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GRAND PRIX : France : Ferraris' Lost Opportunity
Magny-Cours, 27.6.99
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| A new steering wheel cost valuable time |
In a spectacular rain-affected race Heinz-Harald Frentzen in a Jordan-Mugen-Honda took the chequered flag at Magny-Cours ahead of world champion Mika Häkkinen in a McLaren-Mercedes. Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello in a Stewart-Ford took third place ahead of Ralf Schumacher in a Williams-Supertec and the two Ferrari drivers Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine.
The French Grand Prix was a race marked by heavy rain, exciting overtaking manoeuvres and frequent changes of leadership. McLaren driver David Coulthard dominated the first nine laps. From fourth place on the grid, the Scot took the lead on the fifth lap but was then forced out of the race just four laps later with a faulty generator. In the meantime, team colleague Mika Häkkinen was fighting his way up the field. From 14th place on the grid, the flying Finn had climbed to second spot behind Rubens Barrichello after just 18 laps.
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| Michael was not happy |
On lap 21 the skies opened. The rain was so heavy that on lap 25 the race officials decided to send the safety car onto the track. Most of the drivers took advantage of the safety-car phase for their first pit stop. Even though the pace had been taken out of the race, Villeneuve, Wurz, Gené and Zanardi still slid off the wet track. The safety car left on lap 35 and two laps later, Häkkinen spun as he tried to snatch the lead from Barrichello and fell back to seventh place.
Michael Schumacher, now in third place, overtook Frentzen on lap 38 and Rubens Barrichello on lap 44 to take the lead. But only ten laps later "rain maestro" Schumacher had lost it again. A problem with the Ferrari's steering wheel turned the German driver's second regular pit stop into a 13-second affair and from then on, his Ferrari's steering was not all it should have been.
Mika Häkkinen again fought his way through the field to take the lead on the 59th lap. But six laps before the end of the race both Häkkinen and second-placed Barrichello were forced into the pits to fill up a second time. This left Frentzen at the head of the field. The German was the only driver to manage the entire race with only one pit stop, a strategy that was rewarded by the chequered flag after 72 action-packed laps. Frentzen received the trophy for his second Grand Prix victory after Imola 1997 from Hollywood star Michael Douglas. Magny-Cours was also the second Grand Prix triumph in the Jordan team's history.
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| Todt and Schuey ponder a difficult race |
Just like in Montreal, Ferrari's Eddie Irvine drove a furious race. From 17th place on the grid, the man from Northern Ireland was the first to drive into the pits when the rain set in. The only trouble was that the Ferrari team was not ready for him so Irvine was out of the race for 42 seconds. Despite losing so much time, rejoining the race at the back of field and later spinning his Ferrari, Irvine finished the race in sixth place, having caught and then tailed Schumacher for the last few laps. It appeared all too obvious that he could have passed his team leader into fifth place.
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| Eddie held station and gave Michael an extra point |
In the Drivers' Championship Mika Häkkinen further increased his lead over Michael Schumacher. After the French Grand Prix, the Finnish driver has 40 points and the German 32. However, Ferrari still leads the Constructors' Championship with 58 points ahead of McLaren-Mercedes with 52.
Jean Todt
"This was a disappointing race for us. Michael lost around 8 seconds with an electrical problem, fixed when we changed the steering wheel. For reasons we must look into, we also lost radio and telemetry contact with his car. After his final pit stop, his car was not handling properly and this meant the front tyres suffered excessive wear. Eddie had a good race and at the end we asked him not to pass Michael. It is the third time this season, that the result has not reflected the car's potential and we must try and get to the bottom of all the problems we encountered. Unfortunately, we lost a good opportunity today."
Michael Schumacher
"This was a pretty chaotic race for me. My radio stopped working early on, so I tried to communicate with the pits with hand signals. My first problem was that I was having trouble changing gear and the reason I slowed a lot at one point was that I only had first and second gear. So I came in and changed the steering wheel, but from this point on things did not really improve. The new set of tyres did not work. I am not sure why. At the end of the race I had a fun fight with my brother Ralf, like in our old karting days. Apart from my problems, we were clearly not quick enough in the dry. Thanks to a great drive from Heinz-Harald Frentzen, the gap in the championship has not increased too much, so congratulations and thank you to him. The Safety Car came out at just the right moment and stayed out for the right amount of time."
Eddie Irvine
"Everything that could go wrong did go wrong today. I was in neutral at the start and lost time as I had to select first again. I knew it was going to rain, so I decided to take it carefully at first. Then I started picking off cars one by one. When the rain came, I radioed the team saying 'pits, pits.' I thought they might not be 100% ready, but we had agreed I should come in anyway. It was a bad stop and without it, I might have finished higher. Then, I spun behind the Safety Car. The car was okay and I found I could catch up with Michael quite easily. I could have done a one stop race as we started with a lot of fuel. Basically, we made too many mistakes, which is not normally the case. Our car was quicker than our main competitors and we missed an opportunity."
Race Results:
French Grand Prix
World Championship of Drivers, round 7;
Circuit Magny Cours, June 27th, 1999;
72 laps, 305,814 kms.
CLASSIFIED
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda 1h58:24.343
2. Hakkinen Mclaren Mercedes + 5.000
3. Barrichello Stewart Ford + 34.500
4. R.Schumacher Williams Supertec + 40.700
5. M.Schumacher Ferrari + 42.000
6. Irvine Ferrari + 42.500
7. Trulli Prost Peugeot + 52.700
8. Panis Prost Peugeot + 55.000
9. Zonta BAR Supertec + 1:03.800
10. Badoer Minardi Ford + 1 Lap
11. Takagi Arrows TWR + 1 Lap
12. de la Rosa Arrows TWR + 1 Lap
NOT CLASSIFIED / RETIREMENTS
Driver Team On Lap Reason
Fisichella Benetton Playlife 42 spun off
Hill Jordan Mugen-Honda 31 retired
Zanardi Williams Supertec 26 spun off
Villeneuve Bar Supertec 25 spun off
Wurz Benetton Playlife 25 spun off.
Gene Minardi Ford 25 spun off
Alesi Sauber Petronas 24 spun off
Coulthard Mclaren Mercedes 9 electrical
Diniz Sauber Petronas 6 transmission
Herbert Stewart Ford 4 gearbox
Fastest Lap: David Coulthard, 1:19.227, (193.115 kmph), lap 8
Drivers Points Standings after 7 rounds:
1. Hakkinen 40 2. M.Schumacher 32
3. Irvine 26 4. Frentzen 23
5. R.Schumacher 15 6. Fisichella 13
7. Coulthard 12 = Barrichello 12
9. Hill 3 10. Herbert 2
11. de la Rose 1 = Alesi 1
= Panis 1 = Wurz 1
= Trulli 1 = Diniz 1
Constructors' Points Championship:
1. Scuderia Ferrari 58
2. McLaren-Mercedes 52
3. Jordan-Mugen Honda 26
4. Williams-Supertec 15
5. Benetton-Playlife 14
6. Stewart-Ford 12
7 Prost Peugeot 2
= Sauber-Petronas 2
9. Arrows TWR 1
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