1999 Spanish Grand Prix

1999 Spanish Grand Prix
Race 5 of 16 in the 1999 Formula One World Championship
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Circuit de Catalunya (last modified in 1997)
Circuit de Catalunya (last modified in 1997)
Race details
Date 30 May 1999
Official name XLI Gran Premio Marlboro de España
Location Circuit de Catalunya, Montmeló, Catalonia, Spain[1]
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.728 km (2.938 miles)
Distance 65 laps, 307.196 km (190.833 miles)
Weather Cloudy, hot, dry 22 °C (72 °F)[2]
Attendance 81,000
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Mercedes
Time 1:22.088
Fastest lap
Driver Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari
Time 1:24.982 on lap 29
Podium
First McLaren-Mercedes
Second McLaren-Mercedes
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1999 Spanish Grand Prix[3] was a Formula One motor race held on 30 May 1999 at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain. It was the fifth race of the 1999 Formula One season. The 65-lap race was won from pole position by Mika Häkkinen, driving a McLaren-Mercedes, with team-mate David Coulthard second and Michael Schumacher third in a Ferrari.

Report

Race

Mika Häkkinen, starting on pole for the fifth time in 1999, got off the line quickly and began building a gap between him and second place. David Coulthard and Jacques Villeneuve, starting third and sixth respectively, had great starts and were able to take second and third place by the first corner. Eddie Irvine, starting second, had a poor start and fell to fifth place after being passed by Coulthard, Villeneuve, and then in the second corner, his teammate Michael Schumacher. Olivier Panis and Marc Gené failed to start, with Gené retiring and Panis able to continue on in last place.[4]

The McLaren duo of Häkkinen and Coulthard began building up a substantial gap, with the Ferraris being held up by Villeneuve.[5] Eddie Irvine, on lap 23, became the first of the front runners to pit. Mika Häkkinen came in the next lap, and had built up such a lead that he only fell to second place. Villeneuve and Schumacher both stopped simultaneously, but Villeneuve's stop was longer and Schumacher was able to pass Villeneuve in the pits. Irvine was also able to capitalize on Villeneuve's slow stop to pass him.[4]

After pitting, Michael Schumacher was initially caught behind Heinz-Harald Frentzen, but once past, he began the task of chasing down David Coulthard, fourteen seconds ahead. Schumacher closed to within a second of Coulthard on lap 41, but he pitted the next lap without making an attempt to pass. Mika Häkkinen pitted the lap after Schumacher, and Coulthard pitted on lap 45. Coulthard's stop was slightly faster that Schumacher's, and came out just ahead of Schumacher. Schumacher was able to close up behind Coulthard on cold tires, but was unable to pass Coulthard. Once Coulthard's tires warmed up, he was able to pull away from Schumacher.[4]

Jacques Villeneuve pitted on lap 40, suffering from a broken rear wing element. The mechanics pulled the broken element off the wing, but first gear broke when Villeneuve tried to leave his pit box, and he retired.[4]

Michael Schumacher made another late charge on David Coulthard as the two battled through the lap traffic of Damon Hill, Rubens Barrichello, and Toranosuke Takagi. Schumacher ran out of time, however, and finished the race in third place behind Coulthard. Mika Häkkinen won the race by over six seconds, marking the first time that both McLarens finished a race in 1999.[3] Only one on-track overtaking manoeuvre was reported.[6]

Classification

Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Lap Gap
1 1 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.088
2 4 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:22.219 +0.131
3 2 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.244 +0.156
4 3 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:22.277 +0.189
5 11 France Jean Alesi Sauber-Petronas 1:22.388 +0.300
6 22 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Supertec 1:22.703 +0.615
7 16 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 1:22.920 +0.832
8 8 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Mugen-Honda 1:22.938 +0.850
9 19 Italy Jarno Trulli Prost-Peugeot 1:23.194 +1.106
10 6 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-Supertec 1:23.303 +1.215
11 7 United Kingdom Damon Hill Jordan-Mugen-Honda 1:23.317 +1.229
12 12 Brazil Pedro Diniz Sauber-Petronas 1:23.331 +1.243
13 9 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Playlife 1:23.333 +1.245
14 17 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Stewart-Ford 1:23.505 +1.417
15 18 France Olivier Panis Prost-Peugeot 1:23.559 +1.471
16 23 Finland Mika Salo BAR-Supertec 1:23.683 +1.595
17 5 Italy Alessandro Zanardi Williams-Supertec 1:23.703 +1.615
18 10 Austria Alexander Wurz Benetton-Playlife 1:23.824 +1.736
19 14 Spain Pedro de la Rosa Arrows 1:24.619 +2.531
20 15 Japan Toranosuke Takagi Arrows 1:25.280 +3.192
21 21 Spain Marc Gené Minardi-Ford 1:25.672 +3.584
22 20 Italy Luca Badoer Minardi-Ford 1:25.833 +3.745
107% time: 1:27.834
Source:[7]

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 65 1:34:13.665 1 10
2 2 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 65 + 6.238 3 6
3 3 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 65 + 10.845 4 4
4 4 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Ferrari 65 + 30.182 2 3
5 6 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-Supertec 65 + 1:27.208 10 2
6 19 Italy Jarno Trulli Prost-Peugeot 64 + 1 Lap 9 1
7 7 United Kingdom Damon Hill Jordan-Mugen-Honda 64 + 1 Lap 11  
8 23 Finland Mika Salo BAR-Supertec 64 + 1 Lap 16  
9 9 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Playlife 64 + 1 Lap 13  
10 10 Austria Alexander Wurz Benetton-Playlife 64 + 1 Lap 18  
11 14 Spain Pedro de la Rosa Arrows 63 + 2 Laps 19  
12 15 Japan Toranosuke Takagi Arrows 62 + 3 Laps 20  
Ret 20 Italy Luca Badoer Minardi-Ford 50 Spun Off 22  
Ret 22 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Supertec 40 Gearbox 6  
Ret 12 Brazil Pedro Diniz Sauber-Petronas 40 Transmission 12  
Ret 17 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Stewart-Ford 40 Transmission 14  
Ret 8 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Mugen-Honda 35 Halfshaft 8  
Ret 11 France Jean Alesi Sauber-Petronas 27 Transmission 5  
Ret 5 Italy Alessandro Zanardi Williams-Supertec 24 Gearbox 17  
Ret 18 France Olivier Panis Prost-Peugeot 24 Gearbox 15  
Ret 21 Spain Marc Gené Minardi-Ford 0 Gearbox 21  
DSQ 16 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 64 Illegal Undertray Mounting 7  
Sources:[3][8]

Championship standings after the race

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

  1. ^ "1999 Spanish Grand Prix". Motor Sport. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
  2. ^ Weather info for the 1999 Spanish Grand Prix at Weather Underground
  3. ^ a b c "1999 Spanish Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d "Grand Prix of Spain Review". Autosport. 30 May 1999. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
  5. ^ "Spanish GP, 1999 Race Report". grandprix.com. 30 May 1999. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
  6. ^ "Circuit de Catalunya: Most Boring Track Ever?". f1rejects.com. 2008. Archived from the original on 22 March 2013. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
  7. ^ "1999 Spanish GP". chicanef1.com. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
  8. ^ "1999 Spanish GP". chicanef1.com. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
  9. ^ a b "Spain 1999 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.


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2000 Spanish Grand Prix