Canadian GP - Montreal 13 June 1999

Apologies for the late publication of this report. The delay was caused by Demon Internet making the FTP server unavailable yet again

Race Report

M. Schumacher took his chance as he started the Canadian GP in pole position, his first this season, cut across the field as the light changed and prevented Hakkinen from taking the lead from him. The current World Champion settled for second position, followed by Irvine, Fisichella, Coulthard and Frentzen. Trulli lost control of his car almost as soon as the race started and took out Alesi and Wurz with him. Wurz had almost managed to stay clear of Trulli's car, but his gearbox failed and the Austrian had to retire. Barrichello too got a shunt from the accident and had to go to the pits for quick repairs. The safety car came out before the first lap was over but the race was not stopped because the track was clear. On lap three the safety car went left and the race got to a rolling start. On lap four Coulthard took fourth position away from Fisichella and got started in his chase of Eddie Irvine. On the same lap Zonta, who had overshot a bend and hit the barrier, parked his car by the side of the track and retired, causing the safety car to come out again to allow for the tractor to remove the BAR. The safety car allowed Hakkinen to catch up with M. Schumacher, who had been building up a gap. At this point the temperature had gone up from 44 degrees Centigrade to 46, sparking fears that the cars could overheat. Damon Hill had even started the race with a drenched suit to fight the heat, while some mechanics had been stuffing ice packs in their overalls. Barrichello had managed to rejoice the race and was running in last position. As the safety car left the track for the second time, Herbert started attacking Frentzen for sixth position. On lap 11 Tagaki went out and retired. On lap 16 Damon Hill's hopes were dashed when he hit dust over a kerb, lost control of the car and hit the wall in the same place as Zonta. Because Hill's car was further down the track than Zonta's (who had stopped at the exit of the bend), the safety car did not come out. On lap 17 Barrichello went back to the pits and retired, his car suffering from the damage caused in the accident with Trulli. On lap 24 De La Rosa was the first driver to go for a pit stop but after refuelling he could not get the car into gear and had to retire from last position. On lap 25 Herbert went for his pit stop (9.5 seconds), losing position to Villeneuve, Diniz and R. Schumacher. On lap 30 M. Schumacher committed the same mistake as Zonta and Hill, picked up dirt from the kerb, lost control, hit the wall sideways at the exit of the bend and retired, leaving Hakkinen in the lead. Ferrari's hopes were now resting with Irvine, who was running in second position. A few laps later Villeneuve did the same as M. Schumacher and the other drivers, hit the kerb, lost control, hit the wall and retired from his home GP, on the circuit named after his father Gilles. The Canadian was visibly limping when he got out of his car, having suffered a rather violent impact. Because of Villeneuve's accident the safety car came out again and most drivers took their chance to go for their pit stops, including Hakkinen, Irvine, Zanardi and Coulthard. On lap 37 Fisichella and Frentzen, in fourth and fifth position, pitted at the same time. On lap 40 the safety car left and the race restarted yet again, with Irvine trapped behind Badoer and with Coulthard following him closely. Coulthard decided to attack for second position, overtook the Ferrari, but Irvine fought back and retook his position as he and Coulthard entered the bend. Irvine was almost a full car length ahead, but Coulthard refused to give up and collided with the inside of the back of Irvine's car. Both drivers went on the dirt as a result of the shunt and both managed to keep control of the car and rejoin at the back of the field. Fisichella found himself in second position, but stuck behind a duel between Badoer and Panis, both lapped. Fisichella tried to overtake Badoer and Panis, but went wide and opened the door to Frentzen, who took second position. The fourth, fifth and sixth position at this stage were occupied by R. Schumacher, Herbert and Diniz. Fisichella finally managed to overtake the two lapped cars and set off in the chase of Frentzen. Irvine, in the meantime, had been running the race of his life, making up positions at high speed to get back into the points. Coulthard had had to go back to the pits after the shunt with Irvine and, despite having rejoined the race, had little hope of getting points. Irvine stormed past Diniz to get into sixth position, made a little mistake, recovered and started chasing Herbert. At this point the race officials started handing out 10-seconds stop-go penalties, the first two to Panis and Badoer for not having got out of Fisichella and Frentzen's way despite being blue-flagged several times, then to Coulthard and Zanardi for speeding in the pit lanes, taking away the Scot's last hopes of gaining points in Canada. Irvine kept on attacking Herbert, who kept the Irishman under control with the driving skill and experience he has not had the chance to show so far this season. After a few attempts, on lap 53 Irvine finally found the gap and overtook the Stewart. Neither driver was prepared to give up and they both entered the bend too fast, taking a trip on the dirt. They both recovered and rejoined with Irvine in fifth position and Herbert in sixth. Because Irvine had already overtaken Herbert when they both cut the corner, he was not considered to have gained a position and was not penalised. On lap 58 Irvine used Ferrari's superior speed to storm past R. Schumacher's Williams and took fourth position. With only a few laps left it seemed nothing could change but Frentzen, who had been comfortably in second position, suffered from brake failure and went on straight into a wall. It was immediately obvious that his accident was serious because he did not try to remove the steering wheel and get out of the car, though he was obviously conscious. The safety car came out yet again as Frentzen was being attended to. The steering wheel was removed from the Jordan and Frentzen was helped out of the car. He could walk but had to be supported by two people. He had badly bruised his right leg and left shoulder in the accident. The safety car stayed out until the end of the race, the first time ever that a GP ends behind the safety car. With no overtaking allowed, the finishing positions were: Hakkinen, Fisichella, Irvine, R. Schumacher, Herbert and Diniz. Coulthard finished just out of the points in seventh position. The Canadian GP avenged the boredom of the Spanish GP by showing the kind of driving and overtaking most people miss from modern extra-safe F1. Irvine in particular ran an incredible race, taking risks and carrying out hazardous and spectacular manoeuvres in his bid to gain points after the shunt with Coulthard. Overall, the race was characterised by the presence of the safety car, which started and ended the GP, as well as featuring consistently throughout it. There is likely to be a call to look at safety of the circuit after several drivers, including experienced people such as Hill, M. Schumacher and Villeneuve all committed the same mistake and hit the wall in the same place. Both Hill and M. Schumacher said afterwards that it had been their fault and both gave the same exact explanation of what had happened: the fine dust on the kerb just before the bend caused them to lose control of their cars. Ferrari was definitely the superior car in Canada and, were it not for M. Schumacher's error and Irvine's accident with Coulthard, it could have been a Ferrari one-two. Instead, just as Ferrari seemed to be stronger, Hakkinen overtook M. Schumacher in the Championship table and it was Irvine's points that still give Ferrari the edge over McLaren in the Constructor's Championship. After today's performance, Irvine, the real Ferrari star in Canada, will probably be offered a contract renewal from Ferrari. Frentzen finally showed the high standard he is able to drive to and it was a shame that a mechanical failure deprived him of his points so close to the end. Despite his bruises, his doctors se no reason why he should not compete in the next GP. Herbert too finally shone in his fight with Irvine and got his first Championship points (and his first finish of the season), as a gift for Jackie Stewart's 60th birthday. Fisichella drove a good race and his only mistake was to leave the door open to Frentzen when trying to overtake Badoer and Panis. R. Schumacher too showed that he is not just "Michael's brother", but a racer in his own right, while Diniz gained his first point of the season for Sauber. Hakkinen won the race without even really trying, more by luck that by effort. Next appointment is in France on the 27th of June.

Finishing Times - Canada

Position	Driver	Car	Time
1st	Mika Hakkinen	McLaren	1h41'35"727 (average: 180,155 km/h)
2nd	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton	+0"721
3rd	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	+1"796
4th	Ralf Schumacher	Williams	+2"391
5th	Johnny Herbert	Stewart	+2"084
6th	Pedro Paolo Diniz	Sauber	+3"710
7th	David Coulthard	McLaren	+5"03
8th	Marc Gené	Minardi	+1 lap
9th	Olivier Panis	Prost	+1 lap
10th	Luca Badoer	Minardi	+2 laps
11th	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan	+4 laps

Fastest Lap

Driver	Lap	Time
Eddie Irvine	62	1'20"600

Starting Grid

1. Michael Schumacher (Ger/Ferrari) 1'19"298 2. Mika Hakkinen (Fin/McLaren-Mercedes) 1'19"327 3. Eddie Irvine (Irl/Ferrari) 1'19"440 4. David Coulthard (Sco/McLaren-Mercedes) 1'19"729 5. Rubens Barrichello (Bra/Stewart-Ford) 1'19"930 6. Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Ger/Jordan-Mugen Honda) 1'20"158 7. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita/Benetton) 1'20"378 8. Jean Alesi (Fra/Sauber) 1'20"459 9. Jarno Trulli (Ita/Prost-Peugeot) 1'20"557 10. Johnny Herbert (Eng/Stewart-Ford) 1'20"829 11. Alexander Wurz (Aut/Benetton) 1'21"000 12. Alex Zanardi (Ita/Williams) 1'21"076 13. Ralf Schumacher (Ger/Williams) 1'21"081 14, Damon Hill (Eng/Jordan-Mugen Honda) 1'21"094 15. Olivier Panis (Fra/Prost-Peugeot) 1'21"252 16. Jacques Villeneuve (Can/BAR) 1'21"302 17. Riccardo Zonta (Bra/BAR) 1'21"467 18. Pedro Diniz (Bra/Sauber) 1'21"571 19. Toranosuke Takagi (Jap/Arrows) 1'21"693 20. Pedro de la Rosa (Spa/Arrows) 1'22"613 21. Luca Badoer (Ita/Minardi-Ford) 1'22"808 22. Marc Gené (Spa/Minardi-Ford) 1'23"387

Images from La Gazzetta dello Sport Online and Raisport