Sunday October 31st, 1999

Benetton End a Difficult Year
Benetton Press Release

Alexander Wurz finished in 10th position and Giancarlo Fisichella retired 5 laps from the end of the race due to a lubrication problem, but was classified 14th. The Mild Seven Benetton Playlife team finished the championship in 6th position. In the drivers' championship Fisichella was 9th and Wurz 13th. All in all, this was a tough year for Benetton.

Alexander Wurz: "I didn't do a great start but then I overtook a couple of cars on the outside. My first set of tyres were really good and I could follow the speed of Villeneuve and the Stewarts. But then my second and third set were not and the car was very difficult to drive as it had very low grip."

Giancarlo Fisichella: "I made a mistake at the start and my anti-stall came in, so I lost a few places. Then I went off and damaged the barge board and that made the car extremely difficult to drive for the rest of the race. At the end I was forced to stop because of a problem with the oil system."

Rocco Benetton: "It has been a very difficult race and the culmination of a hard weekend for us. In fact, the whole season has been difficult as the competition has been extremely high. We are happy that we can now turn the page determined to increase our competitivity next season. Congratulations to Hakkinen for winning the driver's championship and to Ferrari for winning the constructor's championship."