30 June 1998 Agnelli said that Ferrari will renew M. Schumacher's contract. M. Schumacher will get a pay rise and the right to use Ferrari's logo on his own merchandise.
30 June 1998 Mika Gascoyne, who has worked as assistant to Harvey Postlethwaite at Tyrrell, will join Jordan's technical director Gary Anderson from the Silverstone GP.
29 June 1998 Jean Todt has been confirmed at Ferrari for three more years.
28 June 1998The French GP saw a double start as Verstappen, on his first GP back in F1 stalled his engine at the start. Confusion reigned as the lights went off before the yellow lights appeared and all other drivers started racing despite the start having been cancelled. The race was restarted a few minutes later, shortened by one lap to 71 and with Verstappen restarting from his position on the grid, rather than from the back. On the second start M. Schumacher shot off and took the lead, with team-mate Irvine following in second position. Hakkinen only managed to take third position from pole and Coulthard found himself behind Villeneuve, but overtook the Williams almost immediately. M. Schumacher started moving away from Irvine, who was holding the two McLaren behind him. R. Schumacher was in sixth position. On the second lap Trulli went into the pits to have new tyres fitted. On lap 15 M. Schumacher, in the lead, lapped Tuero who moved over to let him pass. Around lap 16 those on a three-stop strategy started to pit. The first was Tagaki, then R. Schumacher. Rosset pitted and went straight into the box and retired. Wurz and Hill pitted too, with Hill rejoining the race only to retire with throttle problems a few laps later. R. Schumacher suffered from suspension problem and pitted again, while Hakkinen, battling with Irvine for second position, lost grip and span on the dirt, rejoining behind team mate Coulthard. R. Schumacher retired, failing yet again to finish a race. Finding himself behind Coulthard, Hakkinen took his chance to pit just as the Scot overtook Irvine. Seeing that Irvine would not be holding back Coulthard any more, M. Schumacher, on a two stops strategy, went for an early first stop, rejoining still in the lead. Coulthard decided to do the same, but his pit stop was slower than M. Schumacher's and lost him precious time. At this stage in the race, M. Schumacher was the leader, followed by Villeneuve and Irvine. Villeneuve managed to get in front of Irvine, but almost immediately went for a pit stop rejoining in front of Wurz in fifth position. On lap 44 Irvine pitted and rejoined in fourth position behind Coulthard. On lap 46 M. Schumacher went for his second pit stop (9.2 seconds), rejoining in the lead. Tuero retired just as Hakkinen, in second position, went for his second pit stop (8.9 seconds), rejoining behind Irvine. One lap later Coulthard went for his second pit stop and suffered serious problems with the fuel nozzle which refused to click into position. Having failed to refuel, the McLaren mechanics sent him back out after 36.9 seconds while they tried to fix the nozzle. After one lap the Scot pitted again and his car was refuelled using Hakkinen's nozzle (15 seconds stop). With Coulthard taken out of the competition by bad luck, Hakkinen went to attack Irvine for second position. Despite several attempts at overtaking from the Finn, Irvine always managed to fight back and keep second position. With eight laps to go Tagaki stopped at the side of the track with a blown engine, leaving oil on the tarmac that shortly afterwards caused Fisichella to spin. Coulthard had to go back to the pits for another refuel when he had managed to work his way back to fifth position. With one lap to go Frentzen went into the pits and retired. M. Schumacher finished first to win his second GP in a row, but the fight for second position was not over, with Hakkinen trying one last attempt to overtake Irvine literally on the finishing line. The Irishman did not let the Finn pass, as he had been doing for nearly 20 laps and finished second, giving Ferrari its first 1-2 finish since 1990. Hakkinen finished in third position, Villeneuve in fourth, Wurz in fifth and the unlucky Coulthard in sixth. The French GP highlighted the improvement of the Goodyear tyres, which were today on a par with the Bridgestone and gave Ferrari the required competitiveness to try and fight for the championship. Ferrari's performance today was very good, considering that the Italian car still is about 6 mph slower than McLaren. Coulthard today lost, not for fault of his, a good occasion to try and build his championship points, while Irvine showed what he is capable of by holding Hakkinen at bay. Next race might see the situation reversed, as McLaren consider Silverstone a favourable circuit for them.
27 June 1998 Hakkinen will be starting the French GP from pole position. With him on the front row will be M. Schumacher, Coulthard and Irvine will be on the second row, Villeneuve and R. Schumacher on the third. Hill qualified to start from seventh position on the grid.
27 June 1998 Irvine said he's not sure whether he wants to stay with Ferrari next year. The Irishman said that for him it is a choice between being a number two driver with the best machinery, or a number one driver with a worse car. He added that if he wants to beat M. Schumacher, he will have to leave Ferrari.
26 June 1998 Coulthard has threatened to resign from the Grand Prix Driver Association (GPDA). The Scot is angry about drivers not taking enough care when taking part in a race, an attitude which has resulted in several collisions.
26 June 1998 Hakkinen dominated the free practice at Magny-Cours, followed by Irvine with the second fastest time, Coulthard with the third, Frentzen, who is taking part in the race despite rumours that he was not well enough and Montoya would take his place, with the fourth fastest time, M. Schumacher with the fifth and his brother Ralf with the sixth.
23 June 1998 British American Racing has secured a deal with Supertec Sports for engines for next year. The V10 engines will be produced by Renault.
23 June 1998 Frentzen is felling better and will probably take part in the French GP. His accident is now thought to have been caused by steering failure.
23 June 1998 Eddie Jordan said that he's displeased with Ralf Schumacher (who hasn't finished a race yet this season) and will not renew his contract next year.
22 June 1998 Stewart Racing has sacked Magnussen halfway through his four year deal and replaced him with Jos Verstappen.
19 June 1998 Frentzen was rescued unconscious from his badly damaged car and rushed to hospital after being involved in a heavy collision when he went out on a bend during testing at Magny-Cours. He was flown to the hospital at Nevers where he regained consciousness. The Williams driver is said to be shaken but unhurt.
18 June 1998 FIA has decided to move its central office from Paris to Geneva.
18 June 1998 The surprising result of the second day of testing at Magny-Cours was that Jean Alesi on Sauber got the fastest time, ahead of McLaren and Ferrari. Alesi said he was testing with very little fuel on board, but the improvement in the performance of the Sauber car was very noticeable.
18 June 1998 Tonight a charity auction will take place in Milan (Italy). One of the items being auctioned will be a signed racing suit belonging to M. Schumacher. The sport suits of several other champions of various sports will also be auctioned.
17 June 1998 The FIA World Council decided yesterday that the new FIA commission will consist of 12 members for the F1 teams, four representatives for extra-European races, one represntative for tyre brands (rotation), one representative for engines (chosen every year by the group for F1 engine development), two sponsors representatives, the FIA president and a representative for the commercial rights, who will be the president of the commission. The number of members is thus increased from 14 to 24. The minimum number of votes for a proposal to be approved will be 18.
16 June 1998 Verstappen is a new test driver for Stewart. He migth possibly take Magnussen's place.
15 June 1998 Benetton will run with Mecachrome engines next year, according to Benetton boss Dave Richards. The price of the Mecachrome engines is rumoured to have increased by 39 percent for the 1999 season.
12 June 1998 Tom Kristensen, winner of last year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, has been testing the Tyrrell at Monza and might soon be taking the place of Rosset or Tagaki from the GP of Great Britain.
11 June 1998 M. Schumacher rejected the accusation that he volontarily pushed Frentzen off the Canadian GP. M. Schumacher said that he has apologised to the Williams driver and that it is up to him to accept the apology or refuse it.
10 June 1998 Villenueve has joined Hill in condemning M. Schumacher's attitute. They say that M. Schumacher has made up his own set of rules and that he often gets away with things for which other drivers would get severely punished.
9 June 1998 Next year the F1 season will consist of 18 races. The 1999 F1 season will kick off in Melbourne on the second Sunday of March, followed by the brand new GPs of China and Malaysia. The GP of Southafrica will close the season in October. The GP of Argentina will be available as a possible substitute should any of the scheduled races be dropped.
8 June 1998 M. Schumacher said that he had not seen Frentzen when he came out of the pits and that he's sorry he caused the Williams driver to retire from the Canadian GP.
8 June 1998 The Canadian race stewards have rejected Williams' protest and declared the result of the Canadian GP official.
7 June 1998 The Williams team has lodged an official protest against M. Schumacher's behaviour in the Canadian GP, regarding the accident in which Frentzen was forced out of the race. The race stewards are examining the protest and if Williams are successful, M. Schumacher will lose its position and points.
7 June 1998 The Canadian GP was the most exciting and eventful race so far this season. At the start both McLaren were on the first row (Coulthard in pole position), with M. Schumacher and Fisichella in second row. M. Schumacher shot off and managed to take second position behind Coulthard and in front of Hakkinen and Fisichella, but a few rows behind R. Schumacher stalled his engine and caused Alesi to collide with Wurz to avoid him. Wurz's car rolled over and part of the rollbar broke, but the driver was uninjured. Herbert and Trulli too were involved in the accident. The race was stopped and, since the accicent had happened on the first lap, the GP was restarted with the scheduled number of laps (69) fifteen minutes later. Wurz and Alesi restarted on the spare cars and it appeared that Herbert might not be able to restart, as there was no spare car available for him, but the Sauber mechanics managed to substitute a broken suspension and he was able to take part in the new start from the pit lanes. Wurz (who is one of the tallest current drivers) restarted with a new crash helmet for safety reasons. On the second start M. Schumacher did not do as well as before and Fisichella took second place while Hakkinen had to retire immediately, as his car would not accelerate. R. Schumacher went almost immediately into a spin, causing Alesi and Trulli to collide as they tried to avoid him, in an almost repeat to what had happened in the first start. Despite the debris on the track the marshals decided not to stop the race again and sent out the safety car instead while the track was being cleared. With the safety car out, the order of the first six was: Coulthard, M. Schumacher, Fisichella, Villeneuve, Frentzen, Barrichello. On lap 5 the safety car left and the race restarted. Barrichello attacked Villeneuve and managed to overtake him for fifth position, while at the front M. Schumacher had realised that Coulthard was on a softer tyre compound that McLaren had used so far this season and kept on attacking him trying to make the Scot wear out his tyres. At this point it was evident that the Ferrari of M. Schumacher was capable of keeping up with the McLaren for the first time this year as the gap between the first two and Fisichella in third position kept on increasing. Barrichello kept on driving a very good race, took fourth position off Frentzen and started leaving the Williams behind. Damon Hill in seventh position started reducing the gap between himself and the Williams. Shortly afterwards Barrichello span out and rejoined behind Hill. Diniz had gone on the grass in a failed attempt to overtake Magnussen and had picked up a strip of turf which had got stuck in his ventilation tract. The grassy area had been recently returfed and the grass had not had enough time to grow roots, so the pieces were coming off easily when the cars got on the grass. Diniz, unaware, was leaving pieces of turf all over the track and was recalled to the pits to have his car cleaned. The safety car came out once again to allow the turf to be removed from the track and as soon as the race restarted Frentzen went to attack Villeneuve. Coulthard started losing speed and M. Schumacher overtook him. Coulthard toured back to the pits and drove straight into the garage, retiring with throttle problems. For the first time this season both McLaren, which have dominated both championship so far, were out. Salo and Herbert retired after a collision which left the track yet again covered with debris, prompting the safety car out yet again. Taking advantage of the presence of the safety car, M. Schumacher went for an early pit stop on lap 20 rejoining the race just as Frentzen's car was approaching. Frentzen found himself on the outside of M. Schumacher and in an attempt to avoid the Ferrari went out and had to retire. Patrick Head immediately went to complain with Jean Todt and then with the marshals. At this point Fisichella was in first position with Villeneuve in second and M. Schumacher in third. Villeneuve went to attack Fisichella and managed to overtake, but had left the manoeuvre too late so he overshot the bend and ended up in the gravel. The Canadian rejoined at the back of the pack, collided with a Minardi and had to go back to the pits, where the mechanics patched up his car and sent him back out several laps later. Villeneuve was out of the race on the circuit named after his father and just kept on lapping to test out the new setup. The retirements left Fisichella, on one stop strategy, in first position, M. Schumacher in second on a two stop strategy having already stopped once, Hill in third, for the first time this season in a podium position, Magnussen in fourth, Panis, who had suffered a dramatic incident in the Canadian GP last year, in fifth and Nakano in sixth. After Williams' complaint about Frentzen's accident the marshals gave M. Schumacher a 10-seconds stop penalty, which he chose to take almost immediately on lap 36. The German ex-World Champion rejoined behind Hill and Diniz (lapped). On lap 39 M. Schumacher overtook Hill, who fought back as hard as he could, and set off in pursuit of Fisichella. Hill went for a pit stop leaving in third position Panis, who retired almost immediately afterwards. Hill, who had been driving his best race this season, started going slow, toured back to the pits and retired on lap 42 with electrical problems. On lap 44 Fisichella went for his only pit stop and rejoined behind M. Schumacher who found himself in first position with a clear track in front and started pushing his car to the limit to build a good gap in between himself and Fisichella in view of the second pit stop. On lap 50 M. Schumacher went for his second pit stop and managed to rejoin just in front of Fisichella, retaining first position. Irvine too went for his second pit stop and rejoined in third position in front of Wurz. The order of the drivers staid the same to the end of the race, with M. Schumacher winning his second GP this season, followed by Fisichella who had run a magnificent race in second, Irvine in third for the joy of the Ferrari team, Wurz on the second Benetton in fourth, Barrichello in firth and Magnussen, who is rumoured to be about to be dismissed, in sixth on the second Stewart. The Canadian GP reopened both championships, with M. Schumacher snatching the second position in the drivers' table from Coulthard and Ferrari drawing a little closer to McLaren in the Constructors' Championship, thanks to Irvine's third position too. A very good performance for Benetton as well, with two cars in the first four and with Fisichella who could even have won the race if the pit stops had gone differently. A very satisfying day for Stewart and very probably for Magnussen too, who might have the threat of dismissal lifted from his head after today's performance. An unlucky day for the McLaren drivers, both forced out by car problems and for Damon Hill, who was on podium position for a while, and Alesi, forced out of the race at the start twice in one day by R. Schumacher.
6 June 1998 The official qualifying session for the Canadian GP ended with Coulthard in pole position, followed by team mate Hakkinen, then M. Schumacher, Fisichella, R. Schumacher, Villeneuve, Frentzen and Irvine.
6 June 1998 Damon Hill has been fined for speeding in the pit lanes for the second time this season.
4 June 1998 Villeneuve said in a press conference that next year he wants to be in a team which will give him the chance to win, creating speculation that he will stay with Williams rather than move to BAR.
4 June 1998 Coulthard said that Ron Dennis has promised him that there will be a place for him in the team in 1999. 3 June 1998 The BAR team will be actually called BAR Tyrrell. Craig Pollock did not obtain the consent of all other constructors to drop the name "Tyrrell".
2 June 1998 M. Schumacher said that if Ferrari does not manage to break McLaren supremacy in the next GP, the Championship will be closed for this season. Ferrari will have new tyres which made a very good impression on Irvine, who tested them.
Last updated on 30 June 1998 by Federica Massagrande