Hungarian Grand Prix, August 1999

Hungarian Grand Prix, Budapest, August 1999

Mika Hakkinen and McLaren must have hoped for a change of luck at the Hungaroring in the Hungarian Grand Prix following a string of mechanical failures and self-inflicted mishaps. As it happens, that's just what they got as Hakkinen lead from pole to flag and David Coulthard moved up through the field to complete a reliable one-two in a race that lacked any real excitement. Qualifying had that familiar look to it as Hakkinen took pole, Eddie Irvine kept up his impressive form with second for Ferrari and Coulthard lined up third. The Benetton proved to work well in Hungary and Giancarlo Fisichella was fourth followed by the two Jordans of Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Damon Hill respectively.	More silverware for Mika
There was a clean start to the race although Coulthard was slow away and dropped to fifth behind Fisichella and Frentzen, losing out in a tussle with the latter over the first lap. The field strung out quickly with Hakkinen building a lead that stabilised at around 12 seconds over Irvine, and Fisichella some way behind that. Coulthard was pushing Fisichella and Frentzen but could find no way past, and the race settled into a monotonous parade. The first pitstops started on lap 27 with Fisichella, followed next lap by Irvine and Hill and then Frentzen and Hakkinen. Coulthard took advantage of the clear track to put in some hot laps and, delaying his own stop until lap 33, managed to come out ahead of both Frentzen and Fisichella. Another driver using pitstop strategy to his advantage was Rubens Barrichello in the Stewart Ford. From eighth on the grid he had been running just outside the top six but as the others stopped he moved up to third. When he eventually stopped on lap 40 it was clear he was running a one stop strategy and, although he rejoined eighth, the others still had another stop to make. The race had now resumed qualifying positions, with Hakkinen having extended his lead to 21 seconds, Irvine now coming under pressure from a charging Coulthard and Fisichella, Frentzen and Hill strung out some way behind.
Hakkinen leads from pole to flag	The second stops began on lap 48 with Damon Hill, who came out behind Barrichello, although when teammate Frentzen stopped two laps later he managed to stay ahead of the Stewart Ford. On lap 53 Fisichella pitted but failed to move again as some form of engine failure occurred, a disappointment for Benetton after a promising race. As the others pitted there were no changes in position, despite Irvine and Coulthard coming in together neck and neck.
Hakkinen now lead by over 30 seconds, followed by Irvine, Coulthard, Frentzen, Barrichello and Hill. Lap 63 produced the only overtaking manouevre of any significance in the race, and even that relied on a driver error. Irvine ran wide into turn five, Coulthard took advantage, and simply drove away from the Ferrari to claim second spot. As the cars drove out the remaining laps McLaren were well pleased with a solid one-two, whilst Irvine was probably grateful to still be 2 points clear in the drivers championship. However, unless Ferrari lift their game they are relying on McLaren errors to stay there. This race said that McLaren are back on form, even if it was a bit boring for the spectators.