The chase for the lead

 

 

Sao Paulo, April 11, 1999

An unexpected 2^nd

Bad luck for McLaren

Decision in the pits

High score for Eddie Irvine
Results

 

If one would have asked Jean Todt some days prior to the Brazilian Grand Prix if he would be satisfied by a second position, he probably would have answered "Yes!". When the race was over, he eventually was not completely satisfied by the 2^nd of Michael Schumacher since a win had been within reach. The McLarens had not been as dominant in the race as in the qualifying (the gap between Schumacher and Häkkinen had been one second!) and were plagued by problems again.

Problems did begin right at the start when Coulthard’s car did not move after the last red light had vanished; Michael Schumacher took the chance, immediately passed the silver car which was stuck on its second grid position and was on 3rd, right behind Barrichello (who had been third on the grid) and Häkkinen.

In lap four, Häkkinen got into trouble when he tried to accelerate on a straight but could not change the gears, slowed down for a couple of seconds and had to let pass Barichello and Schumacher.

Now the Brazilian in his fabulous Stewart-Ford was in the lead in his home Grand Prix and would for sure have achieved a position on the podium if a technical problem had not stopped him. Well, at this time he had already absolved one pitstop and was on third again, behind Schumacher and Häkkinen.

The race was decided in the pits: Häkkinen’s stop in lap 42 took about two seconds less than Schumacher’s stop three laps earlier, and so the Fin was back on 1^st.

Schumacher was able to keep up with Häkkinen’s pace, but never got close enough to snatch a chance to overtake. When the race was flagged off, the gap between him and the winning Häkkinen was only 4,925 seconds.

While Jean Todt and Ross Brawn were unhappy about the could-be-win that eventually was not, Schumacher felt comfortable with the situation since his target for the day had initially been a 3^rd position only.

And what happened to Eddie Irvine who had lead the championship score after his win in Australia? He ended up on fifth position and had fought a duel with Ralf Schumacher in the Williams during the final laps. The man from Ireland could have well ended up on the podium, but an irregular pitstop in lap 56 crushed the hope for a result among the best three. But well, he scored two championship points and could be that defend his lead in the total championship score; this means that Eddie Irvine will be the first Ferrari pilot since Nigel Mansell in 1989 to lead the championship score when the third race of the season will take place at Imola in less than three weeks from now.

1^st Mika Hakkinen, McLaren-Mercedes

2^nd Michael Schumacher, Ferrari

3^rd Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Jordan-Mugen

4^th Ralf Schumacher, Williams-Supertec

5^th Eddie Irvine, Ferrari

6^th Oliver Panis, Williams-Supertec

 

Qualifying

Chassis

Schumacher 193, Irvine 191

 

Race

Chassis

Schumacher 193, Irvine 191

 

Text Gregor Schulz

Translation Andreas Birner

Photographs Rainer W. Schlegelmilch