British GP - Silverstone 11 July 1999

Race Report

The British GP was marred by an accident on lap one, which took title contender M. Schumacher out of the race, and probably out of the Championship altogether. As the lights changed Irvine had a good start and managed to put himself right behind Hakkinen, who had taken the lead, and Coulthard. M. Schumacher started badly and was fourth behind his team mate. Two cars, those of Villeneuve and Zanardi, failed to start and stayed on the grid causing the red flag to come out and the race to be stopped. The four leading drivers failed to notice the red flag as it was being displayed because they were too far ahead and continued racing, while the cars behind them slowed down in confusion. M. Schumacher, believing the race was still in progress, overtook Irvine, who made way for him. As the German passed his team mate at Stowe, he appeared to have lost control of the car, which went straight at the bend and careered into the gravel trap with the front wheels locked but the back ones still pushing. M. Schumacher's car hit the tyre barrier at an estimated 170 mph, sliced through the layers of tyres and hit the concrete wall behind them. Tyre barriers are usually covered in fabric to prevent cars from doing just that, sadly this was not the case at Silverstone. M. Schumacher was seen hitting the steering wheel with his fists in rage, then trying to lever himself out of the car and falling back in in pain. Help arrived and it became clear that the German driver had sustained some serious injury. After almost 30 minutes he was finally freed from the car and taken away on a stretcher with track personnel holding up makeshift screens to protect him from the intrusion of cameras. M. Schumacher managed to hold up his hand over the screens and wave to the public to show that he was conscious before he was put in an ambulance and then taken by helicopter to the Northampton General Hospital. When his car was finally removed by a crane, it was possible to see that the Ferrari chassis had snapped just above the pedals, where M. Schumacher's feet would have been at the time of the impact. Forty-five minutes after the scheduled time the race restarted at full distance, with Irvine having a clear track in front of him as his teams mate was no longer occupying the second spot. Irvine had a good start and managed to overtake Coulthard positioning himself behind team leader Hakkinen. Coulthard was not prepared to give in and tried to attack Irvine, who held him back. Behind them Frentzen had taken fourth place ahead of R. Schumacher who, like Irvine, had not been told the extent of his brother's injuries. Damon Hill, in what might have been the last race of his F1 career, was in fifth position, closely followed by Barrichello, Alesi and Diniz. On the second start another driver, De La Rosa, failed to start and was stuck on the grid and the safety car had to come out, but the Arrows was removed without having to stop the race again. Coulthard kept on trying to attack Irvine with no success. On lap five Badoer had to return to the pits to have a new nosecone fitted. The Italian rejoined the race only to retire almost immediately with gearbox problems, leaving his car in a dangerous place. The track computers had gone down so it was impossible to obtain clear measurements of the gaps between the cars, but the top three were holding together and getting away from the pack. Around lap 20 the first round of pit stops started, with Gené going first (8.0 seconds) from last position. Fisichella (8.8), Tagaki (8.2), Alesi (8.3), Wurz (8.4), Zanardi (7.2), Hill (8.5) and Coulthard (7.6) all stopped within a short time from each other. Frentzen and R. Schumacher, battling for fourth position, stopped at the same time but the Jordan mechanics lost time and R. Schumacher was the first out stealing a position from France GP winner Frentzen. On lap 26 Hakkinen went for his first pit stop (9.2), leaving Irvine in the lead. Hakkinen suffered a problem with a tyre while in the pits and rejoined behind Coulthard. Barrichello had gone for his first pit stop too (9.5). Irvine went for his pit stop from first place but overshot his garage and wasted some time (12.0), giving Coulthard the lead. Hakkinen, still suffering from wheel problems, had to go back into the pits on lap 28. Unluckily for him a wheel nut was stuck and he lost precious time while the McLaren mechanics tried to put a new tyre on (stop time 27.6 seconds). Hakkinen rejoined the race one lap behind everybody else and started pushing trying to make up positions. With Hakkinen's delay R. Schumacher had moved up to third position, in front of Frentzen and Hill. Hakkinen desperate chase was brought to a halt when he lost the troublesome tyre right in front of the entrance of the pit lane. The location of his accident was a blessing in disguise as he was able to just drive into the pit lane on three wheels and take the car to the McLaren garage for the mechanics to have a final desperate attempt to get him back into the race. The tyre that had come off his car bounced against the barrier back onto the track, narrowly missing Fisichella's oncoming car, and stopped in the middle of the tarmac. A brave marshal run onto the track, grabbed the loose tyre and took it away safely. On lap 31 Villeneuve was again hit by engine problems, stopped by the side and retired, causing the safety car to come out again. The Canadian has so far failed to finish a race in the new BAR team he partially owns and has not hidden his disappointment. After the safety car left the track Hakkinen started his chase by overtaking Frentzen despite being laps behind. Barrichello overtook local hero Hill for positions. On lap 34 Alesi went for his pit stop, rejoined but suffered car trouble shortly afterwards. In the meantime Hakkinen had become stuck behind R. Schumacher, who would not let the Flying Finn pass, perhaps not realising that he wasn't fighting for position, not being on the same lap. Hakkinen finally gave up, went into the pits and retired with mechanical problems. In the last third of the race Barrichello had caught up with Frentzen and was harassing him trying to get past. Around lap 37 the second pit stops started, with R. Schumacher coming out of the pits just as Barrichello was coming in. Irvine went for his second pit stop (7.1) and rejoined behind Alesi, whom he immediately overtook. Coulthard managed a faster stop than Irvine (6.3) and kept the relative lead. The second BAR retired in yet another colourless race for the team. The two Jordans had not stopped yet and were holding the top two positions. Jordan chose to pull in Frentzen (6.8) first from first position, putting Hill temporarily in the lead for the joy of the local crowd who roared its approval as its hero led the British GP in what might have been his very last race. Hill's glory lasted a couple of laps before he had to go into the pits, but it was a great retirement present from his team. Hill rejoined in fifth position behind Barrichello, who suffered a flat tyre shortly afterwards and had to go back to the pits loosing his points position. Herbert lost any hope of a good performance when he had to go for a 10 seconds stop-go penalty for having overtaken with the safety car out. Nothing else happened until the end of the race, which saw Coulthard win his first GP of the season in front of Irvine, R. Schumacher, Frentzen, Hill and Diniz. The race fight for the Drivers Championship might well have finished at Silverstone, with the elimination of one of the two main contenders. Luckily M. Schumacher's injuries are not as severe as it appeared at first and he will come back to racing, but won't be able to win this season. With Hakkinen's retirement the British GP was a "second drivers" race with McLaren still coming up on top of Ferrari, though Irvine is now joint second in the Championship table only eight points behind leader Hakkinen. Irvine is now likely to become Ferrari's first driver for the rest of the season and will receive the privileged treatment up to now reserved only to M. Schumacher. Coulthard finally managed to shake off the bas luck that has been plaguing him since the start of the season. R. Schumacher run another impressive race and finished a well deserved third. Neither he nor Irvine had been told the truth about M. Schumacher's accident before the race, as it transpired in the winners conference, otherwise he might not have been able to concentrate on the race at hand. Frentzen too lived up to his newly-found reputation by finishing fourth, just ahead of team mate Damon Hill who has concluded his F1 career by finishing in the points, although new rumours suggest that the British ex-World Champion might stay to see the current season to its end. Diniz finished sixth to gather another point for Sauber. Barrichello was forced out of what would have been another point finish by a flat tyre. With this year's performance form the Brazilian, it is not surprising that Ferrari have contacted him to replace Irvine next year, though the political games are likely to have changed after M. Schumacher's accident. Next appointment is in Austria on the 25th of July.

Images from La Gazzetta dello Sport Online and Raisport