The 1999 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 30 May 1999 at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain. It was the fifth race of the 1999 Formula One season. The 65-lap race was won from pole position by Mika Häkkinen, driving a McLaren-Mercedes, with team-mate David Coulthard second and Michael Schumacher third in a Ferrari.
Report
Race
Mika Häkkinen, starting on pole for the fifth time in 1999, got off the line quickly and began building a gap between him and second place. David Coulthard and Jacques Villeneuve, starting third and sixth respectively, had great starts and were able to take second and third place by the first corner. Eddie Irvine, starting second, had a poor start and fell to fifth place after being passed by Coulthard, Villeneuve, and then in the second corner, his teammate Michael Schumacher. Olivier Panis and Marc Gené failed to start, with Gené retiring and Panis able to continue on in last place.
The McLaren duo of Häkkinen and Coulthard began building up a substantial gap, with the Ferraris being held up by Villeneuve. Eddie Irvine, on lap 23, became the first of the front runners to pit. Mika Häkkinen came in the next lap, and had built up such a lead that he only fell to second place. Villeneuve and Schumacher both stopped simultaneously, but Villeneuve's stop was longer and Schumacher was able to pass Villeneuve in the pits. Irvine was also able to capitalize on Villeneuve's slow stop to pass him.
After pitting, Michael Schumacher was initially caught behind Heinz-Harald Frentzen, but once past, he began the task of chasing down David Coulthard, fourteen seconds ahead. Schumacher closed to within a second of Coulthard on lap 41, but he pitted the next lap without making an attempt to pass. Mika Häkkinen pitted the lap after Schumacher, and Coulthard pitted on lap 45. Coulthard's stop was slightly faster that Schumacher's, and came out just ahead of Schumacher. Schumacher was able to close up behind Coulthard on cold tires, but was unable to pass Coulthard. Once Coulthard's tires warmed up, he was able to pull away from Schumacher.
Jacques Villeneuve pitted on lap 40, suffering from a broken rear wing element. The mechanics pulled the broken element off the wing, but first gear broke when Villeneuve tried to leave his pit box, and he retired.
Michael Schumacher made another late charge on David Coulthard as the two battled through the lap traffic of Damon Hill, Rubens Barrichello, and Toranosuke Takagi. Schumacher ran out of time, however, and finished the race in third place behind Coulthard. Mika Häkkinen won the race by over six seconds, marking the first time that both McLarens finished a race in 1999. Only one on-track overtaking manoeuvre was reported.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Lap Gap 1 1 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.088 2 4 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:22.219 +0.131 3 2 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.244 +0.156 4 3 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:22.277 +0.189 5 11 Jean Alesi Sauber-Petronas 1:22.388 +0.300 6 22 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Supertec 1:22.703 +0.615 7 16 Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 1:22.920 +0.832 8 8 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Mugen-Honda 1:22.938 +0.850 9 19 Jarno Trulli Prost-Peugeot 1:23.194 +1.106 10 6 Ralf Schumacher Williams-Supertec 1:23.303 +1.215 11 7 Damon Hill Jordan-Mugen-Honda 1:23.317 +1.229 12 12 Pedro Diniz Sauber-Petronas 1:23.331 +1.243 13 9 Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Playlife 1:23.333 +1.245 14 17 Johnny Herbert Stewart-Ford 1:23.505 +1.417 15 18 Olivier Panis Prost-Peugeot 1:23.559 +1.471 16 23 Mika Salo BAR-Supertec 1:23.683 +1.595 17 5 Alessandro Zanardi Williams-Supertec 1:23.703 +1.615 18 10 Alexander Wurz Benetton-Playlife 1:23.824 +1.736 19 14 Pedro de la Rosa Arrows 1:24.619 +2.531 20 15 Toranosuke Takagi Arrows 1:25.280 +3.192 21 21 Marc Gené Minardi-Ford 1:25.672 +3.584 22 20 Luca Badoer Minardi-Ford 1:25.833 +3.745107% time: 1:27.834 Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 65 1:34:13.665 1 10 2 2 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 65 + 6.238 3 6 3 3 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 65 + 10.845 4 4 4 4 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 65 + 30.182 2 3 5 6 Ralf Schumacher Williams-Supertec 65 + 1:27.208 10 2 6 19 Jarno Trulli Prost-Peugeot 64 + 1 Lap 9 1 7 7 Damon Hill Jordan-Mugen-Honda 64 + 1 Lap 11 8 23 Mika Salo BAR-Supertec 64 + 1 Lap 16 9 9 Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Playlife 64 + 1 Lap 13 10 10 Alexander Wurz Benetton-Playlife 64 + 1 Lap 18 11 14 Pedro de la Rosa Arrows 63 + 2 Laps 19 12 15 Toranosuke Takagi Arrows 62 + 3 Laps 20 20 Luca Badoer Minardi-Ford 50 Spun Off 22 22 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Supertec 40 Gearbox 6 12 Pedro Diniz Sauber-Petronas 40 Transmission 12 17 Johnny Herbert Stewart-Ford 40 Transmission 14 8 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Mugen-Honda 35 Halfshaft 8 11 Jean Alesi Sauber-Petronas 27 Transmission 5 5 Alessandro Zanardi Williams-Supertec 24 Gearbox 17 18 Olivier Panis Prost-Peugeot 24 Gearbox 15 21 Marc Gené Minardi-Ford 0 Gearbox 21 16 Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 64 Illegal Undertray Mounting 7 Sources:
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher 30 2 Mika Häkkinen 24 3 Eddie Irvine 21 4 Heinz-Harald Frentzen 13 5 David Coulthard 12Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 51 2 McLaren-Mercedes 36 3 Jordan-Mugen-Honda 16 4 Williams-Supertec 9 5 Benetton-Playlife 8Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References