The 1999 Japanese Grand Prix, formally the XXV Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix, was a Formula One motor race held on 31 October 1999 at the Suzuka Circuit. It was the sixteenth and final race of the 1999 Formula One World Championship. McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen won the 53-lap race after starting from second position. Michael Schumacher finished second in a Ferrari with teammate Eddie Irvine finishing third. Häkkinen's victory confirmed him as 1999 Drivers' Champion. Ferrari were also confirmed as Constructors' Champions.
This was the last Formula One race for Stewart Grand Prix, Toranosuke Takagi, Alessandro Zanardi and for the 1996 World Champion, Damon Hill.
Report
Championship permutations Going into this race, Ferrari's Eddie Irvine led the Drivers' Championship by four points from Häkkinen, 70 to 66. Häkkinen therefore needed to win the race, or to finish second with Irvine no higher than fifth, or to finish third with Irvine finishing outside the top six.
Victory for Häkkinen would give him the Championship regardless of where Irvine finished: even if Irvine finished second, both drivers would have 76 points but Häkkinen would have five wins to Irvine's four. Similarly, the Finn would be Champion if he finished second with Irvine fifth (as he would have three second places to Irvine's two), or if he finished third without Irvine scoring (as he would have four third places to Irvine's two).
Qualifying Qualifying saw Irvine's Ferrari teammate, Michael Schumacher, take pole position with Häkkinen alongside on the front row. David Coulthard was third in the second McLaren, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen fourth in the Jordan. Irvine struggled throughout, also suffering a heavy crash at the Hairpin, and could only manage fifth, over 1.5 seconds slower than Schumacher and over 1.1 slower than Häkkinen. The top ten was completed by the Prosts of Olivier Panis and Jarno Trulli, Johnny Herbert in the Stewart, Ralf Schumacher in the Williams and Jean Alesi in the Sauber.
Race Häkkinen beat Schumacher off the line, with Panis charging into third ahead of Irvine, Coulthard and Frentzen. Zanardi pulled off the track into the pits in the second Williams with electrical problems on lap 1. The Finn quickly built a comfortable lead, and it became clear that the Ferraris could not match him. As Trulli in the second Prost retired when his engine failed on lap 4.
Panis retired when his alternator broke on lap 20, meanwhile Hill retired after spinning off the track but managed to come back to the pits to retire with mental driver fatigue on lap 21 in his final Grand Prix, Coulthard passed Irvine for third during the first round of pit stops. On lap 34, Coulthard made a mistake and spun into a wall, losing his nose. He pitted and rejoined a lap down, just in front of Schumacher. It was alleged that the Scot deliberately held up the German driver, before retiring several laps later with a hydraulic failure. Schumacher later criticized Coulthard's behaviour.
Häkkinen eventually took the chequered flag five seconds ahead of Schumacher and, with it, his second Drivers' Championship. Irvine finished a minute and a half behind Schumacher in third, nonetheless helping Ferrari secure their first Constructors' Championship since . The minor points went to Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher and Alesi.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 3 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:37.470 2 1 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:37.820 +0.350 3 2 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:38.239 +0.769 4 8 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Mugen-Honda 1:38.696 +1.226 5 4 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:38.975 +1.505 6 18 Olivier Panis Prost-Peugeot 1:39.623 +2.153 7 19 Jarno Trulli Prost-Peugeot 1:39.644 +2.174 8 17 Johnny Herbert Stewart-Ford 1:39.706 +2.236 9 6 Ralf Schumacher Williams-Supertec 1:39.717 +2.247 10 11 Jean Alesi Sauber-Petronas 1:39.721 +2.251 11 22 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Supertec 1:39.732 +2.262 12 7 Damon Hill Jordan-Mugen-Honda 1:40.140 +2.670 13 16 Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 1:40.140 +2.670 14 9 Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Playlife 1:40.261 +2.791 15 10 Alexander Wurz Benetton-Playlife 1:40.303 +2.833 16 5 Alessandro Zanardi Williams-Supertec 1:40.403 +2.933 17 12 Pedro Diniz Sauber-Petronas 1:40.740 +3.270 18 23 Ricardo Zonta BAR-Supertec 1:40.861 +3.391 19 15 Toranosuke Takagi Arrows 1:41.067 +3.597 20 21 Marc Gené Minardi-Ford 1:41.529 +4.059 21 14 Pedro de la Rosa Arrows 1:41.708 +4.238 22 20 Luca Badoer Minardi-Ford 1:42.515 +5.045107% time: 1:44.293Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 53 1:31:18.785 2 10 2 3 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 53 + 5.015 1 6 3 4 Eddie Irvine Ferrari 53 + 1:35.688 5 4 4 8 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Mugen-Honda 53 + 1:38.635 4 3 5 6 Ralf Schumacher Williams-Supertec 53 + 1:39.494 9 2 6 11 Jean Alesi Sauber-Petronas 52 + 1 Lap 10 1 7 17 Johnny Herbert Stewart-Ford 52 + 1 Lap 8 8 16 Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 52 + 1 Lap 13 9 22 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Supertec 52 + 1 Lap 11 10 10 Alexander Wurz Benetton-Playlife 52 + 1 Lap 15 11 12 Pedro Diniz Sauber-Petronas 52 + 1 Lap 17 12 23 Ricardo Zonta BAR-Supertec 52 + 1 Lap 18 13 14 Pedro de la Rosa Arrows 51 + 2 Laps 21 14 9 Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Playlife 47 Engine 14 15 Toranosuke Takagi Arrows 43 Gearbox 19 20 Luca Badoer Minardi-Ford 43 Engine 22 2 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 39 Hydraulics 3 21 Marc Gené Minardi-Ford 31 Gearbox 20 7 Damon Hill Jordan-Mugen-Honda 21 Mental Fatigue 12 18 Olivier Panis Prost-Peugeot 19 Alternator 6 19 Jarno Trulli Prost-Peugeot 3 Engine 7 5 Alessandro Zanardi Williams-Supertec 0 Electrical 16
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mika Häkkinen76 2 Eddie Irvine74 3 Heinz-Harald Frentzen54 4 David Coulthard48 5 Michael Schumacher44Source:
Constructors Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari128 2 McLaren-Mercedes124 3 Jordan-Mugen-Honda61 4 Stewart-Ford36 5 Williams-Supertec35Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References