f1-season 1999 longer version



AUSTRALIAN GP 99
The first practice for the first race of the season 1999 was totally controlled by the drivers of McLaren. Despite Häkkinen's wrecking his car the gap to the third was over one second. The fastest pn Friday was David Coulthard, who was able to drive 0.014 faster time than Mika at the end of the second hour. DC was fastest even though he drove the whole day with the same tyres despite many visits to the grass.
 
Saturday's qualifying was driven in clowdy weather, and just before the hour began the temperature dropped a lot. That's why the top teams waited as long as they could before they came to the track. Like the practice sessions, the McLarens were controlling also the qualifying. Why the Ferraris were so slow even though they had been telling all different kind of story, that this year they wouldn't be slower than the McLarens at the beginning of the season. At the very last minute of the hour David managed to make 0.1 tenths of a second faster time than Mika's, and some people already thought that would be enough for pole. But at the last minute came Mika, who had stayed on the track for many laps and drove almost half a second faster time. What was unusual again, at least David was using only one set of tyres, and Mika drove many laps before he drove the best time. Bridgestone's new tyres seemed to last really long especially in a 'cold' weather.
 
The race itself was predicted to be - like it had been for the last couple of years - a performance by the McLaren-Mercedes-cars... IF the cars would be reliable, which they hadn't been at the winter's tests. The race began when the two McLarens lead the group, The gap to the rest increased at least by a second per. Until on lap 13 our fears became true: David drove his car to the pits and retired because of a hydraylic problem. On the same lap the rear wing of Jacques Villeneuve's car become loosen in the middle of a straight - this had been several team's problem during the winter - and the safety car came out. When the race was re-started Häkkinen's car clotted strangely, and after a few laps Mika had to give up and retire.
 
Already before, at the start of the second formation lap Schumacher's car stalled and he had to start the race from the back of the grid like in Suzuka just a few months before. In addition to this Michael was having problems with a tyre and the steering wheel in the race. But even all this wasn't enough for Schuey this time. He made the 'Häkkinen' manouvre when he came in to pits too early. The men of Ferrari weren't ready yet, so he had no choice but try again on the next lap miehet. As a result for all of this was 8th place and no points. Had Schuey ever before finished the race at the last position?
A strange thing happened before the race at the garage of McLaren. Mika jumped from car to car and didn't seem to know with which car to drive the race. When Mika finally made his decision (the T-car), he left the pits in such a horry that some wires were still attached to the car and some things fell down... on people. Luckily nothing serious happened, even though some team members could use ice packs after the incident. How could a top team screw up like this!
 
WHEN THE CATS ARE GONE, MOUSES JUMP TO THE TABLE
 
Before the first race of the 1999 season people predicted that the title chasers this year would be both of the McLarens and one black stallion - Schuey. Any sane person wouldn't have bet that Michael's eternal slave Eddie Irvine could be one of the competititors. But something very strange happened in Australia: the chart leader was Ferrari's number two driver! DC, Mika and Schuey had no points at all... When all the others were suffering from different kinds of problems Irvine, Frenzen and Schuey Junior were able to drive problem-freely and conquered the podium. Eddie had waited for his first win for a long time, and he really deserved to win, because he had so many times sacrifised his good races and even wins to the benefit of Michael.
 
All and all it must be said that the first race of the 99 season was the most interesting for years. At first it did look that the race would be the most boring ever, when the McLarens had the lead and totally set their own pace. But like so many times before, motor sports showed its unexpected nature. Eddie was one of the few drivers whom everyone loved to see winning.
 
BRAZILIAN GP 99
 
What good did the Brazilian GP 99 give us? Nothing... David retired a few times during the same race. I guess it was Mika who won, like he had done a year before.
 
GP OF SAN MARINO 99
 
San Marino was a far better race for DC. In fact it was the only race he had finished when four races had been driven. DC said that he didn't win because the backmarkers didn't let him pass them fast enough. But Ithink DC wouldn't have won anyway... In Imola David seemed to be really slow. So the result was far too familiar second place and  wholly six  points. After four races the amount of points was still the same. A G-R-E-A-T start for the season!
 
GP OF MONACO 99
 
In Monaco the only happy moment for McLaren-fans was the qualifying. Ferrari and Schumi had been controlling the hour from start to the last minute, and even Mika was 0.5 seconds behind of Michael's time before his last attempt. David instead had hurted his leg a few days before in a charity football match,  and he had wrecked his car in the morning and hadn't been able to drive at all at the second session. DC was sixth at the qualifying. Only a couple of minutes time was left when the McLaren-drivers started their last runs. And miracles started to happen! Even tough yellow flags were being waved and Mika lifted his hand when he saw then he still managed to beat Schuey by a couple of hundreds of a second! And somehow also David managed to better hsi time on his last try and took the third place. After everything that had happened it was a great result.
 
But the smiles faded in the race. Schuey took a unbeatable win and his team mate Eddie Irvine was second.  Mika had problems with his car and was third, and David's fate was again another too familiar thing: A retirement because of technical failure. This time it was no surprise because David's car This time it was no surprise because something was coming out of David's car already at very early stage of the race at the corner of Loews, which happens to be the slowest corner of them all. And besides (before year 2000) David had seen the chequered flag only once in Monaco: In 1996 he was (surprise, surprise!) second.
 
Monaco was a devastating race for McLaren. The times when David's car lasted 'till the pitstops had been rare, but in Monaco the cars had also been really slow. Sure, Mika had problems with his car's suspension and at least one gear was missing from David's gear box... But McLaren had to improve a lot if the team wanted to beat Ferrari in the future in speed but ALSO in reliability. Ferrari's lead in the constructors' and drivers' Championship was huge. It seemed like McLaren had already screwed all up what came to season 99.
 
SPANISH GP 99
 
The GP-weekend of Spain didn't start as planned for the McLaren-drivers. At the practice on Friday Mika was 4th and David only 7th. What's the problem, people wanted to know. Well, the practice sessions don't mean much when the qualifying begins. Before that crucial session there was however Saturday-morning's practice, in which something not so pleasant happened to David. At the last corner of the track David's car's rearwheel's suspension became loosen. Luckily the car stayed on the track and didn't hit the barriers. Despite his crash DC was the fastest driver on the track in the morning!

The qualifying was the most even so far in 1999, when at one point the three best drivers were separated with only 17 thousands of a second. At the beginning the surprise was created by Sauber's Jean Alesi by keeping the provisional pole for a long time. Finally he was 5th, when the McLarens and the Ferraris were faster. The most surprising moment of the hour was when David drove to the pits when he was making his fastest time! On that lap he dorve the first sector of the track to the time 23.8 - time which no one could drive later, not even David himself. Once again there was just one word to describe all this: Idiocy. David's guts were finally enough for the 3rd place. His superiors were of course Mika and  surprisingly 'the other one' of the Ferraris, Eddie Irvine. Schuey was left to 4th place. Jacques Villeneuve kept again BAR's flags high with his 6th place.
 
The start of the race was expected to be interesting. What would happen to Ferrari-McLaren fighters Mika-Irvine and David-Schuey? At the start David made fun of both the Ferraris and took the second place right behind Mika. David's actions enabled Jacques to climb up to the 3rd place, and that decided the race to McLaren. Schuey was for over 20 laps trapped behind Jacques, and was at least a second per lap slower than Mika. David was having a rough time. After the second pit stopSchuey nearly passed him, but luckily just nearly. After a tight battle McLaren took its first 1-2 victory of the season!

After the Catalonyan battle both Schuey and Mika disappeared to a holiday to North-America, whereas their slaves, the number two drivers Eddie and David worked long hours at the tests. David drove the fastest time of the 3-days-long test session at the track of Silverstone.
 
CANADIAN GP 99
 
The sixth race of the season at Montreal, Canada was again really interesting and full of action. The safety car was out several times, and also a lot happened to David. During the race three World Champions, including Schuey who was leading the race, drove off the track at the last corner and wrecked their cars. After that it was easy for Mika to take the win, but behind him drivers were fighting hard for good positions. Halfway through, right after the safety car had curved back to the pits, David tried to pass Eddie, who was second. Eddie closed the door on DC and so both drivers ended to the grass. Eddie was able to get back to the track faster and was finally 3rd in the race. Things didn't work out quite that well for David: He got a 10 seconds stop/go-penalty for passing the safety car, and ended up finishing the race on 7th position.
 
FRENCH GP 99
 
In France, at the track of Magny-Cours, was seen the first rainy qualifying session of the season. Because of the rain the starting grid  was a bit different from what had been expected. The second pole of  his career (and his team's Stewart's first!) was taken by Rubens Barrichello. DC was the best driver of the two top teams - four seconds better time than Mika's and 4th place! Mika was only 14th. Schuey was 6th and Eddie even slower than Mika.
 
David was driving well at the start of the race and was leading for a few laps before he retired because of electrical problem on lap nine. Soon after tha it started to rain a bit and the safety car came out and stayed there for many laps. When the rain faded away the race was finally on its way again. Mika tryed to pass Rubens who was leading and spunn. Mika was dropped down by many places, but even that didn't depress the Flying Finn this time. The victory in France was taken by Heinz-Harald Frenzen, who had suffered from concussion in Canada. Mika fought his way to the 2nd place and increased the gap to Schuey to eight points - way to go Mika, way to go Finland!
 
BRITISH GP 99
 

Friday's practice for the British GP was really even. Seven first drivers were separated by only four tenths of a second. The fastest driver of the day was Mika, David was 4th and Damon Hill 7th. In the Saturday morning's practice Mika was unbeatable. DC was second, but his time was 0.6 seconds slower than Mika's. Schuey was third, 0.8 seconds behind Mika's time.
Even in the qualifying no one was able to tame Mika. He took his 6th pole of the season easily. Schuey was second and David third. He was having problems with the rear of his car, and was 0.8 seconds slower than the pole man. Eddie was fourth and so the starting grid looked really interesting. Which one would win, McLaren or Ferrari?
 
TAKE IT AS IT COMES...
 
The British GP of the 1999 season will undoubtedly be remembered for a long time, but mainly because of negative things. The first start was red-flagged when two cars stalled at the grid. The information hadn't yet reached the top drivers, when Schuey tryed to pass his team mate Eddie and drove off the track at the corner of Stowe. The speed at that point was over 200 km/h. Schuey hurted his leg in the crash. He would be away from races for at least six weeks, so  his Championship hopes had gone straightaway. Again we got a scary example about the sport's nature. Even though a lot has happened in the field of safety especially after Imola's black weekend and Mika's accident, 100 % safe the cars will naturally  never be.
 
After Schuey's accident Mika's biggest opponent in the title hunt was surprisingly Eddie! Who could  have believed that Ferrari's number two driver would have a chance to the title. The world of F1 is full of wonders.
 
The second start of the race didn't go at all well from David, and he was stuck behind Eddie. Mika instead managed well again and was leading the race 'till his pit stop. Then his problems began; the left rear tyre caused problems and Mika had to come back to the pits a lap later. At this point Mika's placing was worse than 10th. A few laps later At this point Mika's placing was worse than 10th. A few laps later a tyre became loosen from Mika's car at the last corner of the track. Luckily Mika's speed wasn't too high, and the tyre didn't hit anyone. Mika returned to the pits again, but retired finally a few laps later.
 
When Mika was suffering from his tyre problems David had  taken the lead. Eddie was less than a second behind him, but David didn't make any mistakes. During the second pitstops Eddie didn't  manage to pass  David, and that was it. David drove the fifth win of his career and his win first of the season at the best possible time. McLaren hadn't win its home GP for nearly ten years, and winning his homerace meant a lot to David. Nonetheless the victory didn't make things any easier for DC, when his team mate had twice as much points. Would team orders come in effect soon?
 
AUSTRIAN GP 99
 
FROM EUPHORIA TO A LONG NIGHTMARE
 
So Michael Schumacher had been injured, and the world of F1 was sure that now it would be so easy for Mika Häkkinen to gain his second World Championship. But only after two races the table had totally turned around and the underestimation of the Ferraris had to be stopped.
 
We knew that some day it would happen, but it still hit us like a lightning bolt from a clear sky. The Austrian GP 1999 became a real nightmare to the drivers of the team McLaren. Like so many times before, the second corner of the A1-Ring - perhaps the most famous corner of the world - Remus that is, was a crucial place.  Already on the first lap a catastrophe saw daylight when DC tried to pass the leader Häkkinen. Mika spunn off the track and was suddenly on last place, David was luckier and was able to continue his race on first place. Finally the win was taken by Eddie with a second's gap to David. Mika made a miracle possiible and was third. Mika Salo who was driving Schuey's car was disappointedly 9th.
 
The crash at Remus was the main story after the race. It was clear that the only culprit to the incident was David. He tried his passing manouvre in altogether wrong place and took all the blame for himself. Even though his apology was approved in the team, McLaren's inner peace had suffered a lot. Was the damage already too sewere?
 
GERMAN GP 99
 
As if the catastrophe at A1-Ring hadn't been enough, McLaren continued to create chaos a week later in Hockenheim, Germany. Until his first pit stop Mika was leading the race, but then the same thing that had happened to DC in 1998 at Magny-Cours happened to him: The gas hose decided not to work. When Mika returned to the track he was down by several places. And a lap later when Mika was driving towars the Stadion-section of the track a tyre exploided and he hit the tyre wall in a Schumi-style. Luckilt the speed wasn't as high as it had been in Schumi's case and Mika was unhurt.
 
After Mika's retirement it was easy job for Ferrari to take a 1-2 victory. At the start of the race Mika Salo had been Häkkinen's worst opponent, and without a team order he had won the race, but "Robin let Batman to win". The German GP 2000 was historical for Finns: For the first time in the history of F1 Finns were holding the first and second places, and Salo was on the podium for the first time on his career. But where was David?
 
At the beginning of the race David was stuck behind Salo and wreck the front wing of his car to the rear of the Ferrari. DC had to come to the pits to change his front wing, and he was then outside points. He made a desperate move and  overtook a car by cutting a chicane. This wasn't approved and DC got a ten seconds stop/go penalty. Finally David was 5th in the race. Without his two stupid mistakes David would have won the race so easily: His fastest lap time was 1.5 seconds faster than anyone else's!
 
It's true that Ferrari took its two vitally important wins only because of McLaren's dull mistakes. Ferrari wasn't faster than McLaren in these races, but was able to  collect the trophys with its better luck, reliability and flawlessness. In motor sports you won't achieve a point if you don't finish races or hit idioticly other drivers. Reliability is always more important than speed. When then races had been driven, Eddie Irvine had taken an eight points lead in the World Championship. He had retired only once during the whole season. At the constructors' side Ferrari had suddenly 16 points lead. Would McLaren still be able to fight for the titles?
 
HUNGARIAN GP 99
 
In Hungary there was a Finnish celebration both on the track and outside of it. 20 000 Finns had come to Hungaroring to witness McLaren's for once flawless race and a 1-2 win. Mika won, David was second and Eddie was 3rd. The whole weeked  was a nightmare to Mika Salo: 18th in the qualifying, 12th in the race. Hungary proved us what's the ground rule in F1: When McLarenis survive the first lap and the pit stops, no one can beat them. In the kingdom of the Silver Arrows everything was fine again!
 
BELGIAN GP 99
 

In Belgium McLaren finally took the lead at the constructors' Championship with its 106 points against Ferrari's  97. What happened in the race is a wholly another story...
 
For the second time in six weeks' time David and Mika hit each others at the first lap of a race. This time the situation wasn't so sewere; Mika's car's left front tyre hit slightly David's car and both were able to continue to race normally with their undamaged cars. But Mika was so shocked about what had happened that he couldn't fight for the win anymore. So, since a team order was not given, David became the happy winner of the Belgian GP. Mika, though, did his best to ruin David's joy and sulked after the race, even though everybody (except for some idiotic Finns) said that Mika was to blame for the first conner's incident. It took three days before Mika admitted that the crash at the corner of La Source had been his own fault. And way too many people thought that the Belgian GP was won by  'the wrong man' : Those extra four points should have been taken by Mika. But I stick behind my opinion: IF A DRIVER IS SO SLOW THAT HE CAN'T WIN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ONLY WITH HIS OWN PERFORMANCES AND HIS OWN CREDITS... IF HE IS SO HELPLESS THAT HE NEEDS HELP FROM HIS TEAM MATE, THEN THE DRIVER DOESN'T EVEN DESERVE TO BECOME THE WORLD CHAMPION!!!
 
ITALIAN GP 99
 
Before the Italian GP Schumi informed that he wouldn't be able to drive there, and so Salo continued to race for Ferrari. Ferrari's weekend became nothing but glorius; the only happy moment was when Salo was 3rd in the race. The title hunter Eddie was 6th, but took the lead in the Championship thanks to that one single point - altough Mika was having as much points as him. So after Italy they were even.
So Italy wasn't a good place for Ferrari, but it wasn't a happy place for  McLaren either. After taking the pole Mika made another big mistake during the 1999 season. The last one was in Imola, in a same kind of situation: When Mika was leading the race. Also now Mika made a stupid mistake and retired. Without his two mistakes Mika would now have had 20 points more, so if he wouldn't win the title he could only blame himself... unless he would lose the battle with OVER 20 points.
 
The whole weekend was really bad for David. In the qualifying the gap to team mate was almost 0.8 seconds, and in the race DC was struggling with his undedsteering car. Again after a win DC had to face the cruel world.
 
In Italy Ferrari was able to decrease McLaren's lead a bit, and an old-new name entered the title hunt: Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frenzen, who won the race. When only three races was left, Mika and  Irvine were sharing the lead with even points. Frenzen was third ten points behind, David was two points from Frenzen.
 
After Monza the teams were testing in France, at the track of Magny-Cours. David was fastest every day. David was working for full three days, Mika only two. It's just so wrong... At the last day of the tests McLaren announced that team orders would 'probably' come in effect at the next race.
 
EUROPEAN GP 99
 
CAN'T THE TOP TEAMS DO NOTHING BUT MISTAKES?
 
The third last race was driven under the title of Europen GP at the Nürburgring. Friday's practice was ruled by the Finnish Mikas. Häkkinen was fastest and Salo second. And at the Saturday-morning's practice the fastest one was - quelle surprise - Häkkinen. Salo didn't succeed so well and was 14th.
Before the qualifying began rain became, so the starting grid was decided on a drying track. Germany's Heinz-Harald Frenzen took surprisingly the seond pole of his career, even though he had been having problems in the practice sessions and even in the qualifying . David managed to take the 2nd place, but Mika was left to 3rd place. Everything went wrong for the Ferraris; Eddie was 9th and Salo 12th.
The race got a bizarre start, when the first start was aborted. A few drivers already moved. Only later it was found out that  Marc Gene had caused the confusion... In the second start Alex Wurz sent Pedro Diniz to a trip across the air. But the Brazilian got no serious injuries. When the safety car left the track Frenzen was leading and was followed by Mika, David and Ralf Schumacher. Eddie was stuck behind Giancarlo Fisichella and the top four was running further from him. Then the rain begin...
 
Mika was the first one who came to pits to change to wets. The decision to change tyres turned out to be wrong. The rain stopped and the top 3 drivers who were having slicks set their own pace. Mika instead was dropping down all the time because of his slow tyres. Also Ferrari screwed up; both drivers' pit stops lasted for about 30 seconds and both Salo and Eddie losed many placings.
 
Frenzen and David who were leading the race came to the pits at the same time. The team Jordan didn't make any mistakes and Heinz-Harald was back on the track before David. But that joy didn't last for long, already on that same lap H-H had a electric problem and his game was over. DC took the lead! At that point it started to rain again and the drivers were trying to keep their cars on the track. And then happened something I had feared: Only five laps later David drove off the wet track and retitred. Rare have been the times when I have been so angry and sad because of David's retirement. Driving off the track also decided the destiny of David's World Championship dreams: to the trash can (for good?).
 
So DC had retired, and the leading man was now Schumacher Junior with his Williams. Ralf went to pits and Fisichella was leading for a while until also he drove off. And the lead was taken again by younger Schuey. His world was blackened when the rear tyre of his car explouded and he had to go to the pits to get a new tyre. Finally R Schuey was 4th in the race.
 
The last F1-race in Europe at the last Millennium was really full of action and exciting. Many drivers was disappointed during the race, when on a good position either the car or the weather caused problems. But few teams were still smiling when the race was over: Stewart achieved its first win ever, thanks to Johnny Herbert. Team Prost's Jarno Trulli was 2nd and Stewart's another driver Rubens Barrichello was third.
 
Mika managed finally to get himself the 5th place and 2 points. With those two points he took the lead at the World Championship. Eddie was 7th and got no points. When only two races was left, Frenzen was still 3rd 12 points and David 4th 14 points behind Mika. McLaren was leading the constructors' Championship with 8 points more than Ferrari. The tune for the last two races looked clear: David would again try to help Mika to win the Championship.
 
MALAYSIAN GP 99
 
After three weeks' time the first ever Malaysian GP took place on a brand new track. Before Malaysia tests were driven for example in Barcelona, where David drove for three days, Mika only two. Two days David was the fastest man on the track. And only a week before Malaysia Schumi dropped a bomb: he would be driving the last two races. And so Mika Salo's job at Ferrari was over.
 
Friday's practice for the Malaysian GP went by when all the teams and drivers were getting to know to the track. After two hours of practice a surpriser had the first place: Jacques Villeneuve! Everything looked good for Ferrari as well as for Davidi, Mika instead was only 8th.
 
The qualifying was Ferrari's and Schumi's celebration. Schumi was a second faster than his team mate Eddie who was second. David managed to pass Mika at the very last moment and took the 3rd place - ha, ha! The speed of the Ferrari's was wondered by all. Where from they had found that extra speed again?
 
ANOTHER DAY IN THE TRENCHES...
 
The race itself will be remembered forever. After the race everything seemed to be clear; Ferrari had knocked out McLaren and Eddie Mika. Eddie had taken the lead in the World Championship. But a few hours later it looked like Mika was already the World Champion! Both Ferraris doomed to be illegal, and so they were disqualified. Mika, who had seen the chequered flag on third place was suddenly the winner of the Malaysin GP. But of course Ferrari made an opposing protest, and the final decision was to be seen.
 
David passed Schumi at the early stage of the race, and went on to chase Eddie, who was leading. But already on lap 15 David had to park his car to the grass. Another mystical failure in David's car...
 
PARISIAN GP
 
On Saturday, October 23rd FIA announced its verdict in Paris.  I should have known,  Ferrari has the rules of its own. Ferrari's protest was approved and the original results of the Malaysian GP came in effect again. Before the last race in Suzuka Eddie was leading Mika by four points, and also Ferrari McLaren.
 
With the Parisian verdict the whole F1-series turned into a soap opera. FIA decided that Ferrari doesn't have to bother to obey the rules. Try to race in a car which has a 'wrong' coloring, then!
 
JAPANESE GP 99
 
Friday's practice for the Japanese GP were controlled by the drivers of McLaren. Mika was fastest, David second and Eddie was left down to 10th place.  But the most terrifying moment was when DC drove off the track on the second hour of the practice. The crash was bad and the speed at the fourth corner of the track had been 190 km/h. David's car was totally wrecked and the session was  stopped for ten minutes. David went to see a doctor, but he had suffered no injuries.
 
The qualifying became a startling fight between Mika and Schumi. After the first runs the gap between these two was 0.000 seconds! Mika managed to take the provisional pole with his second try, but Schumi did the same thing with his third run. Mika's last two runs were ruined: The third one he had to abort when the session was stopped because Eddie drove off the track. The last run was ruined when Jean Alesi spunn in front of Mika.  So, because of Mika's bad luck Schumi took the pole. Mika was second, David third, Frenzen 4th and Eddie was 5th.
 
FLYING FINN FIRST AT FINISH...AGAIN
 
At the last race of the season Mika took a wonder start and left everyone else far behind already at the first corner. Only Schumi  could keep up in Mika's pace, and he reached the finish line five seconds later than the flying Finn, who won the World Championship again. Eddie, who had to swollow the bitter pill, was 3rd. Even though Mika won the drivers' title two points ahead of Eddie, the constructors' title went to Ferrari with four points marginal.
 
I bet David's race was a nightmare from the start. At the start was dropped down to 5th place. After the first pit stops it looked a lot better. Mika was leading, Schumi  was second, David was 3rd and Eddie 4th. If this had been the order at the finish line, McLaren would have won ALSO the constructors' title. But then David drove off the track and hit the wall. DC made it to the pits, where his front wing was replaced. When DC returned the pack he was 10th. His car had appearently suffered more sewere damage; seven laps later, on lap 40, David drove his car to the garage and retired. The problem was the gear box. A lousy ending for a lousy season!
 
After the race Schumi critisized with harh words David's actions in front of him at the decisive moment of the race. David was then being lapped by Schumil, but held him behind for a lap despite of the blue flags. Schumi said that he had lost 10 seconds behind David, when the truth was three seconds. With his accusations Schumi showed that he's still a very bad loser, for he did also mention Spa 98. At first David threatened Schumi even with a defamation indict. David didn't like the way Schumi told his opinion to the media, not to DC personally. When the sun was already setting inSuzuka these two men talked things clear.
 
Mika won the Championship in Japan by driving, but the constructors' title McLaren lost in Paris, where FIA decided that Ferrari doesn't have to obey the rules and laws of F1.

F1-SEASON 1999



Australian GP, Melbourne March 7th
NUMBER TWO DRIVER TAKES THE FIRST PLACE
 
During the winter McLarens had been awesome, but when the real battle started the cars didn't make it to the chequered flag. Even Michael Schumacher had his share of bad luck, so once and for all it was finally Schuey's slave Eddie Irvine's turn! All the favorites for the title (Mika Häkkinen, David Coulthard, Schuey) got zero points from Down Under.
 
Brazilian GP, Sao Paolo April 11th
IT WAS SO EASY
 
Mika took a win again, even though at one point of the race he nearly retired due to a gearbox problem. A shark ate David again, but Schumi was able to make it to the land with his second place. But Eddie was still the King of the world...
 
GP of San Marino, Imola May 2nd
GO FOR GLORY
 
Mika made his first - but NOT last! - major mistake of the season at the infamous track of Imola. When he was coming to the mainstraight his car slided too much to the side and that was it, the end of story for him. Mika had been leading the race with a big gap when he retired, but after his clanger the battle was between David and Schumi. The fight was close but finally Michael managed to take a win. David took his first points of the season, and the biggest surprise of the race was that DC at last made it to the chequered flag.
 
GP of Monaco, Monte Carlo May 16th
TO WHOM THE BELLS CHIME?
 
Ferrari took a one-two at Monaco in pure style, and Mika accompanied them with his third place. David's statistics instead were added with a way too familiar annotation - retirement due to a technical failure.
 
Spanish GP, Barcelona May 30th
THE TWO MUSKETEERS STRIKED BACK
 
The Spanish sun eventually restored the march order to the good, old form: McLaren-Mercedes- combination took its first one-two-victory for a long, long time.
 
Canadian GP, Montreal June 13th
CHAMPS' DATES WITH THE WALL
 
During the race too many World Champions hit the wall at the last turn of the track. To the same mine sunk both Hill, Villeneuve and also Schumi, who was leading the race. So Mika took a win on a track which had always been especially difficult for him.
 
French GP, Magny Cours June 27th
DANCING IN THE RAIN
 
Rain had already messed up the qualifying for the French GP, but appeared again even during the actual race. Mika fought his way to the second place; David instead sung the same old song.
 
British GP, Silverstone July 11th
VIA STOWE TO A HOLIDAY
 
Schumi drove to the wall and broke his leg STOP The team screwed up with Mika's tyre STOP David won his homerace STOP 
 
Austrian GP, A1-Ring July 25th
BAD DREAM BECAME SO REAL
 
DC perhaps learned something in Austria: Even though you push your team mate off the track on the first lap, you can still lose the race. Eddie took the win after David had made it so easy for him with his blunder. So the first race after Michael's injury went just fine for Ferrari's new number one driver, whereas the new number two driver Mika Salo was in trouble.
 
German GP, Hockenheim August 1st
SEE ME RUIN IT FOR THE 4351st TIME
 
David's unconsciousness still continued in Germany. At first he had to break down his front wing behind Salo's car, and then cut accross a corner and end up to the pits after getting a stop&go penalty. As a result of all this was a fifth place in a race which Eddie won. Mika retired after his tyre exploded.
 
Hungarian GP, Hungaroring August 15th
ALL THE FINNS IN HUNGARY?
 
The hottest topic of the weekend was the enormous amount of Finns in the auditorium. Some even thoght that the whole nation had come to Hungary to support the two Finnish Mikas. McLaren took their second one-two of the season at the best possible time!
 
Belgian GP, Spa-Francorchamps August 29th
SOMETIMES COMING SECOND CAN BE ENOUGH
 
Häkkinen ruined it for David at Spa: While DC was trying to celebrate his second win of the season, Mika was sulking beside him. He just couldn't stand the fact that he had lost to his team mate... Shame you Mika!
 

Italian GP, Monza September 12th
FROM A FLYING FINN TO A CRYING FINN
 
Italy is a promised land for all the tifosis, but for Mika the country offered last year nothing but nightmares. At Monza a FLYING FINN became a CRYING FINN, when Mika drove off the track because of his own mistake while he was leading.
 
European GP, Nürburgring September 26th
THIS IS HOW WE PARTY...
 
The most eventful race of the season was seen at Nürburgring. Several drivers held the lead during the race, but many of them were in for a disappointment. Rain ruined various chances, including David's, who would have - by holding his lead - had a true possibility to fight for the title for the first time in his career. The victory was then taken by Johnny Herbert and Stewart-Ford!
 
Malaysian GP, Sepang October 17th
GIVE ME A BREAK!!
 
Everybody knows it: Ferrari took a one-two in Malaysia while Mika was nearly fainting on the third step of the podium. After the race the two Ferraris were disqualified, but a week later were approved again by FIA! The meeting at Paris ensured one thing: FIA thinks that Ferrari doesn't have to bother to obey the rules!
 
Japanese GP, Suzuka October 31st
FLYING FINN FIRST AT FINISH...AGAIN
 
David's driving off the road was caused by the team, which misplaced tyres to DC's car: Left one to the right and vice versa. So the contructors's title went to Ferrari. At the driver's side Mika took a wonder start and won the World Championship again, because Michael didn't feel like helping Eddie.