The halfway point in the season has arrived and the balance of power seems to be shifting away from McLaren to the other teams, in particular Ferrari. Where other races have been marred with controversy, typically the French Grand Prix was a rather dull affair with a relatively predictable qualifying and, after the first corner, a processional race.

Before the race

As usual there was a McLaren sitting on pole position come the end of the qualifying session but somewhat unusually the sister car was not alongside. Ferrari and Goodyear had made a big effort and Michael Schumacher had managed to get his F300 into second slot, splitting the McLaren pairing of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard who were 1st and 3rd respectively.

The Jordan drivers were enjoying a better run with Ralf Schumacher in 6th place with his team mate Damon Hill 1 spot behind him. With the French Grand Prix being number 8 of the 1998 FIA World Championship the drivers needed to start scoring points in order to keep sponsors interested in the team.

Further down the order, Benetton, Prost and Sauber were all suffering badly, the latter particularly slow considering the blistering times the drivers had set in pre-race testing. The test times, however were set in ideal conditions using new tyres and a low fuel load in "Happy Hour" when the track is coolest and more likely to produce quick times and 1pm on a hot Saturday is not ideal conditions by any stretch of the imagination.

The race

The first start for the 1998 French Grand Prix was an odd affair with a decidedly confused feeling about it.

As usual, the red lights came one one-by-one and then winked out to signify the start but Jos Verstappen (in his first race start since the last race of 1997) stalled his Stewart-Ford and caused the race to be red flagged. Although this seemed odd at the time (usually a yellow flag is suitable) in actual fact the Stewart was stuck in gear and therefore proving hard to move from the grid.

So with the race halted, the teams swarmed around their cars on the grid, doing all they could to return them to their pre-race status. Jos Verstappen made the grid, apparently against the rules, and both he and team mate Rubens Barrichello were topped up with fuel by the Stewart mechanics which is also against the rules but both infringements went unpunished.

With the cars all formed up after their second formation lap, the race was able to get underway again. This time everyone got away from the line and the race was finally on.

Although Mika Hakkinen was quicker off the line, he bogged down and let both Michael Schumacher and a fast starting Eddie Irvine (already past David Coulthard) get past him as they entered the first corner. Jacques Villeneuve, starting 5th, had also started well and slotted in ahead of Coulthard's McLaren but lost the place later in the lap.

By the end of lap 1 the top 10 looked like this:
M.Schumacher -> 1.500s -> Irvine -> 0.500s -> Hakkinen -> 0.600s -> Coulthard -> 1.500s -> Villeneuve -> 0.900s -> R.Schumacher -> 0.600s -> Hill -> 0.600s -> Wurz -> 0.800s -> Alesi -> 0.400s -> Fisichella

With Irvine acting as his rear-guard and apparently holding up the McLaren pair, Michael Schumacher was able to start building himself a lead to enable him to win the pitstop battle when the first round of stops arrived.

What was amazing was that Schumacher started to put in fastest race laps that were faster than those from the 1997 French Grand Prix despite running on grooved tyres. This is undoubtedly down to the improved straight-line speed of the cars since the width was reduced but was still surprising at such an early stage in the race.

Almost every lap, another second would be added to the lead of the #3 car and it was obvious that if the McLaren drivers were to stand any chance of winning, they would need to dispose of Eddie Irvine fairly quickly. The nature of Magny-Cours worked against them as although both "Silver Arrows" had a clear speed advantage, they were unable to follow the Ferrari closely through the long Estoril bend that leads onto the main straight and hence were unable to get close enough to pass into the hairpin. As such the only overtaking place looked to be the Lycee corner coming onto the pit straight and overtaking there often causes collisions.

The bulk of the field were also having similar problems so on lap 10 the top 10 looked like this:
M.Schumacher -> 11.000s -> Irvine -> 0.500s -> Hakkinen -> 1.000s -> Coulthard -> 7.000s -> Villeneuve -> 0.900s -> R.Schumacher -> 1.700s -> Hill -> 1.600s -> Wurz -> 3.400s -> Alesi -> 1.900s -> Fisichella

Damon Hill had, up to this point, been staying close to his team mate, Ralf Schumacher, but the appalling luck and reliability that has dogged Jordan in 1998 was about to make another appearance. On lap 15 Hill slowed dramatically, pitting and eventually retiring on lap 20 with a hydraulic failure that left him unable to accelerate or change gear.

Lap 17 saw the retirement of Ricardo Rosset with yet another air pressure problem in the customer Ford v10 that powers the Tyrrell 026.

On lap 20, Mika Hakkinen tired of circulating behind Eddie Irvine and made an attempt at passing the Ferrari driver at the Lycee corner. As so often happens it all ended in tears and Hakkinen spun his McLaren, albeit missing Irvine and managing to get underway having only dropped one place. Having lost 1 spot and contact with the top 3 cars, the Finnish driver decided to stop for fresh fuel and rubber

The disappointment of the day for Jordan was compounded a few laps later when Ralf Schumacher arrived in the pits having managed to snap his left-front tie-rod. Although the team was able to get him underway again, he lost several laps and, like Jacques Villeneuve in Canada, was to play no further part in the race.

Quick reactions from the Ferrari pit meant that Michael Schumacher stopped on lap 22 at the same time as David Coulthard. This enabled the Ferrari driver to stay on the same strategy as both McLarens, thus ensuring no unpleasant surprises after the final stops were done.

Although Michael Schumacher's stop went flawlessly, that of David Coulthard was not as smooth and this cost him vital seconds when the flap covering the refuelling nozzle refused to open, eventually leaving him back in 4th again.

With Eddie Irvine and Jean Alesi stopping on lap 23 and Jacques Villeneuve a lap later, most of the important stops were out of the way by lap 25 by which time the top 10 looked like this:
M.Schumacher -> 18.000s -> Irvine -> 4.600s -> Hakkinen -> 4.900s -> Coulthard -> 9.200s -> Villeneuve -> 1.600s -> Wurz -> 6.900s -> Alesi -> 1.000s -> Fisichella -> 7.000s -> Frentzen -> 3.900s -> Panis

Once again the nature of the circuit took over and there was little on track entertainment to keep anyone but the most dedicated F1 fan interested. It was so bad in fact that Olivier Panis' pitstop on lap 29 was the highpoint.

At the front, Schumacher was maintaining his lead over Irvine who was in turn able to keep the lead McLaren of Mika Hakkinen over 4 seconds back at all times. Hakkinen, for his part, was able to maintain a comfortable lead over his team mate and the story was the same all the way down the field more or less.

If anything, as the stint wore on, the gaps became more pronounced as the tyres lost grip and people concentrated on running smooth laps and lapping (or being lapped) cleanly.

On lap 42, the top 10 looked like this:
M.Schumacher -> 24.700s -> Irvine -> 9.200s -> Hakkinen -> 4.400s -> Coulthard -> 10.600s -> Villeneuve - > 23.800s -> Alesi -> 0.600s -> Wurz -> Frentzen -> Herbert -> Barrichello

The Minardi of Esteban Tuero retired on lap 42, suffering from terminal gearbox failure.

Lap 43 saw the start of the second round of stops, with Irvine being the first to take on his second and final load of fuel and tyres. 2 laps later his team mate stopped followed, on lap 56 by Jean Alesi.

Such was the lead of Michael Schumacher that even when his stop had been completed he was still over 9 seconds ahead of 2nd placed Mika Hakkinen. Behind Hakkinen, Coulthard was leading Eddie Irvine by 9.3 seconds.

So on lap 47 the top 10 looked like this:
M.Schumacher -> 8.900s -> Hakkinen -> 7.600s -> Coulthard -> 9.500s -> Irvine -> 3.400s -> Villeneuve -> 25.400s -> Wurz -> 9.300s -> Frentzen -> 13.300s -> Alesi -> Herbert -> Barrichello

Both the McLaren team and the two drivers will have been keenly aware that stopping Schumacher winning his second race of 1998 was looking less and less likely and to beat Eddie Irvine to 2nd or 3rd place both drivers would need to step up a gear.

Jacques Villeneuve and Johnny Herbert stopped on lap 48, Alex Wurz on lap 50 and Heinz-Harald Frentzen on lap 51, but it was not until lap 54 that the first of the McLaren drivers, Mika Hakkinen, came in.

Just before his stop, the top 10 had looked like this:
M.Schumacher -> 7.100s -> Hakkinen -> 6.800s -> Coulthard -> 12.300s -> Irvine -> 31.300s -> Villeneuve -> Wurz -> Alesi -> Frentzen -> Fisichella -> Herbert

For Hakkinen, getting out ahead of Eddie Irvine was always going to be a close thing, and sure enough, as the McLaren shot out of the pitlane and back onto the track, the Ferrari had already just managed to squeeze ahead.

Coulthard was next to stop but the earlier problem with the fuel flap manifested again and the fuel rig then decided it would not plug into the nozzle on the car. After sitting stationary for a good amount of time, Coulthard was waved out in order to come around a lap later by which time the team would have Hakkinen's rig ready.

Sure enough the second rig was used this time and Coulthard got underway with some fuel and fresh tyres. Sadly this wasn't to be the last stop for the Scotsman as the team had not been able to supply him enough fuel to finish the race and so he would have to stop a fourth time before the end of the race.

Back at the front, Mika Hakkinen had got his second wind and started to reel in Eddie Irvine and by lap 57 was within 0.5 seconds of the Ferrari driver and doing his best to pass.

Lap 58 saw Jarno Trulli finish the French Grand Prix sitting in the gravel trap after Johnny Herbert had spun and run the Italian off the road when he rejoined.

So on lap 59, the top 10 looked like this:
M.Schumacher -> 30.700s -> Irvine -> 0.500s -> Hakkinen -> 33.500s -> Villeneuve -> Wurz -> Coulthard -> Alesi -> Frentzen -> Herbert -> Fisichella

For the remainder of the race Mika Hakkinen would harry Eddie Irvine but prove unable to pass the Ulsterman despite getting close at both the Adelaide hairpin and the Lycee corner on more than one occasion.

On lap 63 David Coulthard arrived in the pits for the final time of the afternoon, finally taking on enough fuel to finish the race. The very same lap saw the demise of the remaining Tyrrell when Tora Takagi suffered a huge engine failure.

The marshals left the Tyrrell in the edge of the gravel trap having been unable to move it without putting themselves at risk. So for the remaining 9 laps there was a stationary yellow flag at the corner which put paid to Mika Hakkinen having a hard run at Irvine before Lycee.

Lap 68 saw Frentzen retire in the Williams pit having damaged a track rod trying to overtake Jean Alesi's Sauber for 6th place and the final point.

Behind the Alesi-Frentzen battle, David Coulthard had been setting fastest race laps in an attempt to salvage something from the weekend and on lap 71 the Scot passed Alesi for 6th place giving him a single point despite losing over 1 minute in the pits.

On the last corner Mika Hakkinen spotted that Irvine had slowed slightly in order to prevent risking a crash on the final corner and made a lunge down the inside. As they turned out of the corner both drivers nailed the throttle and crossed the line 1/10th of a second apart with Irvine taking second place.

With Michael Schumacher winning and Eddie Irvine in second place, Ferrari had managed to score their first 1-2 finish since Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell in 1990.

The Result (72 Lap Race)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.   18. 19. 20. 21. 22.

M. Schumacher (Ferrari) G Irvine (Ferrari) G Hakkinen (McLaren-Mercedes) B Villeneuve (Winfield-Williams) G Wurz (Benetton-Playlife) B Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes) B Alesi (Sauber-Petronas) G Herbert (Sauber-Petronas) G Fisichella (Benetton-Playlife) B Barrichello (Stewart-Ford) B Panis (Prost-Peugeot) B Verstappen (Stewart-Ford) B Salo (Arrows) B Diniz (Arrows) B Frentzen (Winfield-Williams) G R. Schumacher (Jordan-Mugen) G Nakano (Minardi-Ford) B Not Classified Takagi (Tyrrell-Ford) G Trulli (Prost-Peugeot) B Tuero (Minardi-Ford) B Hill (Jordan-Mugen) G Rosset (Tyrrell-Ford)B B: Bridgestone G: Goodyear

1h 34m 45.026s + 0m 19.575s + 0m 19.747s + 1m 06.965s 1 lap 1 lap 1 lap 1 lap 1 lap 2 laps 2 laps 2 laps 2 laps 2 laps 3 laps: front suspension 3 laps 6 laps   11 laps: engine 16 laps: spin 30 laps: gearbox 52 laps: throttle & gearbox 55 laps: air pressure

• Fastest Lap: David Coulthard 1m 17.523s