1999 Formula One World Championship (Alt)

This is a fictional account of an alternative version of the 1999 F1 season. For the real 1999 season, see the 1999 Formula One World Championship

The **1999 FIA Formula One World Championship** was the 53rd season of Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Formula One motor racing. It commenced on 7 March and ended on 31 October after sixteen races.

The Drivers' Championship was won for a second consecutive time by Mika Häkkinen, although Eddie Irvine, David Coulthard and Heinz-Harald Frentzen all had a chance of winning the title at various stages. Ferrari won their ninth Constructors' title, and their first since the 1983 season. However, Schumacher's participation in the 1999 championship was cut short due to injury at the British Grand Prix, where he suffered a broken leg in a crash. He returned for the last two races of the season in order to assist Irvine in his championship run.

The championship finale was set up in controversial circumstances: at the inaugural Malaysian Grand Prix, Ferrari took first and second places, but were disqualified for a breach of the technical regulations. They were reinstated on appeal, ensuring that Irvine had the title lead before the final race in Japan. If Schumacher won, fourth or higher would seal the title for Irvine. Schumacher took pole but lost the start to Häkkinen who then drove away at the front, never being troubled for position by Schumacher in spite of his running close all race. Had Ferrari switched their cars Irvine would have still lost the title on countback due to Häkkinen's five wins compared with Irvine's four. In the end Irvine finished a distant third and fell short in his championship title bid.

The season saw successes for the Jordan and Stewart teams, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen finishing third in the title race for Jordan and Johnny Herbert winning Stewart's first and only Grand Prix victory at the Nürburgring. The season also saw former dominant team Williams run a second season in a row without victories in spite of a few podiums from breakthrough youngster Ralf Schumacher, with two-time Champ Car champion Alessandro Zanardi finishing the season without scoring points. Former Williams driver and 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve had joined the new British American Racing team, and also finished the season with no points, having retired from 12 of the 16 races.

## Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1999 FIA Formula One World Championship. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Bridgestone.

† All engines were 3.0 litre, V10 configuration.

### Team changes

The Mecachrome engines used by Williams in 1998 were rebadged as Supertec units.

**Tyrrell -> BAR.** After three decades in the sport, the Tyrrell team was sold to British American Tobacco and its entry was used by the new British American Racing (BAR) team, with Supertec engines replacing the Ford-Cosworth units of the previous season.

Goodyear, who had supplied Williams, Ferrari, Jordan, Sauber and Tyrrell throughout 1998, left Formula One at the end of the season, temporarily leaving Bridgestone as the only tyre supplier while Formula One sought a competitor. The grooved tyres introduced in 1998 now had four grooves on all tyres; the front tyres previously had three. Wheels also were required to be tethered to the chassis in order to prevent them flying off in a crash, a feature which remains in place as of 2021.

### Driver changes

**Ayrton Senna retires, Jacques Villeneuve: Williams -> BAR, Alessandro Zanardi -> Williams, Ralf Schumacher: Jordan -> Williams.** Williams entered the season with an all-new driver pairing. Ayrton Senna retired after 14 years in the sport, While Jacques Villeneuve moved to the newly founded BAR team. Williams hired Ralf Schumacher, who had driven for Jordan in 1998, switched to Williams for the new season, and was partnered with Alessandro Zanardi, whose last stint in Formula One, for Lotus, had ended at the end of the 1994 season. In the meantime, the Italian had won the 1997 and 1998 CART titles for Chip Ganassi Racing. Heinz-Harald Frentzen replaced the younger Schumacher, taking the vacant seat at Jordan alongside 1996 champion Damon Hill. At BAR, Villeneuve was partnered with the 1998 McLaren test driver and FIA GT1 champion Ricardo Zonta, one of three rookies on the grid at the beginning of the season.

1998 Tyrrell driver Ricardo Rosset retired from racing after leaving the team at the end of the season, while his teammate, Toranosuke Takagi competed for Arrows in 1999, where he was joined by Jordan's test driver from the previous season, Pedro de la Rosa, who also made his debut at the first race of the season. Pedro Diniz left Arrows to sign for Sauber. Diniz' teammate from 1998, Mika Salo was left without a full-time drive for 1999, but he later served as an injury replacement for both Ricardo Zonta at BAR for three races, and Ferrari's Michael Schumacher for six races, scoring one second place and one third for Ferrari. Johnny Herbert, whose Sauber seat was taken by Diniz, joined Rubens Barrichello at Stewart. The two drivers who had filled Stewart's second seat in 1998 were both absent from the Formula One grid in 1999: Jan Magnussen moved to the American Le Mans Series, while Jos Verstappen became the test driver for the aborted Honda F1 project.

Minardi also fielded a completely new driver pairing: Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer, who had been absent from the grid since the collapse of Forti midway through the 1996 season, drove alongside the third rookie driver, Marc Gené, who was the reigning Open Fortuna by Nissan champion. A wrist injury to Badoer meant that Prost test driver Stéphane Sarrazin made his F1 debut at the Brazilian Grand Prix, which would end up being the Frenchman's only ever race in the series. Shinji Nakano, who drove for Minardi in 1998, tested occasionally for Jordan in 1999, while his teammate, Esteban Tuero, who was also surplus to requirements at the Italian team, left Formula One to join the Argentinian TC 2000 Championship.

## Calendar

The 1999 FIA Formula One World Championship comprised the following 16 races.

The following rounds were included on the provisional calendars published by the FIA but were cancelled:

 Argentine Grand Prix

### Calendar changes and proposed races

* The Malaysian Grand Prix was added to the calendar, held at a newly built circuit in Sepang.
* The Argentine Grand Prix was scheduled to be held at the Autódromo Juan y Oscar Gálvez as the second round of the season, but was cancelled because of disagreements between the organizer and the commercial rights holder, resulting in a five-week gap between the year's opening two races.
* There were proposals for a Chinese Grand Prix to be held at the Zhuhai International Circuit, the race was included on the provisional calendar released on 15 October 1998. The race was removed from the calendar on 20 December 1998, due to unspecified problems. The race was proposed to be moved to the autumn but this did not occur. The Chinese Grand Prix joined the calendar in 2004, with the event held at the Shanghai International Circuit.

## Results and standings

### Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top six finishers in each race as follows:

### World Drivers' Championship standings

**Notes:**

* Where two or more drivers scored the same number of points, their positions in the Drivers' Championship were fixed according to the quality of their places. Under this system, one first place was better than any number of second places, one second place was better than any number of third places, etc. For drivers with 1 point or 0 points, one seventh place was better than any number of eighth places, etc.

### World Constructors' Championship standings

**Notes:**

* Where two or more constructors scored the same number of points, their positions in the Constructors' Championship were fixed according to the quality of their places. Under this system, one first place was better than any number of second places, one second place was better than any number of third places, etc. For constructors with 1 point or 0 points, one seventh place was better than any number of eighth places, etc.