1998 German Grand Prix

The 1998 German Grand Prix was the eleventh round of the 1998 Formula One Season. The race was won by Mika Häkkinen, who had taken his sixth win of the season. His teammate David Coulthard was second, with reigning champion Jacques Villeneuve securing his first podium finish of the season in third.
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==Background==
In Austria, Mika Häkkinen had increased his championship lead to eight points over main rival Michael Schumacher. His teammate David Coulthard was a further 30 points down. In the Constructor's championship, held a 12 point lead over .
Germany was the home race of championship contender Michael Schumacher, his brother Ralf Schumacher and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. McLaren had confirmed before the weekend that their line-up of Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard would be retained for 1999.
Ferrari would be bringing a revised and updated chassis to Germany to bring the fight to McLaren.
==Entry list==
No.	Driver 	Entrant 	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model 	Tyre
1 	Jacques Villeneuve 	Winfield Williams 	 	FW20 	 	GC37-01 V10 3.0 	
2 	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Winfield Williams 	 	FW20 	 	GC37-01 V10 3.0 	
3 	Michael Schumacher 	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 	 	F300 	 	047 V10 3.0 	
4 	Eddie Irvine 	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro 	 	F300 	 	047 V10 3.0 	
5 	Giancarlo Fisichella 	Mild Seven Benetton Playlife	 	B198 	 	GC37-01 V10 3.0 	
6 	Alexander Wurz 	Mild Seven Benetton Playlife	 	B198 	 	GC37-01 V10 3.0 	
7 	David Coulthard 	West McLaren Mercedes 	 	MP4/13 	 	FO 110G V10 3.0 	
8 	Mika Häkkinen 	West McLaren Mercedes 	 	MP4/13 	 	FO 110G V10 3.0 	
9 	Damon Hill 	Benson and Hedges Jordan 	 	198 	 	MF-301 HC V10 3.0 	
10 	Ralf Schumacher 	Benson and Hedges Jordan 	 	198 	 	MF-301 HC V10 3.0 	
11 	Olivier Panis 	Gauloises Prost Peugeot 	 	AP01 	 	A16 V10 3.0 	
12 	Jarno Trulli 	Gauloises Prost Peugeot 	 	AP01 	 	A16 V10 3.0 	
14 	Jean Alesi 	Red Bull Sauber Petronas 	 	C17 	 	SPE-01D V10 3.0 	
15 	Johnny Herbert 	Red Bull Sauber Petronas 	 	C17 	 	SPE-01D V10 3.0 	
16 	Pedro Diniz 	Danka Zepter Arrows 	 	A19 	 	T2-F1 V10 3.0 	
17 	Mika Salo 	Danka Zepter Arrows 	 	A19 	 	T2-F1 V10 3.0 	
18 	Rubens Barrichello 	HSBC Stewart Ford 	 	SF02 	 	VJ Zetec-R V10 3.0	
19 	Jos Verstappen 	HSBC Stewart Ford 	 	SF02 	 	VJ Zetec-R V10 3.0	
20 	Ricardo Rosset 	PIAA Tyrrell Ford 	 	026 	 	JD Zetec-R V10 3.0	
21 	Toranosuke Takagi 	PIAA Tyrrell Ford 	 	026 	 	JD Zetec-R V10 3.0	
22 	Shinji Nakano 	Fondmetal Minardi Team 	 	M198 	 	JD Zetec-R V10 3.0	
23 	Esteban Tuero 	Fondmetal Minardi Team 	 	M198 	 	JD Zetec-R V10 3.0	
==Practice Overview==
===FP1===
Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard dominated the Friday practice sessions, the 's being suited to the long straights within the Hockenheim circuit. Jean Alesi did well for to go third fastest whilst Damon Hill for was fourth.
The drivers of Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine were fifth and sixth, testing out their new longer wheelbase Ferrari for the first time. 
===FP2===
The Saturday practice sessions were once again dominated by McLaren, Coulthard led Häkkinen whilst Jacques Villeneuve was in a competitive third. Damon Hill was once again in fourth position. It was a dismal session for Michael Schumacher, the Ferrari driver managing to only complete six laps after spinning out in both sessions.
Ricardo Rosset had a major accident going into the barriers at the first corner at high speed. Although Rosset only suffered minor head injuries, he was barred from entering the qualifying session as a precaution. The implication of this was that due to his non-participation in qualifying he would be unable to qualify for the race.
Olivier Panis also had a big accident, forcing him to use the spare car in qualifying. Johnny Herbert suffered major gearbox issues which saw him only go nineteenth fastest. 
===Practice Results===
No.        	Driver         	Constructor        	FP1 	 	FP2 	 	Warm-Up 	
No.        	Driver         	Constructor        	Time 	Pos 	Time 	Pos 	Time 	Pos
1 	  Jacques Villeneuve 	Williams-Mecachrome	1:44.928 	7 	1:43.444	3 	1:45.741	4
2 	  Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Mecachrome	1:45.186 	8 	1:44.084	5 	1:47.188	12
3 	  Michael Schumacher 	Ferrari 	1:44.757 	5 	1:44.038	10 	1:46.002	5
4 	  Eddie Irvine 	Ferrari 	1:44.780 	6 	1:44.655	9 	1:46.035	6
5 	  Giancarlo Fisichella 	Benetton-Playlife 	1:46.005 	13 	1:44.129	7 	1:46.513	8
6 	  Alexander Wurz 	Benetton-Playlife 	1:45.943 	12 	1:45.153	11 	1:46.988	10
7 	  David Coulthard 	McLaren-Mercedes 	1:44.138 	2 	1:43.006	1 	1:44.812	1
8 	  Mika Häkkinen 	McLaren-Mercedes 	1:43.946 	1 	1:43.175	2 	1:45.691	3
9 	  Damon Hill 	Jordan-Mugen-Honda 	1:44.294 	3 	1:43.746	4 	1:46.460	7
10 	  Ralf Schumacher 	Jordan-Mugen-Honda 	1:45.511 	10 	1:44.114	6 	1:45.271	2
11 	  Olivier Panis 	Prost-Peugeot 	1:46.484 	16 	no time 	 	 	
1:47.588 	15 	Prost-Peugeot 	 	 	 	 	 	
12 	  Jarno Trulli 	1:45.611  	11 	1:45.343	12 	1:48.113	17 	
14 	  Jean Alesi 	Sauber-Petronas 	1:44.456 	4 	1:44.399	8 	1:46.936	9
15 	  Johnny Herbert 	Sauber-Petronas 	1:45.364 	9 	1:48.128	19 	1:47.279	13
16 	  Pedro Diniz 	Arrows 	1:46.903 	18 	1:46.677	17 	1:48.496	18
17 	  Mika Salo 	Arrows 	1:46.163 	14 	1:45.535	14 	1:47.878	16
18 	  Rubens Barrichello 	Stewart-Ford 	1:46.257 	15 	1:45.537	15 	1:47.003	11
19 	Jos Verstappen 	Stewart-Ford 	1:47.086 	19 	1:46.543	16 	1:47.261	14
20 	  Ricardo Rosset 	Tyrrell-Ford 	1:49.986 	22 	1:48.652	21 	no time 	
21 	  Toranosuke Takagi 	Tyrrell-Ford 	1:46.743 	17 	1:45.533	13 	1:48.961	20
22 	  Shinji Nakano 	Minardi-Ford 	1:48.832 	21 	1:47.366	18 	1:48.572	19
23 	  Esteban Tuero 	Minardi-Ford 	1:48.175 	20 	1:48.299	20 	1:49.001	21
==Qualifying==
The qualifying session would get underway with only twenty one competitors. Ricardo Rosset was not participating as a precaution following a heavy accident in the practice session.
The action was slow to get underway, with eleven minutes gone only Olivier Panis had set a lap time. However eventually the runners entered the track with Mika Häkkinen setting the early pace. His time however was quickly bested by teammate David Coulthard. 
Damon Hill then moved into the third fastest time. Michael Schumacher had only managed to set the provisional fourth fastest time at this stage. Eddie Irvine was directly behind teammate Schumacher. 
The two cars then began to set their lap times, Heinz-Harald Frentzen went sixth fastest, however he was bumbed down by teammate Jacques Villeneuve who took the third fastest time. 
Esteban Tuero then suffered a large engine failure, flames spurting from the back of his . Jean Alesi then improved his time to split the Ferrari's to go sixth fastest, ahead of Irvine and behind Schumacher.
Schumacher struggled to set a competitive time, his car appeared a handful as he continually locked-up his Ferrari on track. Villeneuve then took provisional pole position, the time did not last though the two McLaren's immediately responded with Coulthard taking provisional pole back before Häkkinen took the pole time. 
Toranosuke Takagi then suffered a major accident going into the first corner, Takagi outbreaking himself flew into the barriers. Takagi emerged from the wreckage unhurt. Ralf Schumacher then took provisional fourth position ahead of teammate Hill.
Coulthard then suffered an engine failure, pulling off the circuit ruining his chances for pole position. Villeneuve looked set to take second position away from Coulthard, however going wide into the final corner ruined his chances. 
Alexander Wurz then moved into fifth position, Giancarlo Fisichella then moved in behind him for sixth. Michael Schumacher struggling in eighth then got held up by the of Pedro Diniz. Schumacher angrily driving up alongside Diniz gesturing wildly for holding him up.
Eddie Irvine then improved to go fifth fastest. Takagi now in the spare car, then went off at the first corner once again, however managed to just keep it out of the barriers. Damon Hill then improved to move into fifth position, behind teammate Ralf Schumacher.
The session ended with Häkkinen taking another dominant pole, Coulthard was second followed by Villeneuve, Ralf Schumacher, Hill, Irvine, Wurz, Fisichella and Michael Schumacher. 
===Qualifying Results===
Pos.	No.	Driver 	Constructor	Time
1 	8 	 Mika Häkkinen 	 	1:41.838
2 	7 	David Coulthard 	 	1:42.347
3 	1 	Jacques Villeneuve 	 	1:42.365
4 	10 	Ralf Schumacher 	 	1:42.994
5 	9 	Damon Hill 	 	1:43.183
6 	4 	Eddie Irvine 	 	1:43.270
7 	6 	Alexander Wurz 	 	1:43.341
8 	5 	Giancarlo Fisichella 	 	1:43.369
9 	3 	Michael Schumacher 	 	1:43.459
10 	2 	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	 	1:43.467
11 	14 	Jean Alesi 	 	1:43.663
12 	15 	Johnny Herbert 	 	1:44.599
13 	18 	Rubens Barrichello 	 	1:44.776
14 	12 	Jarno Trulli 	 	1:44.844
15 	21 	Toranosuke Takagi 	 	1:44.961
16 	11 	Olivier Panis 	 	1:45.197
17 	17 	Mika Salo 	 	1:45.276
18 	16 	Pedro Diniz 	 	1:45.588
19 	19 	Jos Verstappen 	 	1:45.623
20 	22 	Shinji Nakano 	 	1:46.713
21 	23 	Esteban Tuero 	 	1:47.265
==Race==
===Report===
The start saw the two 's maintain their lead from the start, Jacques Villeneuve made a poor start dropping behind the 's of Ralf Schumacher and Damon Hill. Villeneuve, however managed to regain third from Hill going into turn 3.
Michael Schumacher made a strong start, moving into seventh behind teammate Irvine. Alexander Wurz struggled to get away, dropping down to seventeenth after his car seemed almost immobile getting off his gridbox. 
Pedro Diniz then became the first retirement on the second lap with throttle failure. The same lap Irvine then went wide into the gravel allowing teammate Michael Schumacher into sixth position.
Ralf Schumacher then began to close in on the two McLaren's of Häkkinen and Coulthard ahead of him. Olivier Panis was then given a 10 second stop and go penalty due to a jump start.
The Ferrari's failed to make an impact, Schumacher seemingly unable to close the gap to Damon Hill's Jordan in fifth position. 
Ralf Schumacher then came into the pits for a very early pit-stop from third position. He exited in ninth place.
Meanwhile up front Coulthard had begun to close the gap down on Häkkinen ahead of him, the Williams of Jacques Villenueve in third was slowly closing on the pair of them.
Giancarlo Fisichella and Heinz-Harald Frentzen then came in for their first pit-stops allowing Ralf Schumacher to move up into seventh position. The following lap saw Villeneuve and Hill make their first pit-stops of the race. Wurz who had done well to climb back to up to eighth came in for his first stop.
The following lap Michael Schumacher came into the pits for his stop rejoining in seventh position. The lap after on lap 24 saw Jos Verstappen retire from the race with gearbox failure and Eddie Irvine making his first stop. Irvine exited in eighth behind Fisichella's Benetton. 
Race leader Mika Häkkinen then came in for his first stop, Coulthard who had been coming closer and closer to Häkkinen in the recent laps then came in for his stop. Coulthard overshot his pit-box mark losing a bit of time and crucially just exiting the pits marginally behind teammate Häkkinen.
As this occured, Rubens Barrichello followed his teammate Verstappen into retire with gearbox failure on lap 27. Behind the McLaren's was Villeneuve and Ralf Schumacher. Schumacher however was forced into the pits for a second stop, his two stop strategy not working out forcing him to drop from fourth to sixth. 
Lap 36 saw Shinji Nakano retire with gearbox issues, the following lap saw Johnny Herbert retiring with the same issue. 
Häkkinen and Coulthard continued to squabble for the lead of the race, this battle had allowed Jacques Villeneuve to close up onto the rear of the two McLaren's. The Williams driver was now the fastest driver on the circuit.
Further down, there was a big battle between Fisichella and Irvine, Irvine running wide onto the grass losing time. The next lap Irvine and closed the gap up, however continued to struggle to find a way past the Benetton driver. 
In the final laps of the race, Michael Schumacher was lapping the fastest as he attempted to catch Hill's Jordan ahead of him. The Ferrari driver got stuck in traffic and lost time, Schumacher being unable to catch Hill before the end.
Mika Häkkinen went and took the race win, marginally ahead of teammate David Coulthard. Jacques Villeneve was third, taking Williams's first podium of the season. Damon Hill took his first points of the season with his fourth place, Michael Schumacher took a disappointing fifth place ahead of brother Ralf who rounded out a double points finish for Jordan.
===Results===
Pos.	No.	Driver 	Constructor	Laps	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1 	8 	Mika Häkkinen 	 	45 	45 	1:20.47.984 	1 	10
2 	7 	David Coulthard 	 	45 	45 	+0.426 	2 	6
3 	1 	Jacques Villeneuve 	 	45 	45 	+2.577 	3 	4
4 	9 	Damon Hill 	 	45 	45 	+7.185 	5 	3
5 	3 	Michael Schumacher 	 	45 	45 	+12.613 	9 	2
6 	10 	Ralf Schumacher 	 	45 	45 	+29.738 	4 	1
7 	5 	Giancarlo Fisichella 	 	45 	45 	+31.026 	8 	
8 	4 	Eddie Irvine 	 	45 	45 	+31.649 	6 	
9 	2 	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	 	45 	45 	+32.784 	10 	
10 	14 	Jean Alesi 	 	45 	45 	+48.371 	11 	
11 	6 	Alexander Wurz 	 	45 	45 	+57.994 	7 	
12 	12 	Jarno Trulli 	 	44 	44 	+1 lap 	14 	
13 	21 	Toranosuke Takagi 	 	44 	44 	+1 lap 	15 	
14 	17 	Mika Salo 	 	44 	44 	+1 lap 	17 	
15 	11 	Olivier Panis 	 	44 	44 	+1 lap 	16 	
16 	23 	Esteban Tuero 	 	43 	43 	+2 laps 	21 	
Ret 	15 	Johnny Herbert 	 	37 	37 	Gearbox 	12 	
Ret 	22 	Shinji Nakano 	 	36 	36 	Gearbox 	20 	
Ret 	18 	Rubens Barrichello 	 	27 	27 	Gearbox 	13 	
Ret 	19 	Jos Verstappen 	 	24 	24 	Gearbox 	19 	
Ret 	16 	Pedro Diniz 	 	2 	2 	Throttle 	18 	
DNQ 	20 	Ricardo Rosset 	 	 	 	 	 	
==Milestones==
==Standings after race==
;Drivers' Championship standings
Pos	Driver 	Points
1 	Mika Häkkinen 	76
2 	Michael Schumacher 	60
3 	David Coulthard 	42
4 	Eddie Irvine 	32
5 	Alexander Wurz 	17
6 	Jacques Villeneuve 	16
7 	Giancarlo Fisichella 	15
8 	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	8
9 	Rubens Barrichello 	4
10 	Ralf Schumacher 	4
11 	Damon Hill 	3
12 	Mika Salo 	3
13 	Jean Alesi 	3
14 	Johnny Herbert 	1
15 	Pedro Diniz 	1
16 	Jan Magnussen 	1
17 	Shinji Nakano 	0
18 	Ricardo Rosset 	0
19 	Esteban Tuero 	0
20 	Jarno Trulli 	0
21 	Olivier Panis 	0
22 	Toranosuke Takagi 	0
23 	Jos Verstappen 	0
;Constructors' Championship standings
Pos	Constructor	Points
1 	 	118
2 	 	92
3 	 	32
4 	 	24
5 	 	7
6 	 	5
7 	 	4
8 	 	4
9 	 	0
10 	 	0
11 	 	0
Category:Grand Prix articles
Category:1998 Grands Prix
Category:German Grand Prix
Category:Formula One races in Germany