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1999 F1 flashback Part 2: San Marino, Monaco and Spain

Michael Schumacher (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye, file)
Roar Guru
21st April, 2020
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The second part of this series looking back at the 1999 Formula One season covers the three races held in the month of May at Imola, Monaco and Barcelona.

»Read Part 1

Coming into the European season, Eddie Irvine had a two-point lead at the top of the championship over Mika Hakkinen and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who were both tied for second place.

Qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix followed the status quo of the season so far with McLaren locking out the front row. However, race day didn’t go McLaren’s way.

It wasn’t reliability this time but a mistake from Hakkinen, who got out of shape on the kerb out of the final corner and crashed into the wall.

David Coulthard inherited the lead but wasn’t able to get away from Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari. Coulthard’s problems were further compounded by backmarkers, whom the Scotsman struggled to get past. Add in Ferrari’s excellent strategy and you can see how Schumacher took victory at Imola, Coulthard coming second.

Schumacher also took the championship lead from Irvine as the Northern Irishman retired from an engine failure. Frentzen lost points when he spun out of the race on oil left by Irvine’s expiring engine.

Rubens Barrichello took the final podium place, dedicating his third place to Ayrton Senna, who was killed in an accident at Imola in 1994. It was the fifth anniversary of Senna’s death on the weekend the 1999 San Marino Grand Prix was held.

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Two formula one drivers on the podium

Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. (PASCAL PAVANI/AFP/Getty Images)

Ferrari’s success continued at the next race in Monaco, claiming first and second, with Schumacher winning by 30 seconds over his teammate despite not pushing the car that much in the latter stages.

Hakkinen had started on pole but was overtaken by Schumacher into Sainte Devote. Later on in the race, Hakkinen went straight on at Mirabeau but was able to carry on although he had lost 17 seconds to Irvine on that lap. This enabled Irvine to finish in second, with the Finn having to settle for third.

After finishing second in San Marino, Coulthard retired due to a gearbox failure, his third retirement in four races. Two months into the season, McLaren were still being plagued by reliability issues.

This was all to change in Barcelona. Hakkinen led home a one-two for McLaren as Schumacher was unable to get past Coulthard in the closing stages.

Irvine got a bad start meaning, Schumacher had to brake so that he didn’t crash into him. This allowed Jacques Villeneuve, racing for BAR, to get ahead of both Ferraris into turn 1. The Canadian managed to fend off Schumacher until he made his first pit stop around lap 25.

Despite Schumacher going on a charge in his last two stints, he couldn’t get a clean run at Coulthard when it mattered as lapped traffic interfered with proceedings.

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The German still led the drivers’ championship though by six points over Hakkinen, with Ferrari leading the constructors’ championship by 15 points.

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The championship was heating up heading into the Canadian Grand Prix, with McLaren looking to put their issues behind them.

While Ferrari openly admitted that the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was one of their weaker tracks, McLaren still looked strong, especially under the control of defending world champion Mika Hakkinen.

Next time, we look at how the Quebec Wall became the Wall of Champions after the Canadian Grand Prix and pack our umbrellas for a rain-affected French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours.

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