Prior to the Austrian Grand Prix, many were predicting the beginning of the end for McLaren. Typically, the team had not slacked off and found their feet again at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Before the race

Qualifying never really looked like it was going to be down to talent alone, timing was always going to be a big part of it. In the end Giancarlo Fisichella was the last man to cross the line, taking his first pole position and the first for Benetton since Monza 1997. The second to last car to cross the line was the Sauber of Jean Alesi and the Frenchman netted 2nd place on the grid, his best performance for the team and Sauber's best qualifying position ever.

Both Rubens Barrichello and Mika Salo revelled in the conditions that meant their respective engine handicaps were less important and lined up 5th and 6th respectively. Both drivers, like Giancarlo Fisichella, were hoping for a wet Sunday so that they would stand a chance in the race.

The shocks of the day were David Coulthard, Damon Hill, Alex Wurz and Johnny Herbert, all of whom qualified badly primarily down to the poor timing of their respective final runs.

The race

While qualifying had been soaking wet, by contrast, when the time for the race arrived, the A-1 Ring was bathed in brilliant sunshine, dashing the hopes of several drivers for whom rain was the best chance of a good result.

As the lights went out, both Jean Alesi and Giancarlo Fisichella made sluggish starts, allowing Mika Hakkinen to take the lead well before the first corner. Michael Schumacher was another good starter, getting ahead of Alesi before turn one. Mika Salo also made an appalling start, losing 3 places by the time the Arrows was out of the first corner.

Further down the grid, Olivier Panis had stalled, causing the cars behind to take avoiding action, and surprisingly there were no collisions at that time.

Sadly as is usual at the A-1 Ring, there was a coming together at the first corner. Tora Takagi lost the back of his car under braking and bumped into Jarno Trulli. The Prost driver was able to carry on after correcting the steering a little, but Takagi wasn't done yet. He cannoned backwards into Esteban Tuero's Minardi and knocked the rear wing off his Tyrrell. Johnny Herbert took to the gravel trap in avoidance and Shinji Nakano stopped his Minardi in order to avoid hitting his team mate. Luckily Takagi was the only retirement caused by the incident but more trouble was awaiting at turn 2.

The front runners got through the corner without difficulty but yet again someone was about to become the victim of someone forgetting where to brake. This time the miscreant was Pedro Diniz who missed his braking point and cannoned into his team mate Mika Salo who was spun around. David Coulthard spun his McLaren avoiding the Finn and several other drivers drove onto the grass to avoid the melee.

In recovering from his spin, Mika Salo hit the front wing of David Coulthard, destroying it and his suspension at the same time. Diniz, Salo and Coulthard would all limp around to the pits but for Salo one lap was to be the extent of his Austrian Grand Prix as it transpired that the suspension on the Arrows was irretrievably damaged. Salo was not alone though, as the accident damage would cause Pedro Diniz to retire shortly afterwards, having done another lap.

Inevitably, with so many cars either stuck on track or crawling back to the pits, the safety car was called out to keep the marshals out of danger. This also enabled David Coulthard to get his new front wing fitted without losing too much ground on the leaders and ultimately was responsible for his final position.

At the start of lap 3 the race was able to get underway again, and immediately Michael Schumacher was trying to pass the McLaren driven by Mika Hakkinen. The German driver had sacrificed cornering speed for straight-line speed and although he was faster down the straights was unable to stop as fast or get as much drive out of the bends.

Lap 4 saw the Finn come under great pressure from the chasing Ferrari and in the run up to the Remus Kurve (turn 2), Schumacher was able to draw alongside the McLaren. Hakkinen had intelligently taken the inside line and was able to keep the German driver behind. This tighter line into the corner meant that both cars were doing almost the same speed on the exit and thus Mika would have to fight for the Gosser Kurve as well.

In the approach to the tight right-hand bend, Hakkinen once again took the inside line, forcing Schumacher to do all the work if he wanted to overtake. This had the required result as the Ferrari locked its wheels and slid wide, letting the McLaren get away. To make matters worse, the chasing pair of Giancarlo Fisichella and Rubens Barrichello attempted to get past as well, although Schumacher was able to retake his line before the Stewart was able to get through, limiting the damage to 1 position.

Back at the Remus Kurve a lap later, Schumacher retook 2nd place from the Benetton driver and set about closing on Hakkinen again.

Behind the two leaders, Fisichella was now building a comfortable lead over Rubens Barrichello. This was partially down to the Brazilian coming under pressure from Jean Alesi. Close behind Alesi, Eddie Irvine, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher and Damon Hill were all queued up with barely 0.5 seconds between each car. The main result of this was that although this bunch were faster than the chasing cars, with the exception of David Coulhard, they were slowing each other down and letting the leading trio get away.

At the end of lap 8, the queue shortened slightly when Rubens Barrichello pitted and eventually retired with a mechanical problem.

This meant, that on lap 9 the order of the top 10 was:
Hakkinen -> 0.500s -> M.Schumacher -> 1.800s -> Fisichella -> 7.100s -> Irvine -> 3.300s -> Alesi -> 0.400s -> Frentzen -> 0.600s -> R.Schumacher -> 0.400s -> Hill -> 3.200s -> Coulthard -> 2.100s -> Trulli

David Coulthard was now up to 9th, just a handful of laps after being almost at the very back of the field. Although the smaller teams had said that their cars would be less disadvantaged at the Austrian track, the class of the McLaren, and later the Ferrari, was still showing through and Coulthard had been making short work of anyone in his way.

Mika Hakkinen was by now getting into his stride and starting to edge away from the chasing Ferrari, setting fastest race lap almost every time around the circuit. Michael Schumacher was trying, however, and once he realised the McLaren was getting away he found a little more speed and steadied the gap at around 1 second while all the time pulling away from Fisichella.

By lap 14 David Coulthard had closed on Damon Hill and pulled alongside his former team mate in the run up to the Remus Kurve. As he had the inside line and a clearly superior car, Hill allowed the McLaren past without much of a struggle nor any of the blocking that has caused him so much trouble recently. While this will no doubt have pleased McLaren and Coulthard I can only imagine what the rest of the Jordan team must have thought.

Back at the front, Mika Hakkinen was still not getting any further away from Michael Schumacher, but the German driver was looking more ragged than the Finn was. Eventually Schumacher paid the price for pushing hard to catch a car clearly superior and ran wide on the way out of the Jochen Rindt Kurve, destroying his front wing and removing a "barge board" during his cross gravel excursion. To make matters worse, by the time he was back on track it was too late to enter the pits so he was obliged to nurse the damaged Ferrari around for another lap before the team could repair the wing.

Further back in the field, Heinz-Harald Frentzen was also suffering problems but somewhat more terminal than those afflicting his compatriot. As the Williams driver was driving down the straight approaching the Remus Kurve, the Mecachrome engine in the back exploded spectacularly, belching fire and clouds of oil and water vapour as it went.

As Mika Hakkinen was removed from immediate danger of being passed, David Coulthard was in the thick of things and in two laps disposed of both Ralf Schumacher and Jean Alesi, showing more aggression than either McLaren driver have exhibited so far this season.

With Schumacher having to pit, Frentzen out and Coulthard on a charge, this left the top 6 looking like this on lap 19:
Hakkinen->5.100s->Fisichella ->9.900s->Irvine->10.300s->Coulthard ->1.700s->Alesi->0.600s->R.Schumacher

Lap 19 also saw the start of the stops for the "two stoppers" when Damon Hill entered the Jordan pit for fresh rubber and fuel. The former World Champion was followed by Giancarlo Fisichella on lap 21 and Alex Wurz on lap 22.

As Fisichella emerged from the pits on the start of lap 22, Jean Alesi was just clearing the Castrol Kurve. Although Fisichella was moving slightly slower than Alesi, the two drivers battled side by side down the straight in the approach to the Remus Kurve. As the Benetton was on fresh, cold tyres, Fisichella had to brake earlier than Alesi and the Sauber appeared to have the corner.

The Benetton driver didn't seem to think this was the case, however, and went for the same bit of track as Alesi resulting in a collision that smashed the suspension of Giancarlo's car and spun the Sauber. For a moment it appeared that Jean would be able to carry on but in his eagerness to spin the car, the Frenchman stalled the Petronas engine and exited from the race in almost the same place as he did in 1997.

This meant that on lap 23 the top 10 looked like this:

Hakkinen -> 17.800s -> Irvine -> 6.100s -> Coulthard -> 8.300s -> R.Schumacher -> 15.100s -> Trulli -> 0.300s -> Villeneuve -> 6.900s -> Verstappen -> 0.400s -> Herbert -> 2.000s -> Hill -> 9.300s -> Nakano

It now seemed that there was every chance of a McLaren 1-2 despite the poor grid position of David Coulthard. Indeed, the Scot was now homing in on Eddie Irvine at the rate of 1 second per lap and there seemed to be little the Ferrari driver could do about it.

Lap 26 saw 4th placed Ralf Schumacher stop for the first time of the day, rejoining without even losing his position to Jarno Trulli, the Prost driver having been too far back to capitalise.

Ferrari team decided to call their number 2 driver in for his first stop on lap 28, removing their only real chance of stopping Coulthard's advance and thus their main chance of finishing second. Irvine got back on track in third place, some 20 seconds down on Coulthard as expected but well clear of 4th placed Ralf Schumacher. By this time Michael Schumacher was up to 9th position and setting about the task of passing Damon Hill.

On lap 32, Esteban Tuero span out of the race and the top 10 looked like this:
Hakkinen -> 20.900s -> Coulthard -> 27.700s -> Irvine -> 12.100s -> R.Schumacher -> 9.400s -> Trulli->0.200s -> Villeneuve -> 0.200s -> M.Schumacher -> 0.500s -> Herbert -> 1.300s -> Hill -> Nakano

With Eddie Irvine clearly slower than either McLaren and Michael Schumacher almost 50 seconds behind David Coulthard, it was starting to look like McLaren had this one sewn up well before half-distance.

Mika Hakkinen stopped for the first and only time of the race on lap 34, followed on lap 36 by his team mate. Predictably, after their stops they were still 1-2, separated by just over 15 seconds. More importantly, Eddie Irvine was still around 8 seconds back and Michael Schumacher down in 5th place.

All of a sudden, on lap 39, David Coulthard slowed dramatically and his lead over Eddie Irvine started to diminish, by around 1 second per lap.

Lap 42 saw Michael Schumacher stop for the second time, followed a lap later by his brother Ralf who had still been around 6 seconds ahead of his older sibling when the Ferrari had pitted.

Over the space of lap 45, Coulthard lost 3.8 seconds to Irvine and it looked like he might be on the verge of retiring. However, this seemed to wake him up and he started to pull away again, having lost a 9 second lead. Whether this was down to his tyres overheating and he was slowing to cool them or a brief excursion onto the dusty part of the track I cannot say, but he continued as before, apparently none the worse for whatever had ailed him.

Thus, on lap 46 the top 10 looked like this:
Hakkinen -> 20.100s -> Coulthard -> 1.000s -> Irvine -> 34.200s -> R.Schumacher -> 2.400s -> M.Schumacher -> 14.100s -> Villeneuve -> Wurz -> Hill -> Herbert -> Trulli

The biggest question of the moment was whether Ralf Schumacher would let his brother through without any problem or whether he would make the Ferrari driver fight for 4th place. Michael was closing on the Jordan at around 0.5 seconds per lap and with the best part of 26 laps left to run, there was little chance of Ralf keeping his brother at bay.

The answer, eventually, was yes. Michael closed the gap down and tried to pass in the run up to the Remus Kurve as usual, but Ralf moved onto the inside line and was not passed. The same happened at the Gosser Kurve and in the rest of the track, the Ferrari was unable to get close enough to the Jordan to pass.

On lap 51, Michael almost put the Ferrari onto the grass in his attempt to pass Ralf and dropped back by almost 2 seconds.

Lap 52 saw the Eddie Irvine pit for the second and final time but all eyes were either on the 4th place battle or the engine failure that Jos Verstappen had suffered on the run down to the Gosser Kurve.

This retirement mean that on lap 54 the top 10 looked like this:
Hakkinen ->15.800s -> Coulthard -> 24.600s -> Irvine -> 15.000s -> R.Schumacher -> 0.400s -> M.Schumacher -> 17.700s -> Villeneuve -> Hill -> Herbert -> Wurz -> Trulli

One lap later it was all over. Michael had slipped down the inside of Ralf at the Remus Kurve and was away into 4th place, chasing down Eddie Irvine who was almost 16 seconds ahead by this time. Initially this seemed a hard task for the German, but somewhat fortuitously, Irvine suddenly started to suffer brake problems.

What had been a gap of 15.8 seconds started to drop at 1 second per lap then became 1 second per sector and so it was not long before the Ferrari drivers were almost running in formation.

From there it became a simple matter for Schumacher to overtake his team mate on lap 68, gaining 3rd place and the maximum number of points that could be expected given the pace of the McLaren pair and his earlier off.

From here on in it was a quick run to the line, with everyone maintaining station and most of the top 6 running a comfortable distance apart.

For McLaren, the Austrian Grand Prix was a great way to bounce back from a string of Ferrari victories and a return to form for David Coulthard who had been looking lackluster in recent Grands Prix. Both Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard looked pleased with their respective performances in the race and justly so.

Undoubtedly, the "brake problems" Irvine suffered are little more than a convenient excuse to implement team orders even though they are currently prohibited under the FIA Sporting Regulations. It is doubtful that anyone can prove any wrong doing by the Scuderia but the faces of the McLaren drivers in the post-race press conference show how much anyone involved in the sport believe them. Personally I think team orders are as much a part of F1 as politics and champagne and should be permitted. If people want to bet on F1 this is something that they need to understand…

The Result (72 Lap Race)

CLASSIFIED                                                                    

POS DRIVER                NATION    TEAM                      TIME         LAP
  1 Mika Hakkinen         FIN       McLaren Mercedes          1:33:44.086  71 
  2 David Coulthard       GB        McLaren Mercedes           + 0:05.289  71 
  3 Michael Schumacher    GER       Ferrari                    + 0:39.093  71 
  4 Eddie Irvine          GB        Ferrari                    + 0:43.977  71 
  5 Ralf Schumacher       GER       Jordan Mugen-Honda         + 0:50.655  71 
  6 Jacques Villeneuve    CAN       Williams Mecachrome        + 0:53.202  71 
  7 Damon Hill            GB        Jordan Mugen-Honda         + 1:13.624  71 
  8 Johnny Herbert        GB        Sauber Petronas            + 1 LAP     70 
  9 Alexander Wurz        AUT       Benetton Playlife          + 1 LAP     70 
 10 Jarno Trulli          ITA       Prost Peugeot              + 1 LAP     70 
 11 Sinji Nakano          JAP       Minardi Ford               + 1 LAP     70 
 12 Ricardo Rosset        BRA       Tyrrell Ford               + 3 LAPS    68 
                                                                              
NOT CLASSIFIED                                                                
                                                                              
    DRIVER                NATION    TEAM                    REASON         LAP
    Jos Verstappen        HOL       Stewart Ford            Engine         51 
    Esteban Tuero         ARG       Minardi Ford            Spin           30 
    Giancarlo Fisichella  ITA       Benetton Playlife       Crash          21 
    Jean Alesi            FRA       Sauber Petronas         Crash          21 
    Heinz-Harald Frentzen GER       Williams Mecachrome     Engine         16 
    Rubens Barrichello    BRA       Stewart Ford            Mechanical      8 
    Pedro Diniz           BRA       Arrows TWR              Crash           3 
    Mika Salo             FIN       Arrows TWR              Crash           1 
    Olivier Panis         FRA       Prost Peugeot           Mechanical      0 
    Toranosuke Takagi     JAP       Tyrrell Ford            Crash           0 
                                                                              
FL  David Coulthard       GB        McLaren Mercedes             1:12.878     
                                                                              
                                                         

This article is dedicated to the memory of the race fans who lost their lives at last Sunday's U.S. 500 and the miners who died in the accident in Austria. Our thoughts are with their families.