Further down the field Hill and Wurz touched sending Wurz off the course but he was able to regain the track. Hill toured round to the pits and retired with damage to his steering.
Barrichello came into the pits on his first scheduled pit stop allowing Schumacher to take the lead, with Hakkinen 2nd and Eddie Irvine 3rd. Barrichello returned to the race in 4th place.
Schumacher made his pit stop allowing Hakkinen to take the lead and put in a couple of high speed laps before Hakkinen made his slick pit stop and Hakkinen was able to get out back on the track in front of Schumacher. Barrichello was running 3rd but pulled off the track with mechanical failure.
The race was suffering a high rate of attrition and by lap 49, of the 21 cars that started only 12 was left running. Hakkinen extended his lead over Schumacher 2nd. 3rd Irvine, 4th Frentzen, and 5th Ralf Schumacher. Irvine made unscheduled pit stop to have debris removed from his air ducts.
In the closing stages Schumacher attempted to close on Hakkinen but was unable to make any real impression and at the chequered flag it was Hakkinen (taking his 10th win) 2nd Michael Schumacher, 3rd H-H Frentzen, 4th Ralf Schumacher, 5th Eddie Irvine (enough for him to retain his lead in the Drivers Championship) and 6th Olivier Panis.
Hakkinen's win takes McLaren's total wins 117, compared to 120 for Ferrari.
This was an incident packed race. Michael Schumacher was sent to he back of the grid after stalling his Ferrari on the grid. Rubens Barichello who had qualified 4th suffered a fire on the grid and had to start the race from the pit lane in the spare Stewart car.
The McLaren duo - Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard took pole and second place on the grid and dominated the early part of the race. Hakkinen led until lap 17 when throttle problems ended his race on lap21. Coulthard was running second until lap 13, when hydraulic failure caused his retirement.
Eddie Irvine took the lead from Hakkinen. Jacque Villeneuve who had been running 8th suffered a rear wing failure sending him spinning down the track and bringing out the safety car.
Schumacher and Barichello were carving through the field, but Barichello overtook Schumacher while the safety car was out earning him a ten-second stop-go penalty.
Heinz Harald Frentzen in the Jordan was now running 2nd, behind Irvine, with Ralf Schumacher in the Williams up to 3rd. The race had a high attrition rate with only eight cars left running at the finish. Michael Schumacher suffered various problems including a puncture in the closing laps and finished 8th but set the fastest lap.
The order at the chequered flag was 1st Eddie Irvine (his first F1 win), 2nd Frentzen, 3rd Ralf Schumacher, 4th Giancarlo Fisichella, 5th Rubens Barichello, and 6th Pedro De La Rosa in Arrows
| Month | Day & Grand Prix Round | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| March | 8th Australian GP 1st Hakkinen, 2nd Coulthard, 3rd Frentzen | 29th Brazilian GP 1st Hakkinen, 2nd Coulthard, 3rd M.Schumacher | |
| April | 12th Argentinean GP 1st M.Schumacher, 2nd Hakkinen, 3rd Irvine | 26th San Marino GP 1st Coulthard, 2nd M.Schumacher, 3rd Irvine | |
| May | 5th Spanish GP 1st Hakkinen, 2nd Coulthard, 3rd Schumacher | 24th Monaco GP1st Hakkinen, 2nd Fisichella, 3rd Irvine | |
| June | 7th Canadian GP 1st M.Schumacher, 2nd Fisichella, 3rd Irvine | 28th French GP 1st M.Schumacher, 2nd Irvine, 3rd Hakkinen | |
| July | 12th British GP 1st Schumacher, 2nd Hakkinen, 3rd Irvine | 26th Austrian GP 1st Hakkinen, 2nd Coulthard, 3rd M.Schumacher | |
| August | 2nd German GP 1st Hakkinen, 2nd Coulthard, 3rd Villeneuve | 16th Hugarian GP 1st M.Schumacher, 2nd Coulthard, 3rd Villeneuve | 24th Belgian GP 1st Hill, 2nd R. schumacher, 3rd Alesi |
| September | 13th Italian GP 1st M.Schumacher, 2nd Irvine, 3rd R.Schumacher | 28th Luxembourg GP 1st Hakkinen, 2nd M.Schumacher, 3rd Coulthard | |
| October | |||
| November | 1st Japanese GP 1st Hakkinen, 2nd Irvine, 3rd Coulthard | ||
