Sunday August 29th, 1999
Coulthard leads home McLaren double
The 1999 Belgian Grand Prix was all but played out in the first corner when David Coulthard pulled across on his team- mate Mika Hakkinen to claim the lead, which he then held for the entire 44 laps. The two McLaren-Mercedes banged into each other as they disputed the La Source hairpin, Hakkinen squeezed tight to the wall, but as Coulthard gave him room again, both cars finally made it through with Coulthard in the lead and an unamused Hakkinen in second spot.
"It was an experience again," said Hakkinen referring to the two team-mates' recent incident in Austria, "Not a very pleasant one. I have no further comment," added Hakkinen, who refused to be drawn into a public slanging match , but made it clear he wasn't happy about what had happened at the start.
Coulthard would not have been in a position to challenge for the lead had Hakkinen not made a bad start from pole position. "As I felt the clutch just before the start it suddenly bit and the car jumped forward. I stopped the car and then went again when the lights went out. Considering that, I made quite a good start," said Mika. He said later that he thought he was going to be given a penalty for his jump before the start, but praised the stewards for not giving it to him due to his own actions to stop the car again after his mistake.
He pushed Coulthard hard for the first half a dozen laps but then backed off from the chase. "We were racing so hard that either the car would have broken or one of us would have gone off. The cars are so closely matched that it would not have been acceptable to try and overtake at that point," he explained. "It was better to finish second than not to get any points at all," he added
The two McLaren drivers then cruised around to a comfortable win, Hakkinen 10 seconds behind at the flag after a brief spurt just after his pit stop in which he set fastest lap of the race.. Third place went to Heinz-Harald Frentzen who started third in the Jordan. He tried to stay with the leaders, but soon dropped back as his tyres started to give up. "I had a lot of oversteer at the end of my first stint. The McLaren's were just too quick for us today," said Frentzen who had a lonely race in third.
Eddie Irvine made a great start from sixth place on the grid to claim fourth place ahead of Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher, but he was unable to stay with Frentzen and had to settle for fourth place at the flag. With Hakkinen only picking up 6 points instead of ten at this race, Irvine now trails the Finn by just one point in the Drivers' Championship. The second successive double for McLaren however puts the team a healthy nine points clear of Marlboro-Ferrari in the constructors' championship.
Considering my starting position and the problems we had with the car this was actually a good result for me," said Irvine. I am happy that I am only one point behind the new leader in the Championship as I thought it would be a bigger gap."
A single stop pit-stop strategy by the Williams team put Ralf Schumacher into fifth place by the flag ahead of Damon Hill who took the final point of the day for Jordan.
Mika Salo drove a strong race in the second Marlboro-Ferrari to claim seventh place just out of the points. The car wasn't too bad in the corners because I ran some more downforce, but it cost me straight line speed which meant I could not get past Hill and that cost me a lot of time," said Salo, who set a faster best race lap than his team-mate.
Michael Schumacher is expected to take over from Salo for the forthcoming Italian Grand Prix in two weeks time. Alex Zanardi was unlucky to finish in eighth place. After his best drive of the year, he was done out of his first points however when Williams failed to get enough fuel into the car on his planned single pit-top race, which forced him to make a second stop and lose two places.
Only six of the 22 starters failed to make it to the finish, Jacques Villeneuve scoring his first finish of the season for BAR when he took a distant 15th place, one lap down, after a one-stop race strategy. His team-mate Zonta retired with a broken gearbox 33 laps into the race.
Race Results:
Belgian Grand Prix
World Championship of Drivers, round 12;
Spa-Francorchamps, August 29th, 1999;
44 laps, 306,577 kms.
Weather: Partly cloudy and dry
CLASSIFIED
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes 1h 25:43.057
2. Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes + 10.400
3. Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda + 33.400
4. Irvine Ferrari + 44.900
5. R.Schumacher Williams Supertec + 48.000
6. Hill Jordan Mugen-Honda + 54.900
7. Salo Ferrari + 56.200
8. Zanardi Williams Supertec + 1:07.000
9. Alesi Sauber Petronas + 1:13.800
10. Barrichello Stewart Ford + 1:20.700
11. Fisichella Benetton Playlife + 1:32.100
12. Trulli Prost Peugeot + 1:36.100
13. Panis Prost Peugeot + 1 Lap
14. Wurz Benetton Playlife + 1 Lap
15. Villeneuve BAR Supertec + 1 Lap
16. Gene Minardi Ford + 1 Lap
NOT CLASSIFIED / RETIREMENTS
Driver Team On Lap Reason
de la Rosa Arrows TWR 35 transmission
Badoer Minardi Ford 33 broken suspension
Zonta BAR Supertec 33 gearbox
Herbert Stewart Ford 27 brakes/spun off
Diniz Sauber Petronas 19 spun off
Takagi Arrows TWR 0 clutch
Fastest Lap: Mika Hakkinen, lap 23, 1:53.955 (220,128 kmph)
Lap Leaders: Laps 1-44, Coulthard
Drivers Points Standings after 12 rounds:
1. Hakkinen 60 2. Irvine 59
3. Coulthard 46 4. Frentzen 40
5. M.Schumacher 32 6. R.Schumacher 24
7. Fisichella 13 8. Barrichello 12
9. Hill 7 10. Salo 6
11. Diniz 3 = Wurz 3
13. Herbert 2 = Panis 2
15. Alesi 1 = Trulli 1
= de la Rose 1
Constructors' Points Championship:
1. McLaren-Mercedes 106
2. Scuderia Ferrari 97
3. Jordan-Mugen Honda 47
4. Williams-Supertec 24
5. Benetton-Playlife 16
6. Stewart-Ford 14
7. Sauber-Petronas 4
8. Prost Peugeot 3
9. Arrows TWR 1
All Timing Unofficial