French Grand Prix, June 1999

French Grand Prix, Magny-Cours, June 1999

It was an incredible race! Rubens Barrichello led for ages after David Coulthard retired again. Mika Hakkinen produced a storming drive through the field to almost get a nose in front only to lose it. Michael Schumacher took over supremacy as the rain came down. Mika Hakkinen clawed back up the field again, only for Heinz-Harald Frentzen to snatch victory at the death thanks to a canny piece of strategy by the Jordan team. The 1999 French Grand Prix in Magny-Cours will long be remembered in Formula 1 circles as a masterpiece.	All smiles from HHF
Things boded well as a rain lashed qualifying session produced an unpredictable grid and the promise of some overtaking action in the race itself. Rubens Barrichello in the Stewart-Ford and Jean Alesi in the Sauber read the conditions best and got in good early times to take the front two places on the grid before conditions worsened. Olivier Panis in the Prost was an unexpected third place in his home Grand Prix followed by David Coulthard's McLaren, Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Jordan and Michael Schumacher's Ferrari. Even more surprising were the lowly qualifying positions of Mika Hakkinen and Eddie Irvine, fourteenth in the McLaren and seventeenth in the Ferrari respectively. Race day was dry but with the expectation of rain to come. From the start Panis began to go backwards down the field as Coulthard passed him into the first corner, quickly followed by Frentzen and Schumacher, but otherwise grid positions held amongst the leaders. By the end of the first lap though Hakkinen was already up to ninth. On the second lap David Coulthard, out of Hakkinen's shadow for once, passed Alesi and began to close rapidly on Barrichello. Hakkinen was certainly making his own impression though, by lap 3 he was seventh and on lap 5 passed Panis to take sixth and began to close on arch-rival Schumacher. Coulthard's response was to pass Barrichello for the lead on lap 6 and open up a seven second gap by lap 9. The McLarens were in another league at this stage of the race, Hakkinen scrapping with Schumacher for several laps before overtaking nicely on lap 10. Then Coulthard's incredible bad luck struck again. Something on his car broke, possibly the alternator, and he was left a forlorn spectator to a race he had seemed certain to dominate. Barrichello inherited the lead again, followed by Alesi, Frentzen, Hakkinen, Schumacher and Panis. Hakkinen was still driving a storm, harassing Frentzen until he made a move stick on lap 15 and then outbreaking Alesi on lap 19, just avoiding a collision as both ran wide. However, on lap 22 it began to rain. Eddie Irvine in the second Ferrari, who had been making more modest progress through the field, was the first to pit for wet tyres but unfortunately caught his crew out and had to endure a 43 second pitstop as the correct tyres were located. The entire field pitted within a lap or two for a change of tyres but the rain became a deluge, too much for even the wets as the unfortunate Jean Alesi found as he span onto the gravel where he became beached. Within a lap the safety car was out, although this did not prevent several backmarkers spinning off as they attempted to close the field up and even the safety car looked out of shape on occasion. After a period of respite, the safety car withdrew on lap 36 although there was still plenty of spray about. Hakkinen resumed his assault on Barrichello, only to catch the white line on the inside of the track on lap 38, which was enough to spin the car and drop him back down to seventh. This left Frentzen in second followed by Schumacher and Panis. The retirements left Jarno Trulli in the second Prost in fifth and Ralf Schumacher in the Williams sixth, the latter making good progress through the field.
Frentzen rains on Schuey's Parade	The change of conditions suddenly seemed to favour Ferrari, set up in full wet mode as it transpired. Schumacher easily passed Frentzen on lap 39 and Eddie Irvine was now up to eighth. It also suited the younger Schumacher who passed Trulli for fifth shortly afterwards. On lap 42 Schumacher senior began a tussle with Barrichello for the lead, passing him briefly after coming from yards back at the chicane only to lose it again when he appeared to have trouble selecting gear.
The dogfight continued for another two laps until Schumacher finally made his superior braking count and took the lead on lap 44, disappearing in a cloud of spray into the distance. Meanwhile, Irvine had taken his transformed Ferrari past Hakkinen and shortly afterwards passed Trulli for sixth, with the rest of the pack seemingly lined up at his mercy before he made his second pitstop on lap 51. However, the track was now beginning to dry. Suddenly the McLaren seemed to be working again as Hakkinen passed Trulli and then Panis in quick succession. Meanwhile, Schumacher dropped an inexplicable ten seconds on lap 51, indicating that all was not well with the leader. On lap 55 he pitted and had a new steering wheel fitted, taking thirteen seconds and dropping to sixth in the process. Hakkinen continued his revival, passing Frentzen on lap 57 as the Jordan ran wide and then quickly closing on and passing Barrichello for the lead. By the time he and Barrichello made their second stops on lap 65, Frentzen was third, Schumacher senior had passed his brother for fourth but was some way back and Irvine had passed Panis for sixth. The twist in the tail of this enthralling contest then became apparent. Thanks to a masterful piece of strategy the Jordan team had loaded Frentzen with enough fuel to reach the finish without a second stop, given that the safety car period reduced fuel consumption. Heinz-Harald had been there or thereabouts all race, but when it mattered he found himself in front and cruised the last 7 laps to victory. Hakkinen took second, better than he might have expected from 14th on the grid although ultimately his spin on lap 38 probably denied him the spoils. Barrichello was a well-deserved third in the vastly improved Stewart-Ford. Schumacher Snr was struggling with his ailing Ferrari towards the end of the race and suffered the indignity of being re-passed by his younger brother, who took fourth. Eddie Irvine would have done the same but was no doubt contractually restrained, so Schumacher held fifth and Irvine had to be happy with sixth. This was the race with everything, a positive orgy of overtaking, unpredictable weather leading to changing fortunes for different drivers, and let's not forget the strategy element that won Jordan the race. It even had it's losers, Damon Hill in the sister Jordan running well down the field and retiring on lap 31 with engine trouble. Enough to make a man quit, which is exactly what Damon is planning on doing following the British Grand Prix in two weeks time!