1998 Italian Grand Prix

1998 Italian Grand Prix
Race 14 of 16 in the 1998 Formula One World Championship
Autodromo Nazionale di Monza (last modified in 1995)
Race details
Date	13 September 1998
Official name	LIX Gran Premio Campari d'Italia
Location	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza, Italy
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.770 km (3.585 mi)
Distance	53 laps, 305.810 km (190.022 mi)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Time	1:25.298
Fastest lap
Driver	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:25.139 on lap 45
Podium
First	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Second	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari
Third	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan-Mugen-Honda
Lap leaders

The 1998 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 13 September 1998. The race was won by Michael Schumacher. This was also the last win for tyre manufacturer Goodyear in Formula One.

It was a dramatic race, Häkkinen got a blinding start pushing his way past Eddie Irvine and Michael Schumacher on the front row, at same time it was a dreadful start for Schumacher who fell down to 5th, soon after he passed Villeneuve for 4th then Irvine for 3rd.

Häkkinen was struggling with a developing brake issue soon after and he waved his teammate Coulthard through, but soon after Coulthard's engine blew and seconds later Schumacher, who had caught Häkkinen, passed the Finn when Häkkinen had adjusted his brake bias forwards to cope with the brake problem and ran wide due to the smoke from Coulthard's engine.

Villeneuve running very low downforce soon spun out of the race, and Häkkinen started catching Schumacher again. Häkkinen was just three seconds behind with a handful of laps remaining, but then his rear brakes failed, sending him into a wild spin at the Roggia chicane. He was able to keep his engine running and kept going, but at the beginning of the next lap he went off again at the first Rettifilo chicane, and Irvine reeled him in and took 2nd off him. Soon after Ralf Schumacher caught and over took Häkkinen who was able to limp home in 4th.

It was a jubilant scene for the Italian crowd as Michael Schumacher came home first and his Ferrari teammate Eddie Irvine took second with Ralf Schumacher third, meaning the Jordan team had finished on all three podium places in two races.

Michael Schumacher was now level on points with Mika Häkkinen going into the Nürburgring, the penultimate round, though Häkkinen still led the championship on countback.

This race was Scuderia Ferrari's 600th start in a World Championship event as a team.^[1]

Classification[]

Qualifying[]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	3	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:25.289
2	1	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Mecachrome	1:25.561	+0.272
3	8	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:25.679	+0.390
4	7	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:25.987	+0.698
5	4	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	1:26.159	+0.870
6	10	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	1:26.309	+1.020
7	6	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Playlife	1:26.567	+1.278
8	14	Jean Alesi	Sauber-Petronas	1:26.637	+1.348
9	11	Olivier Panis	Prost-Peugeot	1:26.681	+1.392
10	12	Jarno Trulli	Prost-Peugeot	1:26.794	+1.505
11	5	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Playlife	1:26.817	+1.528
12	2	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Mecachrome	1:26.836	+1.547
13	18	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	1:27.247	+1.958
14	9	Damon Hill	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	1:27.362	+2.073
15	15	Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Petronas	1:27.510	+2.221
16	17	Mika Salo	Arrows	1:27.744	+2.455
17	19	Jos Verstappen	Stewart-Ford	1:28.212	+2.923
18	20	Ricardo Rosset	Tyrrell-Ford	1:28.286	+2.997
19	21	Toranosuke Takagi	Tyrrell-Ford	1:28.346	+3.057
20	16	Pedro Diniz	Arrows	1:28.387	+3.098
21	22	Shinji Nakano	Minardi-Ford	1:29.101	+3.812
22	23	Esteban Tuero	Minardi-Ford	1:29.417	+4.128
107% time: 1:31.259
Source:[2]

Race[]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	3	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	53	1:17:09.672	1	10
2	4	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	53	+37.977	5	6
3	10	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	53	+41.152	6	4
4	8	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+55.671	3	3
5	14	Jean Alesi	Sauber-Petronas	53	+1:01.872	8	2
6	9	Damon Hill	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	53	+1:06.688	14	1
7	2	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Mecachrome	52	+1 Lap	12
8	5	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Playlife	52	+1 Lap	11
9	21	Toranosuke Takagi	Tyrrell-Ford	52	+1 Lap	19
10	18	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	52	+1 Lap	13
11	23	Esteban Tuero	Minardi-Ford	51	+2 Laps	22
12	20	Ricardo Rosset	Tyrrell-Ford	51	+2 Laps	18
13	12	Jarno Trulli	Prost-Peugeot	50	+3 Laps	10
Ret	19	Jos Verstappen	Stewart-Ford	39	Gearbox	17
Ret	1	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Mecachrome	37	Spun off	2
Ret	17	Mika Salo	Arrows	32	Throttle	16
Ret	6	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Playlife	24	Gearbox	7
Ret	7	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	16	Engine	4
Ret	11	Olivier Panis	Prost-Peugeot	15	Vibrations	9
Ret	22	Shinji Nakano	Minardi-Ford	13	Engine	21
Ret	15	Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Petronas	12	Spun off	15
Ret	16	Pedro Diniz	Arrows	10	Spun off	20
Source:[3]

Championship standings after the race[]

• Bold text indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mika Häkkinen 80 2 Michael Schumacher 80 3 David Coulthard 48 4 Eddie Irvine 38 5 Jacques Villeneuve 20 Source: [4]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Mercedes 128 2 Ferrari 118 3 Williams-Mecachrome 33 4 Benetton-Playlife 32 5 Jordan-Mugen-Honda 31 Source: [4]

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

References[]

External links[]

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