Rien
ne va plus: The 1998 Monaco Grand Prix
Monte
Carlo, May 24, 1998
- Very
posh: The Monaco Grand Prix
- The race
- I'm
glad it's you
The Grand Prix of Monaco is very
probably one of the most traditional, most
spectacular and most hip events of the Formula 1
season. Being one of the social events for
the high society at the Côte d'Azur, it
certainly is the poshest one. Although racing in
the narrow streets of the small, but very rich
principality at the French riviera might well
look like a total madness to anyone not familiar
with the Formula 1 circus, this Grand Prix's
virtually unique atmosphere does attract many
thousand spectators every year.
Since
the tax-free principality is a well-known haven
for many rich and very rich persons, Ferrari is
quite popular there and the Ferrari-flag is the
most common one to be seen mounted outside many
buildings (and yachts) along the track.
  
However,
the result for the Italian team might somehow
have been better. Schumacher did start from 4th
position and Irvine was 7th on the grid. Mika
Häkkinen and David Coulthard were - of course -
dominant again in their McLaren-Mercedes and
started from position one and two. Somewhat
surprising was Giancarlo Fisichella's result in
qualifying: He drove his Benetton-Playlife on 3rd
position.
Right
after the start, not too many positions changed.
Frentzen in the Williams lost his 5th position to
Alex Wurz in the Benetton. In lap 9, Eddie Irvine
on 7th tried to overtake Frentzen in the narrow
corner in front of the Loews Hotel; the cars
collided. While Eddie could continue the race,
Frentzen was out.
At
this time, it was obvious that Schumacher could
have been much faster than Fisichella who was
lying in front of him, but there was no chance to
overtake - this situation is pretty typical for
the Monaco Grand Prix. While Schumacher was
waiting for a mistake of Fisichella, the two
McLarens in front pulled easily away from the
pack - until lap 17: Right after the Loews
tunnel, Coulthard dropped out with a blown
engine.
  
Shortly
after, the pit stops began. While Schumacher -
who had been on third - was in the pits, Wurz
passed him and took Michael's 3rd position. When
his teammate Fisichella, then being 2nd, came in
for fuel and fresh tires, Schumacher managed to
pass him and was closing on Wurz.
Wurz
was on 2nd, but had to come into the pits very
soon since he had not yet absolved his first
stop. Despite of this fact, Schumacher did attack
Wurz in the Loews corner and tried hard to
overtake him. Wurz could counter Schumacher's
first attempt, but when the Ferrari-pilot tried
to pass him for the second time in the turn in
front of the Loews tunnel, he finally succeeded.
But the cars did touch in both attempts,
resulting in a damaged left rear suspension on
Schumacher's Ferrari F300. The German came into
the pits, and apparently had decided to give up.
But the mechanics fixed the problem, and
Schumacher was back on the track on 16th
position. The gap between him and the still
leading Häkkinen had grown to more than three
laps! This situation was for sure frustrating for
Schumacher, especially since his action against
Wurz had been completely unnecessary: The
Austrian still had to absolve his pit stop
anyway. By the way, in his first lap after the
stop, Wurz lost control right after the tunnel,
crashed into the barrier and was out of the race.
After
these various mishaps, Eddie Irvine had ended up
on the 3rd position behind Häkkinen and
Fisichella. In lap 74 of 78, Alesi dropped out
with gaerbox problems; he had been on 5th up to
that time. In the end, Michael Schumacher had
made his way to 10th position and kept it until
the race was over, although he had a collision
with Diniz in the final lap, ripping the
front-spoiler off the car. But Schumacher safely
reached the finishing line after this incident in
the harbor chicane.
 
So, Mika Häkkinen took the win one
more time this year and he was the lucky one to
hear Prince Rainier's famous flourish "I'm
glad it's you!" during the prize-giving. The
monarch does use the same phrase every year, and
who effectively is the winner does actually not
make any difference... However, Mika Häkkinen
now leads the championship with 46 points,
followed by his teammate David Coulthard (29),
Michael Schumacher (24) and Eddie Irvine (15).
- Final results
- 1. Mika Häkkinen,
McLaren-Mercedes
- 2. Giancarlo Fisichella,
Benetton-Playlife
- 3. Eddie Irvine, Ferrari
- 4. Mika Salo, Arrows
- 5. Jacques Villeneuve,
Williams-Mecachrome
- 6. Pedro Diniz, Arrows
10. Michael Schumacher, Ferrari
- Qualifying
- Chassis
- Schumacher 184, Irvine 185,
- 187 used after the accident
- Temperatures
- air 20 C, track 30 C
- Race
- Chassis
- Schumacher 184, Irvine 185
- Temperatures
- air 20->18 C, track
30->20 C
-
- Text
Andreas Birner
Photo Rainer W. Schlegelmilch
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