Two weeks after walking away from a 175 kmph brain jarring crash in the Canadian Grand Prix, Heinz Harald Frentzen scored a superb victory for his Jordan team whose one-stop race strategy, compared with his rivals' two, put the German ahead when it counted for his second Grand Prix win of his career.
Thanks to the unpredictable summer weather, which upset the grid positions in qualifying and then brought the safety car out for 11 laps in the middle of the race, it was the best French Grand Prix we have even seen at the Magny Cours track and the best Grand Prix excitement for years.
It had the crowd on the edge of their seats for almost the entire 72 laps, the rain adding to the spectacle and not detracting from it.
"When I made a pitstop or wet tyres and it took a long time I realised that the team had probably decided to go for a one stop race strategy," explained Frentzen. "I have to say at the time I was pretty angry because when I went back out and the rain was at it's worse the car was very difficult to drive and aquaplaning badly. There was a period when I had to back off and save the fuel , but then at the end of the race I was able to push hard and pull away from Hakkinen for the lead," said Frentzen.
"I have to say the team did a fabulous job today and it was obviously te right decision even though it did not seem so at the time."
Mika Hakkinen, who led the race before making his second pitstop, might well have been able to hold on to his lead, but a spin at the hairpin as he tried to take the lead from long-time leader Rubens Barrichello dropped him back several places and cost him a lot more than the 11 seconds he trailed on Frentzen at he flag. Nonetheless, Hakkinen will be remembered no doubt as the driver who had made more passes for position than most drivers get to do in their entire career, having passed some 18 cars during the entire race. In fact, Barrichello may well be the only runner which Hakkinen did not manage to pass today!
"My spin was the deciding point for the race for me. Without that I would have had a good chance to win, but to finish second after starting from 14th on the grid and having a great race is not so bad," said Mika, who increases his lead in the World Championsh
ip standings to eight points.
For his teammate David Coulthard, who took the lead from Barrichello early in the race and seemed to be heading towards an easy win, it was another disappointing day. He rolled to a stop on lap 10 when an electrical fault caused the engine to die.
Michael Schumacher was another driver to lead this race, the Ferrari driver leading laps 44 to 54 until he too made a second stop, although he had other problems in the race.
"I lost eight seconds when the gear-change would not work properly. We changed the steering wheel at my pit stop and I had no more problems, but then I was troubled by a problem with the power steering," explained Michael.
He ended the race in a wheel to wheel battle with his own brother Ralf Schumacher and his teammate, Eddie Irvine, who had a superb run from 17th on the grid at the start.
Ralf did his brother no favours, however, and slipped past for fourth place two laps from the flag. Eddie Irvine was also threatening, but stayed behind to claim the final point for Ferrari.
Despite the use of the safety car, the atrocious conditions just before the middle of the race saw four cars aquaplane off the track including French hero Jean Alesi, who had been in third place until he spun off. He was joined in quick succession by Jacques Villeneuve, Alexander Wurz, Marc Gene and Alex Zanardi, while Damon Hill also went off before retiring for good with an engine problem.
French GP Race Facts:
At the start Rubens Barrichello takes the lead with Jean Alesi and David Coulthard in hot pursuit. Olivier Panis has a more difficult time and is passed on the first lap by Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Michael Schumacher. The Ferrari driver tries to overtake Frentzen but Heinz-Harald holds off the challenge. During the first lap Hakkinen scrambles from 14th to ninth position.
On the second lap Coulthard passes Alesi to take second place and begins to chase after Barrichello. He takes the lead at Adelaide Corner on lap six and sets a string of fastest laps to build up a lead of 7.6secs by lap nine. Suddenly his McLaren falters and David pulls off with a suspected gearbox failure. This leaves Barrichello in the lead again with a four second advantage over Alesi. Further back Johnny Herbert disappears with gearbox trouble, while Hakkinen continues his charge, moving up to sixth place on lap five and fourth on the same lap as Coulthard goes out after a lively battle with Michael Schumacher. Mika then chases after Frentzen and gets ahead on lap 15. He then catches Alesi and passes the Frenchman when both run wide at the Adelaide hairpin on lap 19.
Rain clouds move in from the south and there is a downpour as the leaders begin lap 21. The bottom half ot he field pits immediately but the frontrunners have to complete another lap before they can get to the pits. Barrichello emerges ahead of Hakkinen, Alesi, Frentzen, Michael Schumacher and Panis. At the same time Damon Hill goes off and has a puncture. He rejoins a lap down but later retires. Giancarlo Fisichella also has a spin as the rain intensifies. On lap 25 Alesi spins out and is forced to retire. The Race Director decides to send out a Safety Car and it picks up the leaders at the end of lap 25 and for the next 10 laps the field runs under caution. While the field catches up with the queue behind the Safety Car Jacques Villeneuve, Alexander Wurz and Marc Gene all aquaplane off and retire.
The race restarts at the beginning of lap 36 but conditions are still treacherous and it is several laps before the first moves amongst the frontrunners. On lap 38 Hakkinen tries to take the lead at the Adelaide hairpin but spins and drops to seventh place. This puts Frentzen second but almost immediately he is passed by Michael Schumacher. The Ferrari driver then closes the gap on Barrichello and after a great battle, during which they exchange the lead in the Adelaide Hairpin, he gets ahead on lap 44. He then begins to build up a lead. Barrichello finds himself at the head of a queue of cars consisting of Frentzen, Panis, Ralf Schumacher and Eddie Irvine - the latter two having climbed through the field from their low grid positions.
Michael Schumacher build s up a seven second lead but on lap 50 he suddenly loses a lot of time - probably from an electronic problem. He manages to stay ahead of Barrichello and begins to build a new lead but on lap 54 he comes into the pits for fuel and a change of steering wheel (to try to cure the electronic problem), leaving Barrichello in the lead. Also pitting for fuel are Ralf Schumacher and Irvine. While this is happening Hakkinen forces his way past the two Prosts. He challenges Frentzen for second on lap 57 and then chases after Barrichello. Mika passes the Stewart driver for the lead on lap 60.
Both Prosts stop and drop out of the top six while Frentzen runs into trouble on lap 60 with his gearbox and loses a lot of time to Barrichello. Rubens and Hakkinen still have to pit, however, and when they stop on lap 65, Frentzen takes the lead. It looks as though he will have to stop as well but it becomes clear that the Jordan engineers have taken a risk on a heavy fuel load at the first stop and he is able to stay ahead to win Jordan's second victory. Hakkinen finishes second after a remarkable race while Barrichello is third. Michael Schumacher struggles with his tyres in the closing laps and is passed three laps from home by his brother Ralf, who gives Williams a good fourth place from 16th on the grid. Michael Schumacher and Irvine give Ferrari fifth and sixth, while the two Prosts finish seventh and eighth, Trulli beating Panis to the line. The only other finisher on the same lap as the leaders is BAR's Ricardo Zonta.
Race Results:
French Grand Prix
World Championship of Drivers, round 7;
Circuit Magny Cours, June 27th, 1999;
72 laps, 305,814 kms.
Weather: Dry to Heavy Rain;
Temperature: Air 20-16°C Track 19-16°C
CLASSIFIED
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda 1h58:24.343
2. Hakkinen Mclaren Mercedes + 5.000
3. Barrichello Stewart Ford + 34.500
4. R.Schumacher Williams Supertec + 40.700
5. M.Schumacher Ferrari + 42.000
6. Irvine Ferrari + 42.500
7. Trulli Prost Peugeot + 52.700
8. Panis Prost Peugeot + 55.000
9. Zonta BAR Supertec + 1:03.800
10. Badoer Minardi Ford + 1 Lap
11. Takagi Arrows TWR + 1 Lap
12. de la Rosa Arrows TWR + 1 Lap
NOT CLASSIFIED / RETIREMENTS
Driver Team On Lap Reason
Fisichella Benetton Playlife 42 spun off
Hill Jordan Mugen-Honda 31 retired
Zanardi Williams Supertec 26 spun off
Villeneuve Bar Supertec 25 spun off
Wurz Benetton Playlife 25 spun off.
Gene Minardi Ford 25 spun off
Alesi Sauber Petronas 24 spun off
Coulthard Mclaren Mercedes 9 electrical
Diniz Sauber Petronas 6 transmission
Herbert Stewart Ford 4 gearbox
Fastest Lap: David Coulthard, 1:19.227, (193.115 kmph), lap 8
Lap Leaders: Lap 1- 5, Barrichello;
Lap 6- 9, Coulthard;
Lap 10-43, Barrichello;
Lap 44-54, Schumacher;
Lap 55-59, Barrichello;
Lap 60-65, Hakkinen;
Lap 66-72, Frentzen
Drivers Points Standings after 7 rounds:
1. Hakkinen 40 2. M.Schumacher 32
3. Irvine 26 4. Frentzen 23
5. R.Schumacher 15 6. Fisichella 13
7. Coulthard 12 8. Barrichello 10
9. Hill 3 10. Herbert 2
11. de la Rose 1 = Alesi 1
= Panis 1 = Wurz 1
= Trulli 1 = Diniz 1
Constructors' Points Championship:
1. Scuderia Ferrari 58
2. McLaren-Mercedes 52
3. Jordan-Mugen Honda 26
4. Williams-Supertec 15
5. Benetton-Playlife 14
6. Stewart-Ford 12
7 Prost Peugeot 2
= Sauber-Petronas 2
9. Arrows TWR 1
All Timing Unofficial