Schumacher's second win in the 1998 season

 

Montreal, June 7, 1998

Both Ferrari pilots on the podium

McLarens out

Ferrari: 2 / McLaren-Mercedes: 0

Final results

 

The Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal was a crucial one: Would Schumacher manage to close the gap in the overall ranking between him and Mika Häkkinen? Well, he did.

The race - which was very exciting - started tricky: A pile-up of several cars in the first corner forced the officials to restart the race. Bad news for Michael Schumacher who had managed to pass Mika Häkkinen (2nd on the grid behind his teammate David Coulthard) at the start and who was close to Coulthard.

Right after the restart, the race remained tricky, and another "car-sandwich" in the gravel generated a safety-car phase. Schumacher was on 3rd position while the McLarens were in the lead.

But shortly after, the two McLaren-Mercedes dropped out of the race due to technical problems (clutch/gearbox), and Schumacher pulled away in front of the pack. Only Giancarlo Fisichella kept up with the German's pace in his Benetton-Playlife and was temporarily very close to the leading Ferrari. But Schumacher did successfully defend his position, and in the final phase of the race he had achieved a remarkable lead in front of Fisichella and Eddie Irvine.

This is so special since Schumacher had even been sentenced with a 10 seconds stop-and-go-penalty after an incident that occurred right after a pit stop: When he stormed out of the pit lane, he did obviously not see that Heinz-Harald Frentzen in his Williams was closing on him at top speed on the straight; Frentzen had to pull his car to the right when the red "obstacle" suddenly appeared right in front of him, ended up in the gravel and the race was over for him.

Eddie Irvine did quite a job, too, this weekend. He had been involved in the crash after the restart and lost his left rear tire. After the damage had been fixed in the pits, he found himself back on the very last position. But then, he started a remarkable chase for the leading cars, and in the end he even managed to gain the 3rd position.

The two Ferrari-pilots scored 14 points for the constructors' championship and have now an overall score of 53 (McLaren-Mercedes are in the lead with 75 points). Since the McLaren-Mercedes-pilots did not score this time, Michael Schumacher (34 points) is now second in the drivers' championship right after Mika Häkkinen (46 points).

1. Michael Schumacher, Ferrari

2. Giancarlo Fisichella, Benetton-Playlife

3. Eddie Irvine, Ferrari

4. Alexander Wurz, Benetton-Playlife

5. Rubens Barichello, Stewart-Ford

6. Jan Magnussen, Stewart-Ford

Qualifying

Chassis

Schumacher s/n 187, Irvine s/n 185

Temperatures

Air 15°C, Surface 14°C

Race

Chassis

Schumacher s/n 187, Irvine s/n 185

Temperatures

Air 12°C, Surface 14°C

Text Gregor Schulz
Translation Andreas Birner
Photo Bodo Kräling