Sunday January 16th, 2000

Mika Hakkinen, Ferrari's Jean Todt and Tommi Makinen were the stars of last night's FIA prize-giving at the Monte Carlo Sporting Club in Monaco. In front of some 500 guests, including Prince Albert of Monaco, the governing body of motor sport presented its prizes for 1999 at a glittering star-studded gala dinner, with all the principal winners present.

The prizes were awarded by FIA president Max Mosley and the deputy president of FIA sport, Marco Piccinini, and they included a special mention for the remarkable achievements of Middle East Rally champion Mohammed Bin Sulayem and his co-driver, Ron Morgan. The United Arab Emirates driver has won more than 50 FIA-sanctioned events and won the Middle East Rally championship for a remarkable eleventh time, nine times with his Irish co-driver.

But the really big cheers were for the World Champions. First of all came Tommi Makinen and his co-driver Risto Mannisenmaki. The Finish driver was collecting an unprecedented fourth consecutive World Championship award, just days before his 2000 World Championship campaign begins in the Principality.

Next came awards for the 1999 Formula One World Championship. Eddie Irvine flew in from testing for Jaguar at Jerez to collect his award for finish second in the World Championship for Ferrari, but the big cheer was for the two World Champions, Ferrari and Mika Hakkinen, as their respective cars were lowered from the ceiling.

After spending time at Wroom 2000 at Madonna di Campiglio, Jean Todt had spent just two hours at his office at Maranello before flying to Monaco for the awards ceremony, collecting the FIA Formula One Constructors championship on behalf of Ferrari, the ninth time that the Italian team has won the series. Then it was Mika Hakkinen's turn, winning the drivers series for the second time in succession.

Earlier in the evening, there had been awards to four recipients who are only announced on the night. Three of these were Bernie Ecclestone's prizes and the first was the Promotor's Trophy which is awarded to the Promotor who has proved the most helpful to Formula One teams in the most difficult conditions. The winner of this was Sepang, represented by its chairman, Tan Sri Basir Ismail.

The second was the Television Trophy which was awarded to the host broadcaster voted by all other host broadcasters as having produced the best coverage of an event during the FIA Formula One World Championship season. This was won by ITV from Great Britain, represented by Controller of Sport, Brian Barwick.

The Bernie Ecclestone Trophy is awarded to the president of the National Sporting Authority whose drivers collectively scored the highest number of points in the World Championship, and this was won by the Royal Automobile Club Motor Sport Association of Great Britain, for whom David Coulthard, Eddie Irvine, Johnny Herbert and Damon Hill scored points. John Quenby, chief executive officer of the MSA collected the award.

Finally, there was a special award made to former FIA president Jean Marie Balestre for his 50 years service to motor sport.

Among those present at the awards ceremony were former World Champions Jody Scheckter, Ari Vatanen, Nelson Piquet, Jackie Stewart and Didier Auriol.