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GRAND PRIX : Monaco : Ferrarissimo !!
Schumacher's 16th win with his Ferrari brought him the all-time record number of wins for a Ferrari driver after Niki Lauda's 15 victories. It was also the first time that Ferrari had scored a one-two win around the famous Monaco circuit as Ferrari's strategy took Schumacher into the lead at the start and saw Irvine take second spot from main rival Mika Hakkinen when he slid off on some oil, losing 17 seconds to the Ulsterman, which then put him ahead when Hakkinen pitted.
Hakkinen rounded out the top three places, with Heinz Harald Frentzen in fourth spot for Jordan, the only other driver to finish on the same lap almost a minute behind the winning Ferrari which led home just seven other cars to the flag.
A perfect start and a race strategy that saw Michael Schumacher start from second place on the grid with a lighter fuel load, won him the race in the drag race with poleman Mika Hakkinen down to the first corner.
"Mika got too much wheel-spin off the line and I was able to get alongside. He locked up as we both braked for St Devote and I was able to get into the corner first and take the lead," explained Michael.
From fourth place on the grid, Irvine was able to make the same move on David Coulthard's McLaren at the start putting Ferrari in the ideal position for a good result.
"I pushed hard in the opening laps in order to build up as big a lead as I could before the pit stops," said Schumacher, who had almost 30 seconds advantage over Hakkinen by lap 38. However, he could almost take things easy when he finally stopped on lap 42, for Hakkinen had lost another 15 seconds to Schumacher's Ferrari when he slid straight on at Mirabeau on oil dropped by Tora Takagi's Arrows after an engine failure.
"For the first 20 laps my car was doing strange things and wobbling as if the tyre pressures were wrong, but as the fuel load lightened it got better and better and I was able to attack Mika so that I could pass him at the pit stops," said Eddie.
It wasn't all plain sailing for Schumacher either. "My car was perfect at the start of the race, but then the handling felt strange after my pit stop as if there was a problem with one of the dampers. The car wasn't handling so well, but it remained consistent for the rest of the race and I had enough of a lead so that it did not worry me too much," he explained. He was also grateful for other reasons not to need to push so hard to win this race. "After my accident on Saturday my neck was a bit stiff, so it would have been harder if I had to race at 100 percent for the whole race," he added.
Coulthard disappeared from the fight before half distance when he retired with gearbox trouble and Hakkinen was in no shape to fight back when his car was also suffering handling problems. "After too much wheel-spin at the start I then had trouble with inconsistent handling coupled with a heavy steering load which meant I probably had some sort of front end failure with the car. However, I still tried to push hard and I had a couple of big moments which almost saw me go off. In the end I decided to settle for third place," said Mika.
"Our race strategy worked exactly as we had planned and the car ran perfectly throughout the race," said a delighted Frentzen who is now just one point behind Hakkinen for third place in the Championship standings.
Barrichello's hopes of another finish in the points were shattered seven laps from the flag when his car's rear suspension failed pitching him into the barriers at the swimming pool complex. Exactly the same failure had seen Johnny Herbert wobble to a stop without hitting anything on lap 32.
Two laps down, Alex Zanardi completed the list of finishers with his Williams, the Italian having another miserable and difficult race when his seat came loose early in the race giving him several dangerous moments throughout the race.
His team-mate Ralf Schumacher went back to last place early on when he was hit by Damon Hill's Jordan as he turned into the chicane. Hill retired with damaged suspension, Schumacher managed to keep going but later went out for good when he spun and hit the barrier going into the Lowes hairpin.
Jacques Villeneuve started strongly for the BAR team running in ninth place. However, a leak from the rear end of the car caused him to come to a smoking stop on lap 33 having clipped a wall the previous lap. Four laps later his team-mate Mika Salo ended his race when he hit the barrier head on at the Lowes hairpin when his car ran out of brakes.
"To win in Monte Carlo is very special. To score a one-two finish at a place like this is the best thing you can do in Formula One," underlined a delighted Schumacher who was celebrating his fourth win at the track and his 35th career win.
"This circuit might have suited us better than Barcelona, but we have another intensive development programme before the Spanish Grand Prix. There might be other circuits where we are not as strong as we have been here , that's why it is important to have the sort of points cushion we have now after the last two races," says Michael.
With 44 points, Ferrari now lead the Constructors' Championship by 24 points over their McLaren rivals while Schumacher leads the driver table with 26 points over Irvine's 18 and 14 for Hakkinen.
Race Results: Monaco Grand Prix World Championship of Drivers, round 4; Monte Carlo, May 16th, 1999; 78 laps CLASSIFIED Pos Driver Team Time/Gap 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari 1h49:31.812, 143.864 kmph 2. Irvine Ferrari + 0:30.400 3. Hakkinen Mclaren Mercedes + 0:37.400 4. Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda + 0:54.000 5. Fisichella Benetton Playlife + 1 Lap 6. Wurz Benetton Playlife + 1 Lap 7. Trulli Prost Peugeot + 1 Lap 8. Zanardi Williams Supertec + 2 Lap 9. Barrichello Stewart Ford + 7 Laps DNF * * retired on lap 71 with rear suspension failure NOT CLASSIFIED / RETIREMENTS Driver Team On Lap Reason R.Schumacher Williams Supertec 54 crashed Alesi Sauber Petronas 50 spun off, stalled Diniz Sauber Petronas 49 straight on, stalled Panis Prost Peugeot 40 straight on, engine cut Coulthard Mclaren Mercedes 36 engine Salo BAR Supertec 36 gearbox Takagi Arrows TWR 36 crashed into Barrier Villeneuve BAR Supertec 32 oil leak/clipped wall Herbert Stewart Ford 32 rear suspension failure de la Rosa Arrows TWR 30 gearbox Gene Minardi Ford 24 hit barrier Badoer Minardi Ford 10 gearbox Hill Jordan Mugen-Honda 3 hit R.Schumacher Fastest Lap: Mika Hakkinen, 1:22.259, 147.354 kmph (lap 67) Drivers Points Standings after 3 rounds:é 1. M.Schumacher 26 2. Irvine 18 3. Hakkinen 14 4. Frentzen 13 5. R.Schumacher 7 = Fisichella 7 7. Barrichello 6 = Coulthard 6 9. Hill 3 10. de la Rosa 1 = Alesi 1 = Panis 1 = Wurz 1 Constructors' Points Championship: 1. Scuderia Ferrari 44 2. McLaren-Mercedes 20 3. Jordan-Mugen Honda 16 4. Benetton-Playlife 8 5. Williams-Supertec 7 6. Stewart-Ford 6 7. Sauber-Petronas 1 = Arrows TWR 1 = Prost Peugeot 1 Click here to return to the Ferrari Happenings page. |
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Michael Schumacher headed home an historic double win for the Ferrari team at the Monaco Grand Prix The German driver led all 78 laps of the race to finish thirty seconds ahead of his team-mate, Eddie Irvine, the two drivers and the team opening up their championship lead by a healthy margin.
Schumacher was still holding a comfortable 25 seconds lead after his stop which jumped back up to 45 seconds again when Hakkinen made a late stop on lap 50. Irvine, who was on a two stop race strategy, was able to move into second place at Hakkinen's stop and had a big enough advantage to keep that spot despite a second late stop on lap 56.
Behind the leading trio there was a heated battle for fourth place between Rubens Barrichello's Stewart-Ford and Frentzen's Jordan. Frentzen chased Barrichello off the start line and stuck to his tail until the Brazilian pitted on lap 50. Frentzen was able to run another 7 laps on his fuel load and in those 7 laps opened out enough of an advantage on the Brazilian to ensure that he came out ahead in fourth spot when he made his own pit stop.
That left the two Benettons of Giancarlo Fisichella and Alexander Wurz to take the final points of this race, both of them a lap behind Schumacher as was Jarno Trulli who was running well in the Prost in the opening laps of the race but fell back to seventh with a two stop race strategy.
While the narrow Monte Carlo street track didn't offer much in the way of overtaking as usual, it still provided an exciting event as only Monte Carlo.