Austrian GP - Spielberg 25 July 1999
Race Report
Hakkinen and Coulthard shot off as the lights changed for the Austrian GP with the Flying Finn leading his team mate at the first corner. Irvine and Barrichello followed in third and fourth position. At the second corner, as the drivers were still fighting for positions before settling down, Coulthard moved dangerously in to the inside of Hakkinen, who was entering the bend. Hakkinen could not avoid a collision with Coulthard, span out but managed to keep the engine running and rejoined the race at the back of the field. Coulthard had kept going and maintained the lead while Irvine had had to brake to avoid hitting Hakkinen's car and Barrichello had seized the chance to take second place ahead of him. Frentzen had taken fourth position, Salo was fifth and Villeneuve sixth. As all the cars were slowing down because of the McLaren shunt Salo had failed to brake on time and had hit the back of Herbert's car, causing the Stewart to lose its tail wing and the Ferrari's nosecone to become damaged. Herbert had to go to the pits to have a new tail wing fitted, which cost him four laps. Salo tried to stay on the track, realised that his car would soon be very difficult to control and went to the pits for a new nosecone and tyres on lap three, rejoining in last position.
In the meantime Coulthard was getting away from Barrichello at the rate of one second per lap, so that on lap four he was already leading the Stewart by five seconds. Irvine, on a very heavy fuel load, was stuck behind Barrichello and could not set off in chase of the McLaren. At the back of the field Hakkinen was rapidly gaining positions hoping to get back into the points. On lap seven Hakkinen was already behind Hill, who was in 13th position. Hill held on for a while, but then had to give in to McLaren's superior speed and let Hakkinen through. R. Schumacher made a mistake and hit the brakes too late, span out, got his wheels trapped in the gravel and had to retire from sixth position. With R. Schumacher's retirement Diniz moved up one position to sixth behind Villeneuve. Irvine had settled in his third position and was not pushing, in fact the gap between him and Barrichello had increased. Hakkinen found himself stuck behind Alesi and Fisichella battling for position. Alesi managed to overtake Fisichella and set off in chase of Villeneuve, who was suffering from mechanical problems. Hakkinen overtook Fisichella cleanly and started pushing again.
Both Alesi and Hakkinen caught up and easily overtook Villeneuve. On lap 23 Diniz was the first of the drivers on a two stop strategy to go to the pits (9.9). Shortly afterwards Alesi went for his pit stop (8.1), giving Hakkinen fifth position. Tagaki parked his car by the side of the track and retired. On lap 29 Hakkinen managed a fastest lap and started assessing overtaking Frentzen for fourth position, whom he passed on lap 31. Hakkinen at this stage was lapping some 1.1 seconds a lap faster than Irvine who was in third position 17 seconds behind Coulthard. Villeneuve finally succumbed to his mechanical problems and retired yet again. This season Villeneuve has so far not managed to finish one race for the BAR team, which he partially owns. Shortly afterwards Zanardi ran out of fuel and retired. On lap 38 Barrichello went for his pit stop (12.5) from second position but could only rejoin in fifth position behind Frentzen after a not very good stop. Race leader Coulthard went for his pit stop too (10.5) and rejoined behind Hakkinen, who went for his pit stop on the following lap (9.6) and rejoined behind Barrichello. De La Rosa went out, got his wheels trapped in the gravel and had to retire.
The Ferrari mechanics came out suggesting that Irvine, then in the lead, might go for his stop. Instead, Salo pitted from 12th position and Irvine staid out as long as he could to build enough advantage while on a light fuel load not to lose his position. Sure enough, on lap 44 Irvine finally pitted and the Ferrari mechanics worked the miracle for which they are famous, sending him out again in the lead after a 8.6 stop. Irvine rejoined in front of Coulthard and behind team mate Salo, who was one lap behind. On lap 49 Irvine overtook Salo but found himself in traffic behind Zonta. Hakkinen in the meantime was still fighting for position. The Finn took advantage of a mistake of Barrichello and overtook him. Alesi, who had been running a good race, suffered mechanical problems and retired from sixth position. Alesi's retirement was the 100th retirement for Sauber since they had started their involvement in F1. Salo was blue flagged and had to let Coulthard through, who set off in the chase of race leader Irvine. With 20 laps to go Coulthard was only 3.5 seconds behind Irvine. On lap 57 Barrichello suffered a blown engine and had to retire after a very good performance.
On the same lap Fisichella made a mistake and went on the dirt but recovered. Coulthard was chasing Irvine very close, but he never had the chance to try and overtake and had to settle to following the race leader's tail. Irvine was under extreme pressure and showed it by making several small mistakes, though without ever opening the door for the McLaren to go through. With only two laps to go Fisichella's engine blew, possibly as a consequence of him getting dirt stuck in his radiators when he went on the dirt. The last two laps were nerve wrecking, with Coulthard on Irvine's tail, looking for every possible chance of passing, without finding any. Irvine won the Austrian GP against all predictions, second was Coulthard, third a very unhappy Hakkinen, then Frentzen, Wurz in his home race and Diniz.
Frentzen ran a quiet race, steadily lapping faster than most other drivers and finishing in fourth position despite still suffering from hairline fractures. Wurz finally managed to finish in the points in his home race while Diniz gave another point to Sauber, making up for Alesi's retirement. Barrichello put up another fine performance, spoilt by his engine failure. Even with that, it is becoming obvious that the Stewart Ford will be a force to be reckoned with next season, so it is not surprising they are rumoured to have contacted both Hakkinen and M. Schumacher. Next appointment is at Hockenheim on the 1st of August. |
With M. Schumacher's accident in Silverstone Irvine found himself were he had always wanted to be: first driver for Ferrari and in Austria he proved that he can do the job. Driving a slower car than McLaren and with virtually no help from his team mate Salo, he managed to take advantage of McLaren's own internal quarrels to sail to the highest step on the podium. Not only has he put himself within two points of the Driver Championship leader, he has also managed to keep Ferrari at the top of the Constructors Championship. M. Schumacher himself has already said that the Championship fight for him is finished, so he will be expected to be Irvine's second driver when his leg heals and he comes back in the cockpit. Recent rumours say that the Stewart team has approached the German for a drive next year. M. Schumacher has a contract with Ferrari until 2002, but with a get-out clause. Should he have to perform the role of second driver to Irvine and should Irvine win the Championship, it would not be surprising if M. Schumacher decided to leave Ferrari early. In the meantime, Ferrari must get Salo up to speed with the car if they want him to be in the position to help Irvine.
All was not well in McLaren's house today. Coulthard's attempt at overtaking Hakkinen which lead to the shunt on the second corner indicates that the roles of the two team mates are not so well defined this year as they were last season. Coulthard wants to race for the Championship rather than help Hakkinen get his. The results were evident in Austria, McLaren lost what could easily have been a victory and Hakkinen was furious as a consequence. Hakkinen's body language left no room for doubt. He went to congratulate Irvine for his victory but refused to talk to his team mate then, after the press conference, he stormed out refusing to talk to the journalists. He came back after a while and said he had had a quiet talk with Coulthard, who had admitted the accident was his fault and apologised. Hakkinen added that everything had been sorted out and things were fine again. Whether this is the case will be come clear in the next races.
| Images from La Gazzetta dello Sport Online and Raisport |
