Sunday, 1 November 1998

Mika Hakkinen wins the Japanese GP and the World Championship despite Michael Schumacher's pole position.

Drama at the start of the race when at the second attmepted start Michael Schumacher fails to keep his engine running and stalls. He starts from the back of the grid and makes a remarkable comeback to sixth position in only 3 laps but he gets held up by Damon Hill and only manages to pass him in the pits. After the pit stops Schumacher was in third spot behind Hakkinen and Irvine. Unfortunatley due to some debris on the track from a collision between 2 back markers, Schumacher right tyre burst and Michael Schumacher retired from the race making Hakkinen the World Champion.

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Sunday, 27 September 1998

Mika Hakkinen wins the Luxembourg GP ahead of Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard. Eddie Irvine, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Gian Carlo Fisichella make the top 6.
This result was not expected given the fact that both the Ferrari's were ahead of the McLaren's in qualifying but the race was different. Eddie Irvine managed to get ahead of Michael Schumacher at the start but then gave it back at the end of the first lap, Hakkinen was third chasing Irvine and on lap eight he managed to get past him. By that time Michael Schumacher was 8 seconds ahead but Hakkinen started slashing that lead until Michael went into the pits on lap 24. Hakkinen was 5 seconds behind at that stage. Hakkinen put in some very fast laps while Schumacher was on a heavier fuel load. Hakkinen came into the pits on lap 28 and to Schumacher's surprise, Hakkinen came out ahead of him after his stop.
From that point onwards Hakkinen retained the lead till the finish. This result has placed Hakkinen back at the top of the drivers standings 4 points clear of Michael Schumacher.
This basically means that if Hakkinen finishes 1st or second in Japan he will clinch the title no matter what position Schumacher finishes in. Even if both end with equal points, Hakkinen will win based on the number of wins or second place finishes he has had.

The next and final race is in 5 weeks in Japan, it will be a very long wait !!

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Saturday, 26 September 1998

Michael Schumacher grabs pole position for the Luxembourg GP ahead of teammate Eddie Irvine and Mika Hakkinen, Fisichella, Coulthard and Ralph Schumacher make the top 6.
It now appears that Ferrari have gained an edge over McLaren with both Ferrari drivers qualifying ahead of the McLaren drivers. Also Benetton seem to have recovered from the mid season problems they had with Fisichella back in the top 5.
The qualifying times are one of the closest this season with less than a second separating the top 7 and less than 2 seconds separating the top 12.
Should be interesting to see how Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen will fight it tomorrow and what role will Eddie Irvine play.

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Friday, 25 September 1998

Mika Hakkinen sets the fastest time in today's practice sessions for the Luxembourg GP ahead of Gian Carlo Fisichella and Jacques Villeneuve. Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard and Eddie Irvine make the top 6.
Hakkinen's time was the only time under 1:20 and more than 0.6 seconds faster than Fisichella who's Benetton seems to be suited better on this type of circuit. The Jordan's of Ralph Schumacher and Damon Hill were 9th and 12th respectivley showing the weakness the Jordan's have on tight circuits.
Villeneuve setting third fastest time was a bit of a surprise as the Williams does not seem to be suited for tighter circuits.
The real times will appear tomorrow in qualifying, weather predictions are cloudy for Saturday and Showers on Sunday, this will make it even more interesting.

In other news, Williams have announced their driver line up for 99' with Alex Zanardi moving from CART and Ralp Schumacher swapping places with Heinz Harald Frentzen.

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Sunday, 13 September 1998

Michael Schumacher and Ferrari are now on track to win this year's championship following Ferrari's 1-2 finish in the Italian GP.
Michael Schumacher started from pole but had a very bad start and lost 4 places, he did recover 2 places early in the race and was 3rd behind both the McLaren's. At this stage it appeared that McLaren will finish 1-2 however on lap 16 Coulthard who had passed Hakkinen (probably due to brake problems experienced by Hakkinen) had a massive engine blow which even affected Hakkinen who got distracted and made an error that allowed Michael Schumacher to take the lead.
From that point onwards Michael Schumacher kept the lead and towards the end of the race while Hakkinen was closing up on Michael he lost it and was lucky to be able to rejoin, his car was off balance and lost 2 places and finished 4th. The championship is now tied at 80 points but Ferrari seem to have the momentum and McLaren will be in disarray but you never know !!.

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Saturday, 12 September 1998

Michael Schumacher grabs pole position for the Italian Grand Prix ahead of Jacques Villeneuve and Mika Hakkinen. David Coulthard, Eddie Irvine and Ralph Schumacher make the top 6.
The qualifying session was run in dry conditions however the track was damp and tricky. Most drivers only managed to match the times of Friday's practice sessions. This is only the second time this season that a McLaren is not on Pole. It is also the first time this season that Michael Schumacher has grabbed pole position and it is also the first time this season that a Williams is in second position.
Dissapointement for Frentzen who having set the fastest times in the wet only managed 12th position and Damon Hill winner of the last race only managed 14th. Ricardo Rosset has continued his improved form by outqualifying his teammate Tora Takagi.

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Friday, 11 September 1998

Eddie Irvine sets the fastest time in today's practice sessions for the Italian Grand Prix ahead of teammate Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard. Jacques Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen and Heinz-Harald Frentzen make the top 6.
Jarno Trulli in a Prost was a surprise 7th fastest while Ricardo Rosset was 15th much higher than usual. Jean Alesi didn't manage a single competitive lap and the Benetton teammates where 0.001 seconds apart in 9th and 10th.
Both Ferrari and McLaren had problems in both the practice sessions so expect some fierce competition for tomorrow's qualifying session.

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Sunday, 30 August 1998

Wet, Spectacular and unpredictable is what I can describe the Belgian GP.
It was the wettest race this season, it had the most crashes I can remember and after all that a Jordan 1-2 finish when most other teams had one car damaged before the end of the first lap !!
9 cars where damaged just after the first start when Coulthard lost it coming out from the first corner. He slid across the track and bounced back, almost everyone behind him became involved in the accident. The crash was spectacular.
The race was restarted after 50 minutes and the second start was less damaging but Mika Hakkinen and Johnny Herbert were out at the first corner. The drama did not end there, on lap 25 Michael Schumacher was trying to lap David Coulthard when Coulthard slowed down unexpectedly and Schumacher just crashed into him and ended up on 3 wheels !! (he drove his car all the way back to the pits on 3 wheels). Then Fisichella approaching the pits crashed into a Nakano for yet another spectacular crash.
In the end only 8 cars finished with Damon Hill, Ralph Schumacher and Jean Alesi the top 3.

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Saturday, 29 August 1998

Mika Hakkinen grabs pole position in the last minute of the qualifying session ahead of teammate David Coulthard. Damon Hill was third ahead of Michael Schumacher, Eddie Irvine and Jacques Villeneuve.
Both the McLaren's are in a league of their own (as usual !!). They are around 1 second ahead of third place Damon Hill. The top 8 are within 2 seconds of Pole time. It will be very hard to beat the McLaren's tomorrow with this kind of gap unless it rains.
Apart from Damon Hill qualifying third, there are no other surprises at the front, however the real surprise is at the back of the grid where Ricardo Rosset has not only qualified but managed 20th position ahead of both the Minardi's, well done Rosset !!
It is make or break time for Michael Schumacher and Ferrari, will he be able to challenge the McLaren's or will Hakkinen extend his lead again. Also watch out for Damon Hill !!

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Friday, 28 August 1998

Michael Schumacher sets the fastest time in today's practice sessions ahead of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard. Damon Hill, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jacques Villeneuve make the top 6.
Michael Schumacher was only 0.011 faster than Hakkinen, it was very close between the top 3. Jacques Villeneuve had a very heavy crash during the second practice session, his car was badly damaged but he is OK. He still managed sixth fastest and was fourth fastest in the fisrt practice session.
The weather is unpredictable at Spa so it will be no surprise if it does rain during qualifying or the race.

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Sunday, 16 August 1998

Michael Schumacher drives a superb drive and wins the Hungarian GP ahead of David Coulthard and Jacques Villeneuve. Damon Hill, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Mika Hakkinen make the top 6.
It was mainly superb driving, an excellent pit strategy and Hakkinen's gearbox problem which won the race for Michael. He started 3rd and remianed 3rd after the start, he was on a 3 stop strategy but which appeared at the first pit stop as a 2 stop strategy. This has probably fooled McLaren who brought both of their cars shortly after Michael mad his second pit stop. His second pit stop was very fast and that allowed him to take the lead after both McLaren's also stopped. Hakkinen was leading Michael before the second stop by around 5 seconds, he rejoined after his stop behind Michael by 2 seconds. The gap started increasing by around 2 seconds a lap and Hakkinen started slowing down and actually allowed Coulthard to pass. This appeared to be already late as Michael built enough of a cushion to stop for the thrid time and rejoin in front 5 seconds ahead of Coulthard. Meanwhile Hakkinen slipped back further as he couldn't hold his 3rd position ahead of Villeneuve, Hill nor Frentzen, finishing 6th and meaning that the championship is back on now since he is only leading by 7 points. The remaining race are all fast-circuits which Ferrari seem to have struggled in the past but with 7 points the difference you cannot count on that.

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Saturday, 15 August 1998

Mika Hakkinen grabs his 8th pole position of the season for the Hungarian GP ahead of teammate David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher. Damon Hill, Eddie Irvine and Jacques Villeneuve make the top 6.
It was yet another complete domination from the McLarens, with another 1-2 qualifying, Hakkinen the only driver qualifying under 1:17. He is 0.158 seconds ahead of Coulthard and 0.393 seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher. Damon Hill again proved that this is a special circuit to him qualifying 4th while Eddie Irvine was 5th just ahead of Jacques Villeneuve.
The top 3 are within 1 second of pole, the top 6 are within 2 seconds of pole. It seems that a lot of cars will be lapped tomorrow !!
Most dissapionting was Olivier Panis who only managed 20th, one must be wondering what is happening to the Prost team. Also dissapointing as usual was Ricardo Rosset who yet again failed to qualify while his teammate Takagi is in 18th position.

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Friday, 14 August 1998

David Coulthard sets the fastest time in today's practice sessions ahead of teammate Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher. Jacques Villeneuve, Eddie Irvine and Damon Hill make the top 6.
The first session was a wet one while the second was under clear skies. Only Coulthard managed to clock a time under 1:20, the gap between the top 6 is less than 1 second. The Stewart's seem to have improved with Barichello 10th and Verstappen 12th. The Prost team on the other hand seem to be in deep trouble with Panis in 16th and Trulli last, a place usually occupied by Ricardo Rosset.
Weather forecast predict sunny weather tommorrow but chances of thunderstorms on Sunday. Temperatures are expected to be in the low 30's. Should be an exciting qualifying session with the 2 McLaren's, Schumacher and Villeneuve fighting it out.

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Sunday, 2 August 1998

Mika Hakkinen takes a step closer towards winning this year's drivers championship by winning the German GP ahead of teammate David Coulthard and Jacques Villeneuve. Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher and Ralph Schumacher make the top 6.
The race started with Hakkinen and Coulthard both having good starts but Villeneuve had a bad one losing 2 places to 5th. Michael Schumacher made an excellent start and managed to gain 2 places to 7th position just behind Irivne.
Villeneuve managed to gain a place back by overtaking Damon Hill. Ralph Schumacher who was 3rd was on a two stop strategy while most of the others were on one, this turned out to be a mistake as he lost his 3rd position and ended in 6th place.
No major dramas during the race apart from several incidents with Eddie Irvine who seemed to struggle with Ferrari, he made a mistake when Michael Schumacher was pushing him and then several mistakes when he was pushing Fisichella fighting for 7th position.
Williams seem to have made a lot of progress with the car especially on low downforce circuits, Jordan have both cars finish in the points for the first time this season but Ferrari seem to struggle on this type of track with Michael Schumacher finishing 5th without having any real threat to Damon Hill ahead of him.
Next race is in Hungary which is a high downforce circuit, a circuit which is close to Monaco in terms of tights and twists.

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Saturday, 1 August 1998

Mika Hakkinen grabs pole position for the German GP ahead of teammate David Coulthard and Jacques Villeneuve, Ralph Schumacher, Damon Hill and Eddie Irvine make the top 6.
Hakkinen was in a league of his own outqualifying Coulthard by more than half a second and recording a faster time than last year's pole time set by Gerhard Berger.
Villenuve who was very impressive, was only 0.527 seconds behind Hakkinen. Both the Jordan's were also impressive qualifying 4th and 5th and in a real surprise, Eddie Irvine has outqualified his teammate Michael Schumacher who only managed 9th position.
The top 3 are almost within half a second from pole, while the top 11 are within 2 seconds from pole. It is extremely tight between 5th and 10th positions were the margin is less than 0.3 seconds !!.
Ricardo Rosset crashed heavily during the closing stages of the final practice session, his car was badly damaged and decided not to particpate in the qualifying session.
It will be an interesting race in the midfield and if the McLaren's show realiability problems, it could be anyone's race.

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Friday, 31 July 1998

Mika Hakkinen was fastest in today's practice sessions ahead of David Coulthard and Damon Hill. Alesi, Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine make the top 6.
While the McLaren's dominated, it was Damon Hill who was most impressive setting the 3rd fastest, Jean Alesi was also impressive with the 4th fastest time ahead of both the Ferrari's. The Williams pair were 7th and 8th while both the Benetton's were dissapointing in 12th and 13th place.

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Sunday, 26 July 1998

Mika Hakkinen wins the Austrian GP ahead of David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher. Eddie Irvine, Ralph Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve make the top 6.
It was an impressive drive by Hakkinen who had a perfect start and managed to get past Alesi and Fisichella and keep the lead till the end, he kept off numerous challenges by Michael Michael Schumacher at the early stages of the race until Michael Schumacher made a mistake and went wide damaging his car. He had to come in for a pit stop and rejoined at the back of the grid (16th place). He also drove impressively and managed to finish in 3rd place although the passing of his teammate Eddie Irvine was more of a team tactic rather than a brake problem as he claimd.
David Coultard was most impressive, having qualified in 14th position and being hit by Mika Salo which caused him to pit and rejoin at the end of the field, he managed to get back to second almost halfway through the race.
It seems the McLaren's are back at the top and we will see if they manage to keep it that way next week at the German Grand Prix.

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Saturday, 25 July 1998

Gian Carlo Fisichella grabs his first ever Pole position ahead of Jean Alesi and Mika Hakkinen. Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and Mika Salo make the top 6.
It was a the first wet qualifying session this season. This allowed the lesser powered cars like the Arrows and the Stewart to be up front with the Benetton, McLaren and Ferrari.
Most dissapointing were Wurz in 17th and Herbert in 18th given the fact that their teammates are 1st and 2nd respectively !!. David Coulthard was way down in 14th place. Jacques Villeneuve was back in 11th place after spinning in the 43rd minute and making it just in time to get in the spare car.
Fisichella was so impressive, he was the only driver to lap under the 1m30s and he is more than 0.7 seconds ahead of second place Jean Alesi. 1 second separates the top 4 and 2 seconds separates the top 7. This is not a very good indication if the race tommorow is under dry conditions which is forecasted.
If it turns out a dry race, it should be an exciting race with plenty of overtaking for a change.

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Friday, 24 July 1998

David Coulthard sets the fastest time in today's practice sessions ahead of Gian Carlo Fisichella and Mika Hakkinen, Herbert, Barrichello and Wurz make the top 6.
Fisichella was only 1/1000 of a second slower than Coulthard and Hakkinen was only 0.043 seconds slower. Herbert and Barichello were suprisingly fast and around 0.5 of a second slower than Coulthard. Michael Schumacher was in 7th place follwed by Eddie Irvine.
Williams were very dissapointing with Villeneuve in 13th place and Frentzen back in 17th. Ricardo Rosset was racing on his own in 22nd almost 2 seconds slower than Tuero who was in 21st place.
Less than a second separates the top 11 and less than 2 seconds separate the to 18. Sounds like an exciting formula for the qualifying session tomorrow.

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In other news, Michael Schumacher has re-signed with Ferrari until the 2002 and Jacques Villeneuve has decided to join his friend and ex-manager Craig Pollock at BAR next season.
 

Sunday, 12 July 1998

Michael Schumacher wins the British GP ahead of Mika Hakkinen and Eddie Irvine. Wurz, Fisichella and Ralph Schumacher make the top 6.
It was a wet race with some drivers racing on intermediates while others on full wet. At the start the top 2 kept their positions but Villeneuve in third slipped back to 5th place allowing Coulthard into 3rd.
It was thought that Schumacher will be able to pass Hakkinen in the wet but in fact it was Coulthard who managed to catch up and pass Schumacher. Coulthard then continued to press hard chasing Hakkinen until he lost it while trying to pass some backmarkers.
When Hakkinen was more than 30 seconds clear of Michael Schumacher he lost it but managed to get back on the track without losing his position then rain started falling again and the saftey car was out. This allowed Schumacher back into the race, when rain eased and the saftey car went back into the pits, Schumacher managed to pass Hakkinen when Hakkinen almost lost it again. It was later revealed that Hakkinen had damaged his front wing when he spun the first time.
Towards the end of the race, Michael Schumacher was given a 10 second penalty for passing under a saftey car situation. He went into the pits on his last lap crossing the line in the pit lane thus adding 10 seconds to his race time. Hakkinen was 22 seconds behind which still allowed Schumacher to win the race.

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Saturday, 11 July 1998

Mika Hakkinen grabs pole position for the British GP ahead of Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve. Coulthard, Irvine and Frentzen make the top 6.
This is the first time that a Williams has managed to outqualify a McLaren which must be a big boost for the Williams team. Damon Hill was just outside the top 6 with Alesi and Herbert behind.
Only the top 3 are within 1 second of Pole time and the top 10 are within 2 seconds.
Benetton were dissapointing with Fisichella and Wurz in 11th and 12th positions.
Rain did not fall during qualifying but a wet race is expected tomorrow.

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Friday, 10 July 1998

David Coulthard sets the fastest time in today's practice sessions ahead of Hakkinen and Frentzen. Villeneuve, Irvine and Fisichella make the top 6.

The Williams team were the closest to McLaren today, less than 0.5 seconds behind. Ferrari were more than a seond behind the McLaren's.
It appears that Williams have closed the gap but it all depends on qualifying tomorrow.
There is a possibility of rain on Saturday and Sunday which could make the race very exciting.

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Sunday, 28 June 1998

Michael Schumacher wins the French GP ahead of teammate Eddie Irvine and Mika Hakkinen. Jacques Villeneuve was 4th followed by Alexander Wurz and David Coulthard.

At the start of the race, Jos Verstappen stalled his car causing the race to be restarted. At the restart, both the Ferrari's had great starts while both the McLaren's had terrible starts. After the first lap it was Michael Schumacher followed by Eddie Irvine and Mika Hakkinen.
Eddie Irvine successfully managed to hold the challenge of both the McLaren's throughout the race which resulted in easing the pressure off Michael Schumacher who went on to win the race. David Coulthard had a very bad first stop due to a problem with his refuelling nozzle. The problem remained when he came in for the second pit stop and his pit crew sent him back without refuelling. He managed to finish 6th.
This race was one with the least incidents and retirements so far, 17 cars were classified as finishing the race.

So the championship fight is on, with Michael Schumacher only 6 points behind Hakkinen and with 8 races to go it could be anyones championship. next race is Silverstone and it is a circuit which should favour the McLaren's.

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Saturday, 27 June 1998

Mika Hakkinen grabs pole position for the French GP ahead of Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard. Irvine, Villeneuve and Ralph Schumacher make the top 6.
Hakkinen was the only driver to lap under 1:15 and the top 6 are within 1 second of pole time. The Jordan's seem to have a big improvement while Benetton in 9th and 10th places are dissapointing. Verstappen 1st qualifying session this season was not bad, he is just behind his teammate Barrichello less than 0.5 sec. behind and Ricardo Rosset has for the first time outqualified Takagi at Tyrell.
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Friday, 26 June 1998

Mika Hakkinen sets the fastest time in todays practice sessions ahead of Eddie Irvine and David Coulthard. Frentzen, Michael and Ralph Schumacher make the top 6.
The Ferrari's seem to be very close to the McLaren's with Irvine splitting the 2 McLaren's. The Jordan's seem to have improved while Sauber with promising test results last week dissapointing.
Jacques Villeneuve spun during practice and didn't rejoin. He was way back in 17th place.

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Sunday, 7 June 1998

Michael Schumacher wins the Canadian GP ahead of Gian Carlo Fisichella and Eddie Irvine. Wurz, Barrichello and Magnussen make the top 6.

The race (as expected) was full of incidents and retirements. The race had to be restarted due to Ralph Schumacher stalling and a first corner crash involving Alesi and the two Prosts. At the restart, Hakkinen lost his gearbox at the worst possible moment just after the restart which caused another accident between Alesi, Trulli and Takagi. Ralph Schumacher had a clutch problem and retired on the first lap. The safety car was on and Coulthard was leading Michael Schumacher, Fisichella, Villeneuve, Frentzen and Barrichello.
On lap 18 Coulthard retired with accelerator problems giving the lead to Michael Schumacher who a couple of laps later went into the pits and on his way out forced Frentzen onto the gravel which made the stewards give him a 10 second penalty.
Michael Schumacher lost the lead to Fisichella due to his penalty and refeulling pit stop, but brilliant driving and an excellent second pit stop allowed him to retake the lead and go on to win the race.

World Champion Jacques Villeneuve was running strongly behind Fisichella when he attempted to pass Fisichella and spun, he rejoined but was hit by Tuero which forced him to pit and replace his rear wing. He ended the race 6 laps down.
The championship is closer now with Hakkinen leading Michael by 12 points who is leading Coulthard by 5 points. Next stop is France in 3 weeks.

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Saturday, 6 June 1998

David Coulthard grabs pole position for the Canadian GP ahead of Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher. Fisichella, Ralph Schumacher and Villeneuve make the top 6.

Coulthard managed to grab pole in the final minutes of the qualifying session after Hakkinen held pole for most of the session.
Midfield is extremely close with less than 0.3 of a second separating 6th place Villeneuve and 12th place Herbert.
The top 4 are within 1 second, the top 14 are within 2 seconds.
We could see a very exciting race tomorrow with the top 4 fighting it out and the midfield fighting for the points. Expect plenty of retirements.
The qualifying session was dry however rain is expected tomorrow.

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Friday, 5 June 1998

Mika Hakkinen sets the fastest time in todays practice sessions ahead of Michael Schumacher and an impressive Alesi. Coulthard was 4th followed by Fisichella and Frentzen in an improved Williams.

Jacques Villeneuve retired during the second practice session due to hydraulic problems with the car, he lost 40 minutes of valuable setup time. He ended the session way back in 16th position.

Rubens Barrichello was again impressive in his Stewart Ford managing 8th while his teammate Magnussen was 22nd !!. Gian Carlo Fisichella was 5th while Alexander Wurz was 12th !!. Alesi was 3rd while Herbert was 11th !!.

Showers are expected for tomorrow so we might have an interesting qualifying grid

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Sunday, 24 May 1998

Mika Hakkinen wins the Monaco GP ahead of Gian Carlo Fisichella and Eddie Irvine. Salo, Villeneuve and Diniz make the top 6.

It was an action packed race with a lot of drivers retiring due to accidents or mechanical reasons. David Coulthard retired due to a blown engine, Alexander Wurx and Heinz Harald Frentzen due to a crash, Michael Schumacher had an incident with Wurz which cost him dearly and put him out of contention.
It was a good race for Arrows with Salo unlapped and in 4th place and Pedro Diniz in 6th place. Jacques Villeneuve managed to finish 5th despite starting in 13th place, this was mainly due to front runners retiring or having problems.
Jordan, Prost and Stewart did not shape at all, Hill finished in 8th place, Ralph Schumacher retired, both Prost drivers retired and both Stewart drivers retired.

Next stop is Canada and time is running out for the teams to try to catch McLaren and Coulthard will find it really hard to catch Hakkinen.

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Saturday, 23 May 1998

Mika Hakkinen grabs pole position for the Monaco GP ahead of teammate David Coulthard. Gian Carlo Fisichella was third. Michael Schumacher, Frentzen and Wurz make the top 6.

It was a very interesting qualifying session with a very mixed grid (apart from the top 2!!). Surprise performances from Mika Salo (8th) and Jarno Trulli (10th). Frentzen showed the Williams to be improving bringing his car in 5th position but Villeneuve only managed 13th !!. Jordan's car were very dissapointing with Hill 15th spot and Ralph Schumacher in 16th spot. Panis was also dissapointing back in 18th place and finally Ricardo Rosset did not qualify.
Almost all the drivers were involved in accidents during the practice sessions and qualifying. It is also worth pointing out that Michael Schumacher did not do any lap in today's practice sessions due to an electrical problem with his car.

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Thursday, 21 May 1998

Mika Hakkinen sets the fastest time in today's practice sessions. Fisichella mananged to split the 2 McLarens and was less than 0.3 seconds slower than Hakkinen. Coulthard who is expected to beat Hakkinen was 0.8 seconds slower.
Frentzen in the Williams was 4th ahead of Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine. Villeneuve was back in 9th place, Trulli (10th) was faster than his teammate Panis (13th) and Jordan seem to be struggling here with Hill in 17th and Ralph Schumacher in 20th !!

Most teams were testing different setups for their cars so things should become more interesting on Saturday. However it seems that the Bridgestone tyres have a big advantage on this track with McLaren and Benetton 1st and 2nd. The first Goodyear runner, Frentzen is more than 1.6 seconds slower than Hakkinen.

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Sunday, 10 May 1998

Mika Hakkinen wins the Spanish GP ahead of David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher. Wurz, Barrichello and Villeneuve make the top 6.

At the start Hakkinen and Coulthard made good starts, Schumacher made a bad one and lost 2 places to Irvine and Fisichella, Irvine jumped from 6th to 3rd. This lead did'nt last because on lap 37 Irvine and Fisichella came together and ended up in the gravel. Schumacher became third again but had a 10 sec penalty fro speeding which allowed Wurz to take third place. However the second pit stop from Ferrari was much better planned than the Benneton and that allowed Schumacher back into third place.

At the start of the race, Frentzen and Alesi came together but both managed to stay in the race but lost a lot of places.

This result gives Hakkinen a 7 point lead ahead of teammate David Coulthard and gives McLaren a huge lead over Ferrari in the constructors championship.

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Saturday, 9 May 1998

Mika Hakkinen grabs pole position for the Spanish GP more than half a second ahead of teammate David Coulthard. Michael Schumacher was third. Fisichella, Wurz and Irvine make the top 6.

Sauber's Herbert was in 7th place ahead of Jordan's Damon Hill. Rubens Barrichello managed 9th position ahead of a disappointed Villeneuve.
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For the first time this year the 107% qualifying rule has been applied with Rosset in the Tyrell failing to qualify.

Comparing last year's qualifying times, all cars were slower this year. Hakkinen is only 2.5 seconds slower than his time last year, Schumacher is around 3.5 seconds slower while Villeneuve was more than 6 seconds slower !!

Fears of rain seem to have dissapeared for today and tomorrow.

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Friday, 8 May 1998

Mika Hakkinen was fastest in today's free practice sessions, almost a second ahead of David Coulthard. Herbert was a surprise 3rd followed by Irvine who was ahead of his teammate Michael Schuamcher. Frentzen was 6th, Barrichello 7th and Villeneuve 8th.

Both Benetton's and both Jordan's were outside the top 10.

While Barrichello managed 7th fastest, his teammate Magnussen was last (22nd !!)

Another interesting fact is that less than 1 second separates 7th and 15th place.

It is expected to rain on Saturday and Sunday and that will change the whole equation.

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Sunday 26 April, 1998

David Coulthard wins the San Marino GP ahead of Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine, Villeneuve, Frentzen and Alesi make the top 6.

It looked like another McLaren domination however, Hakkinen retired on lap 45 with gearbox problems and Coulthard's slowing down dramatically during the last couple of laps raises the issue of reliability with the McLaren's and could mean a near end to their domination. Ferrari on the other hand proved to be the best of the rest with Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine coming 2nd and 3rd. The Williams team have certainly made progress with Villeneuve and Frentzen in 4th and 5th. In fact Villeneuve was robbed of a 3rd place by his pit crew and a bad outlap on his first pit stop giving 3rd position to Irvine.

Alesi was an impressive but most of the reamining cars either retired or had major problems.

Next stop Spain and will the McLaren domination continue or will Ferrari and Williams catch up ?

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Saturday 25 April, 1998

David Coulthard grabs pole position for the San Marino GP ahead of teammate Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher. Irvine, Wurz and Villeneuve make the top 6.
While the top 3 cars are all within 0.5 seconds, Irvine is more than a second slower than Coulthard and Villeneuve is almost 1.5 seconds slower !!. Damon Hill (7th) has outqualified Ralph Schumacher (9th) for the first time this year and sandwiched between them is Heinz Harald Frentzen.

This year's pole by Coulthard is 2.5 seconds slower than last year's pole time set by Jacques Villeneuve.

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Friday 24 April, 1998

Mika Hakkinen was fastest in today's free practice sessions ahead of David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher. Villeneuve, Ralph Schumacher and Fisichella make the top 6.

Both the McLaren's were back on top today but closely followed by Michael Schumacher. Villeneuve who was 4th fastest seemed a bit more happier with his car. Ralph Schumacher had yet another good practice session but he is yet to finish a race !!

Fisichella was also back in form being 5th fastest while his teammate Wurz was way back in 13th spot. The second Ferrari of Eddie Irvine was using the Tyrell style X-wings but he only managed 7th. Schumacher will try the X-wings tomorrow.

Panis managed to be 8th fastest while his teammate Trulli was 17th.

Comparing last year's practice times, the McLaren's are around 1.5 seconds slower, Williams and Ferrari are around 2.5 seconds slower and most other teams are around 3 seconds slower.

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Sunday 12 April, 1998

Michael Schumacher wins the Argentinian GP ahead of Mika Hakkinen and teammate Eddie Irvine. Wurz, Alesi and Coulthard make the top 6.

Schumacher had a bad start but managed to recover and overtake Hakkinen and then fight for the lead with Coulthard, meanwhile Frentzen made a great start and ended up behind Schumacher but Irvine managed to recover and retake his position. In fact Frentzen went on a downhill from that point onwards finishing 9th !!.
Schumacher made several attempts to pass Coluthard and when Coulthard ran wide he saw an opening but Coulthard closed it and they touch. Schumacher continues but Coulthard spins and rejoins in 7th.
From that point onwards Schumacher starts opening a gap in order to make up for the 2 stops he has to make versus the one stop for Hakkinen. He manages to make his second stop while still in front and stays in the lead until the finish.

This GP was one of the most exciting for years, with several drivers fighting for positions. We also saw several overtaking manouvers some of which ended in accidents.
While the McLaren dominance has been wiped out by Ferrari in Argetnina, McLaren are expected to dominate at Imola since it is a high speed ciruit.

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Saturday 11 April, 1998

David Coulthard grabs pole position ahead of Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen. Irvine, Ralph Schumacher and Frentzen make the top 6.

The Ferrari has clearly improved with the new Goodyear tyre with Schumacher managing to split the McLaren's and Irvine qualifying in 4th position. Impressive performance from Ralph Schumacher ahead of both the Williams. World Champion Jacques Villeneuve could only manage 7th.

With Schumacher sandwiched between the 2 McLaren's we expect to see a more even race tomorrow.
 

Friday 10 April, 1998

David Coulthard was fastest in today's practice sessions ahead of Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen. Villeneuve, Irvine and Ralph Schumacher make the top 6.

Coulthard was almost a second quicker than Schumacher who was almost half a second ahead of Hakkinen and Villeneuve.

It seems that this circuit is more suited to Coulthard's driving style as Hakkinen struggled during both sessions.
The japanese driver Takagi was most impressive being 7th fastest ahead of Frentzen, Hill, Alesi and Fisichella.
Disappointing was Wurz who finished 4th in Brazil 2 weeks ago, he only managed 17th fastest today !!

The lap times today are slower than last year's times except for the McLaren's who have equalled their own times of last year, however they were down in 12th and 16th places last year respectively. Villeneuve's time today is almost 4 seconds slower than his time last year while Schumacher's time this year is almost 2 seconds slower than his time last year.
The fastest time this year is around 2.5 seconds slower than the fastest time last year. Lets see how qualifying goes.

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Sunday 29 March, 1998

Mika Hakkinen wins the Brazilian GP ahead of David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher. Wurz, Frentzen and Fisichella make the top 6.
It was the second race of the season were McLaren totally dominated, they lapped everyone apart from Schumacher and Wurz and the gap between Hakkinen and Schumacher was more than a minute.
Apart from the McLaren's, the race was decided on pit stop strategy and timing, the Bridgestone runners ran a single stop while the Goodyear runners had 2 stops. Most of the Goodyear runners did not benifit from the 2 stops mainly due to being stuck behind traffic.
Michael Schumacher started 4th on the grid and had a bad start butmade up his way back to 4th position and passed Frentzen who was running 3rd. World Campion Jacques Villeneuve started from 10th and had a great start and gained 3 positions, however bad pit timing caused to be stuck behind traffic and couldn't manage to improve on 7th. Villeneuve was one of the few who managed to overtake on the track, he passed Irvine and Alesi.
Impressive performance from Alexander Wurz who managed to finish 4th and at one stage managed to hold both Schumacher and Frentzen before pitting and towards the end of the race managed to pass Frentzen.
Disappointing race for Ralph Schumacher who spun out on the first lap (again) and Hill who finished 10th 2 laps behind Hakkinen and was later disqualified becuase his car was underweight.
So Brazil was the second one-two finish for McLaren, the next race is the Argentinian GP and the word is that it is going to be closer, how much closer ?, we'll just have to wait and see !!
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Saturday 28 March, 1998

The flying Finn grabs pole ahead of teammate David Coulthard. Third was Frentzen followed by Michael Schumacher, Wurz and Irvine.
World Champion Jacques Villeneuve only managed 10th in the spare car. His race car was damaged in an accident during morning practice.
Hakkinen, Diniz, Hill, Wurz, Panis and Irvine could have their best lap times taken away if they were found guilty of ignoring a waved yellow during morning practice.
The FIA has banned the controversial braking system which McLaren, Williams and Jordan were using. McLaren were extremely surprised by the decision but have decided not to appeal.
Comparing with last year's qualifying times, all teams are slower than last year including the McLaren pair, they are however the closest to last year's times with Hakkinen 0.4 seconds slower than his own time last year and just over a second slower than Villeneuve's pole time. All the other top teams are 1.5 to 2 seconds slower than last year.
Well the gap is closing down and hopefully we should have an exciting race.

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Friday 27 March, 1998

McLaren dominate the 2 free practice sessions again and this time without the aide of the controversial braking system.
The FIA has requested the 3 teams who use a second brake pedal or button not to use them in today's practice until a hearing is made on Saturday. The 3 teams are McLaren, Williams and Jordan. The teams who protested were Ferrari, Minardi, Tyrell and Sauber.

Despite all of that, the McLaren's were way ahead of all the rest. Hakkinen and Coulthard were almost a full second ahead of everyone else. Third fastest was Ralph Schumacher in a Jordan followed by Olivier Panis, Eddie Irvine and Alexander Wurz.
Villeneuve was 10th fastest and Schumacher was 11th fastest.

Comparing the times against last year's practice times. Both the McLaren drivers have improved their time over last year by fractions of a second. Eddie Irvine was the only other driver to improve however he was way back in 20th spot last year. All the other top teams were slower, Williams more than 2 seconds, Schuamcher's Ferrari 1.5 seconds slower and most other teams where around that margin.

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Sunday 8 March, 1998

McLaren is ready to dominate this year's Formula 1 championship. They have finished 1st and 2nd in the opening round of the championship in Melbourne today. They have also demoralised all the other teams by managing to lap all the remaining drivers. Hakkinen finished 1st and Coulthard second in a team arrangement whereby the first driver into the first corner wins the race. (they were so confident before the race). Frentzen finished 3rd while Irvine was 4th. Villeneuve only managed 5th closely followed by Herbert in 6th position. Villeneuve was running 3rd until his 1st pit stop and both Frentzen and Irvine passed him through the pit stops. Michael Schumacher retired on the 5th lap with engine trouble and his brother Ralph was involved in an accident with Magnussen and Takagi.
Only 9 cars out of the 22 participants managed to finish and apart from the McLarens they only drove 57 laps !!!.

Next race is Brazil and let us hope that the McLaren dominance does not continue otherwise the upcoming races are going to be boring !!

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Saturday 7 March, 1998

Mika Hakkinen grabs pole position for the 1998 Australian Grand Prix ahead of teammate David Coulthard. Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve share the second row and a surprise Herbert and Frentzen share the third row.

The McLarens were never really challenged, Coulthard set the early pace, Hakkinen set a better time, Coulthard set an even better one and Hakkinen broke it yet again. Schumacher managed third and Villeneuve managing fourth and failing to achieve a third consecutive pole position.

Herbert managed an impresive 5th ahead of Frentzen. Fisichella was 7th and Irvine 8th. Takagi, the new Tyrell driver maanged an impressive 13th position while both the Prosts were dissapointing as were the Arrows.

So on this circuit, it seems that the new regulations have not managed to slow the cars down and here is why: Hakkinen was almost 2 seconds faster than last years qualifying time
Coulthard was 1.5 seconds faster
Schumacher was more than .5 seconds faster
Only Villeneuve was much slower (more than 1.5 seconds) and this could due to setup difficulties during Friday's practice. Frentzen was only marginally slower (some 0.2 seconds).
Other teams enjoyed quicker times while other did not.
It seems that the new regulations will not slow the cars down but entertain the viewers with a lot of cars sliding, locking brakes and drivers working hard correcting their cars.

Tommorow will be the first test of the new cars and the new regulations under race conditions. It should be an exciting race to watch.

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Friday 6 March, 1998

Michael Schumacher sets the fastest time in today's free practice sessions ahead of Mika Hakkinen and Jacques Villeneuve. Wurz, Coulthard and Ralph Schumacher make the top 6.

Both free sessions were interrupted by rain which made it hard for all the teams to have clear runs. In the first session, Damon Hill set the early pace then Jacques Villeneuve set the fastest time. Just before the end of the first session, both Coulthard and Hakkinen set the fastest laps.
In the second session, Villeneuve improved his time to second place and Michael Schumacher drove a flying lap to set fastest lap. The session was then interrupted by rain and nobody improved after that.

Some of the surprise results were Wurz who was 4th fastest, Salo was 11th fastest. On the other hand Frentzen only managed 10th, Hill 13th, Irvine 17th and Fisichella 20th !!

So how does the new regulations compare with the older ones ?
Michael Schumacher's time was less than 1.5 seconds slower than last year.
Mika Hakkinen's time was 0.3 seconds faster than last year (probably due to Bridgestone tyres)
Jacques Villeneuve's time was 1.7 seconds slower than last year.
While we cannot judge by these times, it is expected that the new regulations will not slow the cars as expected earlier. Qualifying will give us a more accurate judgement.

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Sunday 1 March, 1998

One week to go till the start of the 1998 Formula 1 championship. This year is set to be one of the most exciting seasons ever.

With Canadian Jacques Villeneuve defending his title, Michael Schumacher trying to erase the Jerez incident, Heinz-Harald Frentzen's job on the line, Coulthard and Hakkinen driving arguably the best car, Prost running those Peugeot engines which were so impressive on those Jordan's last year, Damon Hill in a more competitive car and Jean Alesi in a Sauber. It would not be at all surprising if we see several drivers fighting for the championship. Add to all that the new grooved tyres and the Good Year pullout by the end of the season, one cannot predict who will be at the top come Melbourne.

So, what has actually happened during the last 4 months. Well here is a very brief summary :

So this is it and all eyes are now on Melbourne to see how well these teams and drivers are going to do on race day.


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