1998 British Grand Prix

 1998 British Grand Prix

Racing data
9th of 16 races in the 1998 Formula 1 World Championship
Surname:	LI RAC British Grand Prix
Date:	July 12, 1998
Place:	Silverstone
Course:	Silverstone Circuit
Length:	308.4 km in 60 laps of 5.14 km
Weather:	wet and partly storm
Spectator:	~ 110,000
Pole position
Driver:	Mika Hakkinen	McLaren-Mercedes
Time:	1: 23.271 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Michael sSchumacher	Ferrari
Time:	1: 35.704 min (lap 12)
Podium
First:	Michael sSchumacher	Ferrari
Second:	Mika Hakkinen	McLaren-Mercedes
Third:	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari

The Grand Prix of Great Britain in 1998 (officially LI RAC British Grand Prix ) took place on 12 July at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone instead and was the ninth round of the Formula 1 World Championship in 1998 . Michael Schumacher won the race ahead of Mika Häkkinen and Eddie Irvine .

report

background

Williams used an updated, more powerful engine from qualifying and the wheelbase was extended.

For the first time this weekend, information about the new team became known from the coming 1999 season. So is Craig Pollock , the former manager of Jacques Villeneuve, the new team manager next season and the headquarters in Brackley was also completed. Work on the new car should start around autumn, according to Pollock. It was also announced that in 1999 Supertec would supply engines to the new BAR team in addition to Benetton and Williams. Villeneuve was named as a specific driver, and attempts were made to sign the 1997 CART champion, Alessandro Zanardi , as a second driver . However, Zanardi had already signed a two-year contract with Williams.

training

The Tyrrell team's box

Damon Hill before his home race

Friday training

David Coulthard was 1: 25.640 minutes ahead of Mika Häkkinen . Heinz-Harald Frentzen was in third place, almost half a second behind , followed by Jacques Villeneuve , Eddie Irvine , Giancarlo Fisichella , Michael Schumacher and in eighth place Alexander Wurz . All drivers were placed within four and a half seconds.

Saturday training

Again both McLaren occupied the first two positions, but this time Häkkinen ahead of Coulthard with a time of 1: 23.639 minutes. The Schumacher brothers, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve followed. All drivers were within five seconds.

Qualifying

The next pole position went to Mika Häkkinen, who left Michael Schumacher around half a second behind. Villeneuve, Coulthard, Irvine and Frentzen followed in the places behind. Ralf Schumacher spun early in the qualifying session and had to set his fastest time with the replacement car, but this and Panis' fastest lap time were subsequently canceled. The reason was a failed safety test during the technical acceptance after the qualification session. All officially rated lap times were within five and a half seconds.

Warm-up

Coulthard and Häkkinen were the fastest drivers in this session, only around eleven thousandths separated the two McLaren drivers from each other. Fisichella, Irvine, Michael Schumacher and Alexander Wurz follow, about two to three seconds behind. Due to the onset of rain, the last driver, Ricardo Rosset , was around eleven seconds behind the fastest time.

run

Villeneuve at the race

Schumacher and Coulthard drive side by side in the race

Coulthard after his slip into the gravel bed

In the morning a thunderstorm cell formed over the racetrack, which led to a violent thunderstorm with strong winds. Although the storm continued before the start of the race, only a few dry spots were visible. Except for the two Stewart drivers, all drivers started with the intermediate tire compound, Barrichello and Verstappen chose dry tires.

Nothing significant happened during the first few laps until, on lap 13, Damon Hill lost control of his car on the wet track and was stranded in the gravel. In lap 16 it started to rain heavier again and many teams switched to rain tires. On lap 20, Häkkinen caught a Union Jack flag and nearly clogged one of the side radiators. Herbert, who did not switch to rain tires, turned into the gravel trap on lap 28. He was able to continue with the help of the marshals, but had to give up shortly afterwards in the pits. On lap 38, Coulthard spun out with the intermediate tires and hit the wall at the Club corner when he tried to lap another driver. Just two laps later, the same thing happened to Barrichello as Coulthard.

Meanwhile, Häkkinen had increased his lead over Schumacher by around 50 seconds when he turned completely once on lap 44. He was able to continue the race but lost a ten second lead and damaged his front wing. When more drivers spun through the poor conditions, the safety car was sent out onto the track. On lap 50 the race was opened again with Häkkinen in front of Schumacher, but Häkkinen made a mistake on lap 52 and Schumacher was able to take the lead. Schumacher immediately pulled out a lead over Häkkinen.

However, two laps before the end, a stop-and-go penalty was pronounced against Michael Schumacher because he had lapped Alexander Wurz during the safety car phase. Schumacher had three laps to serve his sentence and did so on the last lap. However, as a result, he crossed the finish line in the pit lane before he reached his pit position. As a result, Schumacher won the race before he had properly served his sentence. There were complaints on both sides, Ferrari argued that the message of the punishment was handwritten only 31 minutes after the incident. This exceeded the normal deadline by six minutes and the handwritten message was not clearly worded. It was not clear whether a stop-and-go penalty would be imposed or whether Schumacher's racing time would be added to ten seconds at the end of the race. The latter was then imposed after the race; however, this was inadmissible as such a penalty could only be awarded in the event of an incident twelve laps before the end of the race. Now that this was also considered invalid, Schumacher's sentence was lifted and not pursued any further. McLaren protested that the sentence had not been properly carried out. The protest was rejected in the last instance by the FIA.

For Wurz, who finished fourth, this should be the last point placement of the year.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Winfield Williams	1	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams FW20	Mecachrome 3.0 V10	G
	2	Heinz-Harald Frentzen
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	3	Michael sSchumacher	Ferrari F300	Ferrari 3.0 V10	G
	4th	Eddie Irvine
Mild Seven Benetton Playlife	5	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton B198	Playlife 3.0 V10	B.
	6th	Alexander Wurz
West McLaren Mercedes	7th	David Coulthard	McLaren MP4 / 13	Mercedes-Benz 3.0 V10	B.
	8th	Mika Hakkinen
Benson & Hedges Jordan	9	Damon Hill	Jordan 197	Mugen-Honda 3.0 V10	G
	10	Ralf Schumacher
Gauloises cheers Peugeot	11	Olivier Panis	Cheers AP01	Peugeot 3.0 V10	B.
	12	Jarno Trulli
Red Bull Sauber Petronas	14th	Jean Alesi	Clean C17	Petronas 3.0 V10	G
	15th	Johnny Herbert
Danka Zepter Arrows	16	Pedro Diniz	Arrows A19	Arrows 3.0 V10	B.
	17th	Mika Salo
Stewart Ford	18th	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart SF2	Ford Zetec-R 3.0 V10	B.
	19th	Jos Verstappen
Tyrrell	20th	Ricardo Rosset	Tyrrell 026	Ford Zetec-R / 97 3.0 V10	G
	21st	Toranosuke Takagi
Fondmetal Minardi team	22nd	Shinji Nakano	Minardi M198	Ford Zetec-R / 97 3.0 V10	B.
	23	Esteban Tuero

classification

Qualifying

Item	driver	constructor	time	begin
01	Mika Hakkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	1: 23.271	01
02	Michael sSchumacher	Ferrari	1: 23.720	02
03	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams Mecachrome	1: 24.102	03
04th	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1: 24.310	04th
05	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	1: 24.436	05
06th	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams Mecachrome	1: 24.442	06th
07th	Damon Hill	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	1: 24.542	07th
08th	Jean Alesi	Clean Petronas	1: 25.081	08th
09	Johnny Herbert	Clean Petronas	1: 25.084	09
10	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton Playlife	1: 25.654	10
11	Alexander Wurz	Benetton Playlife	1: 25.760	11
12	Pedro Diniz	Arrows	1: 26.376	12
13	Mika Salo	Arrows	1: 26.487	13
14th	Jarno Trulli	Cheers Peugeot	1: 26.808	14th
15th	Jos Verstappen	Stewart-Ford	1: 26.948	15th
16	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	1: 26.990	16
17th	Toranosuke Takagi	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 27.061	17th
18th	Esteban Tuero	Minardi-Ford	1: 28.051	18th
19th	Shinji Nakano	Minardi-Ford	1: 28.123	19th
20th	Ricardo Rosset	Tyrrell-Ford	1: 28.608	20th
107 percent time : 1: 29.100 min (based on the best time of 1: 23.271 min)
21st	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	-	21st
22nd	Olivier Panis	Cheers Peugeot	-	22nd

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap
01	Michael sSchumacher	Ferrari	60	2	1: 47: 02.450	02	1: 35.704
02	Mika Hakkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	60	2	+ 22.465	01	1: 35.961
03	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	60	2	+ 29.199	05	1: 36.530
04th	Alexander Wurz	Benetton Playlife	59	2	+ 1 lap	11	1: 37.982
05	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton Playlife	59	2	+ 1 lap	10	1: 38.424
06th	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	59	3	+ 1 lap	21st	1: 37.389
07th	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams Mecachrome	59	3	+ 1 lap	03	1: 37.199
08th	Shinji Nakano	Minardi-Ford	58	1	+ 2 rounds	19th	1: 43.755
09	Toranosuke Takagi	Tyrrell-Ford	56	2	+ 4 rounds	17th	1: 41.629
-	Jean Alesi	Clean Petronas	53	2	DNF	08th	1: 37.202
-	Pedro Diniz	Arrows	45	2	DNF	12	1: 37.887
-	Olivier Panis	Cheers Peugeot	40	1	DNF	22nd	1: 42.346
-	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	39	1	DNF	16	1: 40.097
-	Jos Verstappen	Stewart-Ford	38	1	DNF	15th	1: 41.114
-	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	37	1	DNF	04th	1: 36.120
-	Jarno Trulli	Cheers Peugeot	37	1	DNF	14th	1: 44.083
-	Ricardo Rosset	Tyrrell-Ford	29	1	DNF	20th	1: 40.948
-	Esteban Tuero	Minardi-Ford	29	-	DNF	18th	1: 44.700
-	Johnny Herbert	Clean Petronas	27	-	DNF	09	1: 37.343
-	Mika Salo	Arrows	27	1	DNF	13	1: 38.160
-	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams Mecachrome	15th	-	DNF	06th	1: 36.884
-	Damon Hill	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	13	-	DNF	07th	1: 37.223

World Cup stands after the race

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Mika Hakkinen McLaren-Mercedes 56 02  Michael sSchumacher Ferrari 54 03  David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 30th 04th  Eddie Irvine Ferrari 29 05  Alexander Wurz Benetton Playlife 17th 06th  Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton Playlife 15th 07th  Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Renault 11 08th  Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams Mecachrome 8th 09  Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 4th 10  Jean Alesi Clean Petronas 3 10  Mika Salo Arrows 3 12  Johnny Herbert Clean Petronas 1

Item driver constructor Points 12  Pedro Diniz Arrows 1 12  Jan Magnussen Stewart-Ford 1 12  Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Mugen-Honda 1 -  Damon Hill Jordan-Mugen-Honda 0 -  Olivier Panis Cheers Peugeot 0 -  Jarno Trulli Cheers Peugeot 0 -  Ricardo Rosset Tyrrell-Ford 0 -  Esteban Tuero Minardi-Ford 0 -  Shinji Nakano Minardi-Ford 0 -  Toranosuke Takagi Tyrrell-Ford 0 -  Jos Verstappen Stewart-Ford 0

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  McLaren-Mercedes 86 02  Ferrari 83 03  Benetton Playlife 32 04th  Williams Mecachrome 19th 05  Stewart-Ford 5 06th  Clean Petronas 4th

Item constructor Points 06th  Arrows 4th 07th  Jordan-Mugen-Honda 1 -  Tyrrell-Ford 0 -  Cheers Peugeot 0 -  Minardi-Ford 0

Individual evidence

1. ^ Motorsportarchiv.de Friday training Great Britain 1998 ( Memento from October 29, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ motorsport-magazin.com Friday training Great Britain 1998
3. ↑ motorsportarchiv.de Saturday training Great Britain 1998 ( Memento from October 29, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ motorsport-magazin.com Saturday training Great Britain 1998
5. ↑ motorsportarchiv.de Qualifying Great Britain 1998 ( Memento from November 7, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
6. ↑ motorsport-magazin.com Qualifying Great Britain 1998
7. ^ Motorsportarchiv.de Warm-Up Great Britain 1998 ( Memento from October 29, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
8. ↑ motorsport-magazin.com Warm-Up Great Britain 1998
9. ^ Motorsportarchiv.de Race Great Britain 1998 ( Memento from November 7th 2005 in the Internet Archive )
10. ↑ motorsport-magazin.com Race Great Britain 1998

Web links

Commons : 1998 British Grand Prix  - Collection of images, videos and audio files