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Japanese GP Results:
Mika Hakkinen wins his second Driver's Championship by winning the Japanese Grand Prix ahead of Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine. Heinz Harald Frentzen was 4th followed by Ralph Schumacher and Jean Alesi.
As expected, the race start was crucial and Mika Hakkinen starting from second had a great start as he passed Michael Schumacher. Olivier Panis had a great start as well jumping from 6th position to 3rd. Eddie Irvine got ahead of David Coulthard .
Race order after the first few laps was Hakkinen, Michael Schumacher, Panis, Irvine, Coulthard and Frentzen.
Race order for the top 6 remained the same until the first pits stops when Coulthard managed to get ahead of Irvine and started to hold him back. Irvine then made an early second pit stop to avoid the situation while Coulthard started putting some fast laps until he spun and lost his front nose. He eventually retires from the race. Olivier Panis also retired due to engine problems.
After the second pit stops, Hakkinen remains in the lead ahead of Michael Scumacher and Eddie Irvine. Frentzen was 4th followed closely by Ralph Schumacher and Jean Alesi.
The race finished in that order giving Mika Hakkinen his second consecutive World Drivers Championship and Ferrari their 1st World Constructors Championship in 20 years.
So the 1999 season has come to an end. Pre-season testing starts next month and we are looking forward to the first race of the 2000 season in Mebourne on March the 12th.
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Japanese GP Qualifying:
Michael Schumacher grabs pole position ahead of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard. Frentzen, Irvine and Panis make the top 6.
It was a very interesting qualifying session with Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen trading fastest times. With 7 minutes to go Eddie Irvine spun and crashed. The session was red flagged and when it restarted, Hakkinen was on a charge but Jean Alesi spun in front of him and Hakkinen had to abort his final lap in order not to crash into Alesi.
Apart from the first 5, the grid is a bit strange with Panis and Trulli both in the top 10 (6th and 7th), Herbert in 8th, Ralph Schumacher in 9th and Jean Alesi in 10th. Villeneuve was 11th followed by Damon Hill in the second Jordan in 12th and Rubens Barrichello back in 13th place.
So the grid positions have been determined now, the strategires will be drawn up tonight. The start will be crucial as Michael Schumacher can try to hold up everyone and allow Irvine to catch and pass the McLaren's. On the other hand Coulthard is ahead of Irvine and he could block him and allow as many cars to pass them as he could. The situation is tricky as Hakkinen can win the WC if he wins the race regardless of were Irvine is, however he can still win it if he finishes second provided that Irvine is 5th or lower.
It will be a very interesting race no doubt.
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Japanese GP Friday Practice Sessions:
Mika Hakkinen clocked the fastest time in today's practice sessions ahead of David Coulthard and Heinz Harald Frentzen. Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and Alex Zanardi make the top 6.
Both Mclaren's clocked their fastest times in the morning session. Hakkinen appears to have concentrated on race setup in the 2nd session rather than better his time. David Coulthard crashed midway into the second session. Both Ferrari drivers also clocked their fastest times during the first session while Frentzen actually improved in the second session.
Although it is difficult to read much into the times clocked today, it appears that the McLaren's are more suited to this track than the Ferrari's. Looking at Irvine's times, in the first session he was 6th but more than 1.5 seconds slower than Hakkinen. He didn't imporve his time in the second session and ended up in 10th place.
Damon Hill didn't have a good day, on his first lap of the day, he spun and went into the gravel ending his first session. In the second session he only managed 16th. This is Hill's last race in Formula 1 and Eddie Jordan is certainly expecting more from Hill.
The Stewart of Barrichello was impressive in 5th while his teammate Herbert was way back in 20th. IT is crucial for Stewart to score a good result in Japan if they want to maintain 4th place ahead of Williams.
Alex Zanardi was impressive as well in 6th place while Ralph Schumacher was 11th.
Olivier Panis clocked the 7th fastest time while his teammate was 19th. Fisichella was 8th and his teammate Wurz was 12th and Jacques Villeneuve in the BAR was 9th while his teammate was 17th.
The qualifying session tomorrow will be very interesting as the grid positions will be crucial for the race tactics.
Stay tuned.
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Japanese GP Preview:
Regardless of the reasons behind the outcome of the appeal, we are set to watch one of the most facinating finale's to the Formula 1 season. After everyone expected Hakkinen to wrap it much earlier than Japan and if he was faced with some opposition, it would be Michael Schumacher who would be the contender. We see Eddie Irvine not only threatning Hakkinen but in fact leading him the points. How did this happen, well simply Hakkinen made too many mistakes (2 of which accounted for a potential 20 points), lack of team orders (if Coulthard allowed Hakkinen to pass in Spa, Hakkinen would be equal on points to Irvine) and Eddie Irvine winning at least 2 races not on merit but on team orders and the failure of others.
So if it was a fair world, one would say that Hakkinen deserves to win. Of course had Michael Schumacher not broken his leg, he would have probably won it by now. But that is not the case.
Suzuka is a fast track and past experience would indicate that Hakkinen and McLaren would have an edge although I wouldn't discount Schumacher from grabbing pole position. Eddie Irvine though would not qualify higher than 4th behind Hakkinen, MSchumacher and Coulthard. Even Frentzen might surprise some and qualify up there.
The race will be decided on the grid position and the start. If Michael Schumacher gets in front of both McLaren's, he would help Irvine by slowing them down and giving Irvine a chance to pass them. Coulthard could also play a similar role.
Let us all hope that the title is won by merit and not by "an accident"
There will also be small battles in the
background, Stewart and Williams will be fighting for 4th place in the
constructor's championship. BAR must finish in the points if they want
to appear on the scoreboard this
season.
In short, it will be real hard trying to
predict who will win. From a pure technical analysis, I would say that
McLaren have an edge on this kind of circuit. I can say that they would
not be humilated by Ferrari
in Japan although I would not rule out
another pole for Michael Schumacher.
I would not discount Jordan on this track. In fact, Frentzen could surprise everyone here. Stewart (Barrichello and Herbert) would probably outclass Williams and if there are no major accidents to these teams, I don't think anyone else will make it into the top 6.
Stay tuned for an exciting finish to the
season.
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Ferrari have won their appeal against the
decision to disqualify them from the Malaysian GP due to breach of regulations.
They were cleared of any technical breach since they proved that they were
within the regulations and the FIA blamed the measuring equipment to be
inaccurate !!
This means that the fight for the Driver's
and Constructor's championsip is back on with Eddie Irvine ahead of Mika
Hakkinen by 4 points and Ferrari ahead of McLaren by 4 points as well.
So what are the scenarios for the last race at Suzuka ?
Since Irvine is leading the driver's championship,
if finished ahead of Hakkinen he wins the championsip. So he is in a comfortable
position.
For Hakkinen he must win to ensure that
he wins the championship regardless were Irvine finishes even if Irvine
finishes second as Hakkinen will win by the virtue of more wins this season.
Hakkinen can still win the championship
if he finishes 2nd provided that Irvine finishes 5th or lower. Hakkinen
can also finish 3rd and win the championship provided that Irvine retires
or finishes outside the points.
It will be a great season finale so stay
tuned for all the latest information.
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Malaysian GP Result:
Eddie Irvine wins the Malaysian GP ahead of Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen Johnny Herbert, Rubens Barrichello and Heinz Harald Frentzen make the top 6.
The race was a strategic race with Michael Schumacher helping Eddie Irvine to win. From the start, Michael Schumacher put in a gap between himself and Irvine for a few laps and then slowed down and let Eddie Irvine through, David Coulthard was behind Michael Schumacher and eventually managed to squeeze through. This left Irvine in front followed by Coulthard then Schumacher and Hakkinen.
Coulthard closed up to Irvine but a few laps later his car failed. Meanwhile Michael Schumacher starts to hold Hakkinen giving Irvine a very comfortable buffer. The 2 Stewarts of Barrichello and Herbert remain in 4th and 5th place.
Eddie Irvine made his first pit stop and rejoined in 3rd place, a few laps later Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen make their pit stops. Schumacher had created a buffer between himself and Hakkinen to load enough fuel to last him the whole distance while still leading Hakkinen. This strategy worked as Schumacher remained in 2nd ahead of Hakkinen after the first pit stops. Irvine was in the lead.
The situation didn't change until Irvine had to come in for his second pit stop while Schumacher stayed in front. Hakkinen had to make a second stop and rejoined behind Herbert in 4th place. Hakkinen pushed hard and managed to pass Herbert regaining 3rd place while Schumacher slowed down and let Irvine through to give him his 4th win of the season.
Herbert managed to finish 4th ahead of Barrichello who was on a two stop strategy while Frentzen managed to benifit from others misfortunes and finished in 6th.
The race coverage was below average and the producer appeared to concentrate on individual cars rather on overtaking manouvers. As an example towards the end of the race, we were looking at Barrichello while Hakkinen was overtaking Herbert !!. One would hope that next year's coverage will be better.
So Eddie Irvine has now taken the lead of the world drivers championship ahead of Hakkinen by 4 points and it looks like Hakkinen will have to win in Japan to take the world championship even if Irvine finishes 2nd as they become equal on points but Hakkinen wins based on the number of wins in a season. But Hakkinen winning in Japan with Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari and Eddie Irvine's expertise of the track would be a very hard task. We will all know in 2 weeks time.
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Malaysian GP Qualifying:
Michael Schumacher returns to Formula 1 in style by grabbing pole position almost 1 second ahead of teammate Eddie Irvine. David Coulthard was 3rd followed by Hakkinen, Herbert and Barrichello.
Michael Schumacher set the pace from the start, he was one of the early drivers to go out on track and set provisional pole which was never taken away from him. Irvine was much closer but Schumacher on his last lap stunned everyone by bettering his own time by over a second. Coulthard and Hakkinen struggled to get close to the Ferrari's but it is not clear if Ferrari are using a softer compound than the McLaren's.
Johnny Herbert fresh from a win at the
Nurburgring managed to outqualify teammate Rubens Barrichello. They are
in 5th and 6th positions. Alexandur Wurz also maanged to outqualify Fisichella
coming in 7th and 11th. Ralph Schumacher was 8th while Zanardi was way
back in 16th. Damon Hill was in 9th and did better than Frentzen who was
in 14th although Frentzen's car failed and he had to get into the spare
car. Jacques Villeneuve was fastest yesterday but only managed 10th fastest.
His time set in qualifying was actually slower than the time he set earlier
in the day but again it could be the tyre compound. His teammate Zonta
qualified 13th.
Most dissapointing were the Saubers after
being very impressive yesterday, they ended up in 15th place for Alesi
and 17th for Diniz.
The race could turn out to be a thriller, Michael Schumacher could return to his winning ways sooner than anyone thought, how will the tyre strategy work ? Will Schumacher give way to Irvine ?
Stay tuned
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Malaysian GP Friday Practice:
Jacques Villeneuve sets the fastest time in today's practice sessions ahead of David Coulthard and Jean Alesi. Irvine, Michael Schumacher and Pedro Diniz make the top 6.
It was one of the biggest surprises of the season when Villeneuve in the last 5 minutes of the practice session managed to clock the fastest time of the session. The BAR was certainly not expected to perform that well but the fact that this is a new circuit provide a more level playing field and an opportunity for drivers to show how quick they can adapt to the new circuit.
The first session was run on a damp circuit
after heavy rains. Michael Schumacher and Jean Alesi traded top spots during
that session. The McLaren pair didn't impress. In the second session, we
saw both McLaren's improve their times and midway through the session it
was Hakkinen who topped the times only to be better by 7 other drivers
later in the session and ended up 8th fastest. David Coulthard managed
to set the second fastest but it was Jean Alesi who was impressive on both
wet and dry conditions setting the 3rd fastest time. His teammate Pedro
Diniz also set an impressive time in 6th place.
The Ferrari pair fared well with Irvine
in 4th and Michael Schumacher in his first appearance at a grand prix session
set the 5th fastest time.
Dissappointing performances from both the Jordan and Williams camps saw Hill in 12th, Frentzen in 14th, Ralph Schumacher in 18th behind Badoer and Zanardi in 20th behind de la Rosa !!. Let us hope they improve their cars for qualifying.
The weather will be a crucial factor and with heavy rain and thunderstorms expected on each day of the event, qualifying and the race itself are set to be classics.
Stay tuned !!
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Malaysian GP Preview:
Of all the races this season, this will be the hardest to predict. Even harder than the first one. Why ?
Malaysia is a brand new circuit and the teams have no actual data from it whatsoever. This allows for a more level playing field between the teams. It also means that the driver who manages to quickly adapt to this circuit will be at an advantage.
The weather is another factor. At every event this year where there has been wet conditions, the results were strange. This one is no exception and the possibility of rain this time of the year at Sepang, is high, very high.
Finally, the circuit layout is very very interesting but what concerns me is the first and second corners, the first is literally 360 degrees and what does that mean ? A pile up 12 seconds after the start. The possibility of that happening is also high, very high !!
Other factors like who's car will be more suitable to the track is also another unknown, the track combines some very slow chicanes with 2 high speed straights.
Logically speaking, I would say that the McLaren's and the Jordan's have the biggest chance of winning this race followed by Ferrari, Stewart, Williams, Benetton. However the return of Michael Schumacher could have a positive impact on Ferrari but we don't really know if he is really fit, if he will be pushing all the time or what. Also if it does rain as expected, then who knows, Herbert won last time, next time it could be Badoer.
Stay tuned for the lastest from the Malaysian
circuit starting from Friday.
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Race Results:
Johnny Herbert wins the Luxembourg GP ahead of Jarno Trulli and Rubens Barrichello. Ralph Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen and Marc Gene make the top 6.
What an amazing race it was, with the lead changing 6 times, with several spectacular crashes, with several heavy showers, no wonder we see those names in the top 6.
The race started strangley as well, Marc Gene stalled so the start was aborted and at the restart, Hill at the first corner slowed down leaving not much room for Wurz who tried to avoid him but hits Diniz whose car overturns and skids on the gravel upside down. It must have been a scary moment for Diniz as for a moment it appeared that he must have damaged his neck as the rollbar behind him collapsed. Fortunately he escaped with no serious injuries. Meanwhile the saftey car was out with the race order: Frentzen, Hakkinen (overtaking Coulthard at the start), Coulthard, Ralph Schumacher, Fisichella and Panis.
The saftey car remains untli Diniz's car is removed then the race really starts with the top 4 creating a visible gap to the rest of the field with Frentzen chased by Hakkinen. Irvine meanwhile managed to pass Panis and on lap 16 pass Fisichella to get to 5th position.
Then it started to rain but not heavily, immediately, Ron Dennis called Hakkinen in and went for wet tyres, this proved to be a bad decision as the rain was not heavy and only on a few parts of the circuit and immediately started losing time. Mika Salo also switched to wet tyres and the pit stop itself took a very long time. A few laps later Eddie Irvine pits and puts on dry tyres but the rear right wheel was no where to be found and the team lost around 15 seconds just looking for a tyre to put on !!.
Race order: Frentzen, Coulthard, Ralph Schumacher, Fisichella
The rain eases and Hakkinen comes bak and puts dry tyres on, he is now in 14th place and struggling. Frentzen and Coulthard both pit at the same time and leave in the same order with Frentzen leading, however Frentzen suffers an ignition problems and retires soon after he leaves the pit lane. This gives the lead to Coulthard but it start raining again heavily this time, Coulthard decides to stay on dry tyres but loses it and crashes into the tyre wall handing the lead to Ralph Schumacher with Fisichella behind him !!.
Meanwhile Irvine pits for wet tyres and rejoins in 12th place while Hakkinen is still struggling in 14th appearing to have written the race off.
Ralph Schumacher pits for his second pit stop and Fisichella who seems to be on a one stop strategy takes the lead only to spin and stall his engine out of the race handing the lead back to Ralph Schumacher who was comfortably ahead of Johnny Herbert and Jarno Trulli.
The misfortunes didn't stop here, Ralph Schumacher suffers a blown tyre but manages to keep the car and nurse it back to the pits, replaces the tyre and rejoins in 5th position giving the lead to Johnny Herbert. Irvine goes backinto the pits for dry tyres again !!
Race order:
Herbert, Trulli, Barrichello, Badoer, Ralph Schumacher, Villeneuve.
Marc Gene was in 7th followed by Irvine and Hakkinen.
The track starts to dry and Hakkinen wakes up, he chases Irvine and forces him to lock his brakes and passes him. Badoer and Villeneuve both retire with mechanical problems losing a great oppurtunity to score for their teams. This move Ralph Schumacher to 4th and Hakkinen who also managed to pass Gene to 5th place. Eddie Irvine failed to catch Gene and hence finished 7th.
At the front Herbert was comfortable in the lead but Ruben Barrichello was trying all he can to pass a visibly slower Trulli without sucess, they finished in the same order.
It was certainly one of the most amazing races this year even though we have seen so many good races this year, this will certainly count as one of the best if not the best. It showed which teams didn't panic and which drivers managed to keep their cars running on a wet track with dry tyres.
So Mika Hakkinen now leads the championship by 2 points, Irvine, Frentzen and Coulthard didn't score any points. With 2 races to go, it seems that the championship is now a battle between Irvine and Hakkinen unless..
Frentzen had a fantastic opportunity to close the gap to Hakkinen and Irvine but his car failed him. Coulthard had a chance to do the same but he made a mistake. It make you wonder how many more mistakes can Hakkinen, Coulthard and McLaren afford before they give away both the championships.
Next stop is the Malaysian GP and that will be yet another exciting race given the fact that it is a new circuit and the drivers will not be familiar with it at all. We will certainly see some more surprising results.
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Qualifying Session:
Heinz Harald Frentzen grabs pole position ahead of David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen. Ralph Schumacher, Olivier Panis and Giancarlo Fisichella make the top 6.
It was one of the most interesting qualifying sessions ever with the track drying, lap times dropped dramatically every minute and it was the team with the best strategy and luck who recorded a good time. Frentzen waited for a long time and with one lap in the dying minutes he grabbed pole, before that he was way back in 18th place. Both Hakkinen and Coulthard were in the top 5 and Hakkinen could have grabbed pole had it not been for the traffic on his last lap. Ralph Schumacher was impressive again but Panis was even more impressive landing 5th position for the first time this year. Prost used some new parts in the engine only for qualifying and if this is a sign of what is to come next year, expect Prost to have a good season next year.
Jacques Villeneuve was again impressive today qualifying in 8th in his BAR Supertec while his teammate Zonta was again way back in 17th.
But the dissapointement of the day was Ferrari, yet again all the hype about news chasis and new aerodynamic package proves nothing. Eddie Irvine is in 9th position while Hakkinen is in 3rd and Frenzten on pole. It would not be a surprise if both Coulthard and Frentzen overtake Irivne in the World Championship points. Mika Salo didn't do any better and thus won't be able to help Irvine as he qualified in 12th place. Stewart were also dissapointing as it seems that they setup their cars for wet conditions and Barrichello was on pole for the first half of the session but once it started to dry, he started to slip and ended up in 15th one place behind his teammate Herbert. One other dissapointement was Zanardi who only managed 18th while his teammate Ralph Schumacher is in 4th place.
This will certainly make for an exciting race as it will be interesting to watch Frentzen defend his position from both Coulthard and Hakkinen. We will also see how team orders will be applied inside the McLaren camp.
Will be a very interesting race
Stay tuned !!
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Friday Practice Session:
Mika Hakkinen clocks the fastest time in today's practice ahead of Mika Salo and an impressive Olivier Panis. Eddie Irvine, Ralph Schumacher and David Coulthard made the top 6.
It appears that Mika Hakkinen is under control as he clocked the fastest time during both sessions. Ferrari appeared to have improved with Salo and Irvine in the top 5 following the disastorous form in Italy. Jordan appear to have gone backward with Frentzen way back in 12th and Hill in 14th.
The surprise of the session was Olivier Panis clocking the third fastest time with the Prost team appear to have made significant improvments on the car.
The were several contrasting performances between drivers of the same team as Ralph Schumacher was 5th fastest Alex Zanardi returned to his dissapointing form clocking the 16th fastest. Barrichello was in 7th while Herbert only managed 13th. Fisichella in 8th while his teammate Wurz was back in 17th. Villeneuve in 10th while Zonta was way way back in 21st place with only the Arrows of Takagi slower than him. Let us hope he improves tomorrow hoping that he gets confirmed with BAR next year.
As always, these times are not very accurate, all will be revealed during the qualifying session tomorrow.
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Luxembourg Grand Prix Preview:
With 3 races to go I would say that most of the teams are now switching their focus on the development of next year's car, except for the top 3, McLaren, Ferrari and Jordan.
Williams appear comfortable with 4th place since it is almost impossible for them to catch Jordan and Stewart who are in 5th position are a bit behind so they are not a threat. Benetton could try and take 5th position from Stewart but really the car is not up to it so what is the point !!.
This leaves McLaren and Ferrari to fight for the constructor's championship and if Hakkinen and Coulthard keep their calm and don't commit mistakes or bump into each other then Ferrari simply has no chance. On the other hand if they do, Ferrari will be so close to take it away as McLaren will appear to be trying to give it away !!
The drivers situation is a bit more complex. We have Hakkinen, Irvine, Frentzen and Coulthard. If McLaren come to their senses, then Hakkinen will be aided by Coulthard and they will win both championships. Provided that Hakkinen does not spin once more !!. Irvine on equal points is not a real threat unless Hakkinen fails to finish and the real threat is Frentzen who in my opinion has a better chance than Irvine and will probably finish second this season behind Hakkinen.
So what is going to happen.
Three major questions one should ask:
Will Hakkinen make any more mistakes ?
If yes then he will not win the championship, he will just lose the plot.
If not he will win it as he has the best equipment there is no competition
from anyone apart from
himself !!
Will Ferrari improve ? Unlikely is the
answer and hence Irvine will not be able to compete. If the Ferrari is
once again behind Jordan and Williams, Ferrari will have decided to switch
to concentrating on next
season.
Will Frentzen win the world championship ? If Hakkinen makes another mistake, the answer is yes, otherwise he will most probably finish second ahead of Eddie !!
Stay tuned !!
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Italian Grand Prix Results:
Heinz Harald Frentzen wins his 2nd race of the season and enters the driver's championship challenge only 10 points behind both Mika Hakkinen and Eddie Irvine. Ralph Schumacher was an impressive second with Mika Salo in 3rd place. Rubens Barrichello was 4th followed by David Coulthard and Eddie Irvine.
The first few laps of the race were very exciting, Mika Hakkinen had a good start but it was Alex Zanardi who managed to take 2nd position after starting from 4th. Frentzen was 3rd followed by Ralph Schumacher, Mika Salo and david Coulthard who had a very bad start losing 3 places. Rubens Barrichello was in 7th place but was charging and managed to pass both David Coulthard and Mika Salo and take 4th place. Frentzen meanwhile managed to pass Zanardi and take 2nd place. Mika Hakkinen meanwhile appeared untouchable.
Race order remained the same until Alex Zanardi gave way to his teammate Ralph Schumacher as he appeared to have some braking problem and a few laps later, Mika Hakkinen makes a big mistake as he spins and stalls his car going into the first corner. He was very dissapointed with himself that he threw his steering whell, threw his gloves and after walking a few meters sits and starts weeping. He knew that he threw a huge opportunity for his 2 world championship especially that Coulthard and Irvine, his closest rivals were running 6th and 7th. well I guess from a spectator's point of view, this only makes the last 3 races more exciting.
Most teams went for a single stop and after all the teams had their stops, a few changes in the top 6 with Frentzen leading Ralph Schumacher followed by Salo then Barrichello, Coulthard and Irvine. Zanardi was the big loser dropping to 7th. Behind those was Damon Hill who was in 8th position before the pits and Jacques Villeneuve in 9th, after the pits, Villeneuve managed to gain a position moving up to 8th place, he managed to finish his second race in a row this season.
The race order remained the same till the end of the race with Frentzen winning the race followed by Ralph Schumacher and Mika Salo.
So the championship is now wide open and 4 drivers are competing for it. Mika Hakkinen is still the favourite provided that he does not make any more mistakes as his car and his driving ability are superb. Eddie Irvine who is struggling with his car and showed no impression today at all. It doesn't appear that he will have the car that will challenge the McLaren. Heinz Harald Frentzen is 10 points behind and another win will make him even closer and the Jordan seems to be improving and David Coulthard who is 12 points behind is the least likely to win it as he stuggled today and with only 3 races remaining will need to be very consitent and very lucky to do it.
3 races to go but it seems that it will go right down to the wire.
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Italian Grand Prix Qualifying:
Mika Hakkinen grabs his 10th pole position of the year and proves yet again that he is in a class of his own. An impressive Heinz-Harald Frentzen was second almost 0.5 seconds behind while David Coulthard was 3rd 0.75 seconds behind Hakkinen. Alex Zanardi was impressive in 4th with teammate Ralph Schumacher in 5th. Mika Salo was the first of the Ferrari's in 6th place 1.225 seconds behind Hakkinen. Rubens Barrichello was 7th and Eddie Irvine was back in 8th place. He'll need to a lot of work if he is to keep his championship chances alive. Damon Hill was 9th followed by Olivier Panis in 10th place.
Villeneuve only managed 11th with Zonta way back in 18th, Herbert was way back in 15th. Alex Wurz was 14th outqualifying his teammate Fisichella in 17th place. The Arrows team appear to have replaced Minardi as the slowest team on the grid with Takagi in 22nd place more than 4 seconds slower than Hakkinen.
An example of how close the cars are matched in the midfield, Jean Alesi in 13th was 0.002 seconds ahead of Alexander Wurz in 14th who was 0.001 seconds ahead of Johnny Herbert in 15th who was 0.002 seconds ahead of Pedro Diniz in 16th place. So Diniz being 0.005 seconds slower meant that he is 4 places back on the grid. It doesn't get any closer !!!!.
So not only is Hakkinen so dominant, Ferrari are certainly going backwards with Frentzen, Zanardi and Ralph Schumacher ahead of both Ferrari's and Barrichello ahead of Irvine. They are now certainly in the middle of the pack and not competing with McLaren but with Jordan, Williams and Stewart.
It must be said that Williams are certainly on their way of a big comeback. The engine they run is very ordinary compared to the Ferrari and the McLaren but yet they outquailified the Ferrari's and Zanardi will start to show some skill towards the end of the season and with the BMW deal next year, who knows ? anything can happen.
So how will it shape tomorrow, well Hakkinen has Frentzen as a buffer between himself and Coulthard so that should ease the pressure a bit. The Williams is realiable so expect them to finish strong while Ferrari will find it hard to get some points unless anyone in front actually retires.
The race will probably be decided in the pits.
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Italian Grand Prix Friday Practice:
Ralph Schumacher sets the fastest time in todays practice sessions ahead of Jarno Trulli and Alex Zanardi. Jean Alesi, Mika Hakkinen and Olivier Panis make the top 6.
Ferrari were very dissapointing with Irvine in 16th and Salo in 17th but that should not be the case when they qualify tomorrow.
It was clear that the top teams were trying to find the best setup for the cars and were not aiming for qualifying times. Most of the teams tested here last week and they have obtained a lot of data from those tests. Expect the grid to be reformed for qualifying as usual with McLaren, Ferrari, Jordan and Stewart. We could see a surprise or two from Ralph Schumacher, Jean Alesi and possibly Jacques Villeneuve.
One interesting fact from the sessions today was that the top 11 were within 1 second of Ralph Schumahcer's fastest time. And with the exception of the 2 Arrows (who appear to have replaced Minardi as being last), all the times are within 2 seconds of the fastest time. If that does not dramatically change tomorrow, it will certainly be an interesting qualifying session.
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Italian Grand Prix Preview:
It is certainly getting hot this year with
Hakkinen only 1 point ahead of Eddie Irvine and David Coulthard claiming
that he has a shot at it too. The Ferrari has gone backwards with the absence
of Michael Shcumacher. And now that he has confirmed that he will not drive
at Italy and possibly the following race, add to that the fact that Irvine
will not be driving for Ferrari next year as Rubens Barrichello is taking
his
place, the situation looks grim at the
Ferrari camp and I don't expect them to do well. In fact as we saw in Belgium,
I would not be surprised if Frentzen in a Jordan once again beats both
Ferrari's with Salo beating Irvine initially until he is told to slow down
!! Possibly even Ralph Schumacher in the Williams who has been very impressive
lately could beat the Ferrari's.
So I guess it is a tough one to pick a
winner, Hakkinen and Coulthard could fight it out and I am sure Hakkinen
will do his best to show Coulthard the way but Coulthard appears to have
been on the bright side of late, one never knows what could happen between
those two but let us hope that they don't take each other out. Behind them,
there is Irvine and Salo, Frentzen and Hill, Ralph Shcumacher and Zanardi
and Barrichello and Herbert and each one of those appear to have the potential
to score a podium finish.
We'll just have to wait and see !!
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Belgian GP Results:
David Coulthard wins the Belgian Grand Prix ahead of Mika Hakkinen and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Eddie Irvine, Ralph Schumacher and Damon Hill make the top 6.
Race Start:
David Coulthard gets a better start than Hakkinen and leads into the first corner, Hakkinen touches the side of Coulthard's car but with no apparent damage to either car. Damon Hill gets a bad start and loses 3 places while Eddie Irvine gains 2 positions and jumps ahead of Ralph Schumacher.
Race order after the first lap:
Coulthard, Hakkinen, Frentzen, Irvine, Schumacher and Zanardi.
Most of the teams go for a two stop strategy however Williams, Benetton and BAR choose a single stop.
Race order after the first pit stops:
Coulthard, Hakkinen, Schumacher, Frentzen, Irvine, Zanardi.
Around lap 22, the single stoppers pit and the race order becomes:
Coulthard, Hakkinen, Frentzen, Irvine, Salo, Schumacher.
A few laps later, the 2 stoppers start coming in for the 2nd pit stops, race order following those stops:
Coulthard, Hakkinen, Frentzen, Irvine, Schumacher, Hill
The race order remained as is until the end of the race.
One point worth mentioning was that Jacques Villeneuve in the BAR Supertec has finally managed to finish the race although a lap down in 15th place but conisdering the crashes he had on Friday and Saturday, it was a good result for Villeneuve and BAR.
So Mika Hakkinen now leads the world championship by 1 point followed by Eddie Ivine and with only 4 races remaining, it will be very interesting to see how team orders come into play at the McLaren camp between Hakkinen and Coulthard and at the Ferrari camp with the possible return of Michael Schumacher.
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Belgian GP Qualifying:
Mika Hakkinen grabs yet another pole position this year ahead of David Coulthard and Heinz Harald Frentzen. Damon Hill, Ralph Schumacher and Eddie Irvine make the top 6.
It was an incident filled session highlighted by two red flags for the 2 BAR cars that crashed spectacularly at Eau Rouge. First it was Villeneuve who escaped unhurt, and soon after the session was restarted, it was Zonta's turn to crash causing the session to be stopped again !!. Villeneuve ended up in 11th place after looking much stronger while Zonta qualified in 14th.
The other story of the session was how bad Ferrari are without Michael Schumacher. As we have indicated a few times in the past, it is Schumacher who is the centre of the team. He gives all the feedback to improve the car and after 2 races that Irvine won with a lot of luck, Ferrari were back fighting with Jordan and Stewart and even with Williams. Today, Eddie Irvine only managed 6th, outqualified by both Jordan's and Ralph Schumacher in a Williams Supertec !!. Barrichello is less than a tenth of a second slower followed by a sort-of impressive Zanardi then comes Salo. Johny Herbert was 10th.
Jarnu Trulli was 12th followed by Fisichella in 13th and as expected, the Benetton does not shape on fast tracks so they have swapped places with Williams (comparing with Hungary !!). Wurz in 15th and Alesi way back in 16th in the Sauber. Panis in 17th followed by Diniz. The remaining 4 are the usual Arrows and Minardi mixture.
Tomorrows race will be a McLaren one, the others will fight it out. It will be interesting to see what Ferrari will do although I am expecting them to be beating by Jordan and possibly Williams.
Should be an exciting race to watch.
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Belgian GP Friday Practice:
David Coulthard sets the fastest time in today's practice session ahead of Mika Hakkinen and Gian Carlo Fisichella. Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Ralph Schumacher and Damon Hill make the top 6.
David Coulthard was almost half a second ahead of both Hakkinen and Fisichella while 4th placed Frentzen was more than a second slower. In 7th place was Johnny Herbert while Mika Salo and Eddie Irvine were back in 8th and 9th place respectively. Rubens Barrichello rounded up the top 10.
Alex Zanardi was way back in 14th in contrast to the impressive form of his teammate Ralph Schumacher who was in 5th place. Jacques Villeneuve had a very bad day struggling with problems and then having a major crash 15 minutes before the end of the session when his right front wheel came off unexpectedly, his accident caused the session to be stopped.
It appears that the McLaren's are way ahead of the rest, Fisichella's strong showing is certainly surprising given that his teammate Alexander Wurz was back in 12th place. Jordan's strong form is expected while Stewart's form appears to be worse than expected. Ferrari's problems continue with the absence of Michael Schumacher as the team seem to appear lost without him.
Qualifying tomorrow will certainly be interesting.
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Belgian GP Preview:
So with 5 rounds to go, the battle for
the drivers and constructors championship is heating up. At the last event,
McLaren gave Ferrari a lesson they would not easily forget. McLaren won
on a track that was
supossed to favour the Ferrari cars. Ferrari
were stunned to a degree that they are trying all they can to get Michael
Schumacher back into the driving seat even if his broken leg is not fuly
recovered.
Ferrari have yet to announce the driver lineup for the Belgium GP and will update you on that as soon as the line up is announced.
The Belgian GP surely favours McLaren as it contains very fast sweeping corners but the weather plays a big factor and it has rained twice in the last 3 events.
Hakkinen is the clear favourite and even if David Coulthard claims that he will still challenge him, he cannot unless Hakkinen gets into trouble. Coulthard on the other hand could finish second if he keeps calm, otherwise he won't finish.
Eddie Irvine could do well if he gets lucky (again), otherwise he will struggle and he might even face competition from Barrichello and Frentzen.
Mika Salo is really strange, in Germany he was a real star while in Hungary he was hopeless, Belgium has similar characteristics to Germany so I would say he would be hopeless
Michael Schumacher (if he returns) could prove a surprise as he is hungry for a win but his lack of fitness and an injured leg will probably take its toll on him towards the latter part of the race.
Other drivers who could do well include Barrichello, Frentzen, Ralph Schumacher, Jean Alesi and Villeneuve (if his car doen'st break !!)
Stay tuned for all the practice, qualifying
and race news here starting from Friday.
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Hungarian GP Results:
Mika Hakkinen wins the Hungarian GP ahead of David Coulthard and Eddie Irvine, Frentzen, Barrichello and Hill make the top 6.
Hakkinen drove superbly and without having
any real threat. At one stage of the race he was more than 30 seconds in
the lead. David Coulthard has made up some of his dissapointing form by
finishing 2nd, while Irvine has not lived up to the expectations by finishing
3rd and making a crucial mistake which saw him give up 2nd place to Coulthard.
Mika Salo was very dissapointing finishing in 12th place.
This result clearly indicates that Ferrari
are struggling without Michael Schumacher as they were expected to at least
match McLaren on this kind of circuit. This clearly was not the case and
one wonders how they will perform at Spa in 2 weeks as that circuit suits
McLaren.
This result also clearly shows that Irvine's
last 2 wins were simply McLaren's failures rather than Ferrari's competitivness.
This result put even more pressure on Michael Schumacher to try and make
a comeback as soon as possible to try and save the constructors championship
at the least. If he does not, it doesn't
look like Irvine gels with the Ferrari
team as well as Schumacher and that is simply because he was always considered
a number 2 driver.
Race Start
Mika Hakkinen and Eddie Irvine both have good starts and retain their positions. David Coulthard has a very bad start and ends up in 5th place while Giancarlo Fisichella and Heinz Harald Frentzen both gain a place.
Mika Salo meanwhile, loses 2 positions and is in 20th place !!
Race order after the first lap: Hakkinen, Irvine, Fisichella, Coulthard Hill.
Alex Zanardi runs off the circuit and limps
back to the pits to retire with differential problems on lap 11.
Pedro Diniz spins and stalls his engine
on lap 20.
Takagi retires on lap 27.
Most teams were on a 2 stop strategy and after the first pit stops, David Coulthard makes up 2 positions.
Race Order: Hakkinen, Irvine, Barrichello, Coulthard, Fisichella, Frentzen.
Rubens Barrichello pits for his 1st and only stop.
Race Order: Hakkinen, Irvine, Coulthard, Fisichella, Frentzen, Hill
Giancarlo Fisichella retires with engine problems on lap 53
Following the 2 pits stops, race order: Hakkinen, Irvine, Coulthard, Frentzen, Barrichello, Hill
Irvine runs wide allowing Coulthard to pass him taking second position.
Jacques Villeneuve retires with Hydraulic problems on lap 61
Race Order at the finish : Hakkinen, Coulthard, Irvine, Frentzen, Barrichello, Hill
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Hungarian GP Qualifying:
Mika Hakkinen grabs his 9th pole position of the season ahead of Eddie Irvine and David Coulthard. An impressive Fisichella was 4th followed by Frentzen and Hill.
Amazingly, Hakkinen's pole time was set
on his very first run, his next runs were interrupted by traffic or perhaps
deliberatly as he was certainly faster than what his time indicates. Irvine
and Coulthard traded places a few times through the session but Coulthard
could not match the pace of Irvine in the end.
Benetton's package is certainly designed
for low speed circuits as they jump again to the front of the grid with
Fisichella in 4th and Wurz in 7th.
I expected Hill to outqualify Frentzen
but I was 0.003 seconds wrong as Hill couldn't manage those few thousandths
of a second to outqualify his teammate Frentzen. It appears that both will
be strong tomorrow.
Rubens Barrichello was 8th which was lower
than expected and his teammate Johnny Herbert was again closeby in 10 place.
Jacques Villeneuve was in a respectable 9th position given that Zonta only
managed 17th !!. The Sauber's of Alesi and Diniz were 11th and 12th while
Trulli and Panis were 13th and 14th.
Then the first surprise were Zanardi outqualified
Ralph Schumacher in 15th and 16th. They are follwoed by Zonta and the second
and biggest surprise of the session was 18th place belonged to Mika Salo
and that is in a Ferrari and not a Tyrell. It appears the Salo was not
comfortable with the car on low speed tracks but 18th and 2.213 seconds
slower than Hakkinen was not imaginable after his great form in Germany.
Unless he is now relaxed given that he has 6 offers on hand !!
The Minardi's and Arrows' make up the rest.
The top 9 are within 1 second of pole time although I suspect that Hakkinen could have gone half a second faster. The top 17 are within 2 seconds of pole time. Let us hope for a close race.
Stay tuned !!.
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Hungarian GP Friday Practice:
Eddie Irvine sets the fastest time in today's practice sessions ahead of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard. Rubens Barrichello, Mika Salo and Heinz-Harald Frentzen
Mika Hakkinen lost half of the second session when he spun and despite that he still managed second place less than 0.3 seconds behind Irvine who set his fastest time in the dying moments of the session. David Coulthard was yet again not so impressive setting the 3rd fastest time more than half a second slower than Irvine.
The top 2 are the only drivers clocking under the 1.20 time, the following 3 are the only drivers clocking under the 1.21 time. From 6th place to 14th, the times are very close and they are all in the 1.21 time. If the trend continues for the qualifying session, expect Hakkinen to easily take pole position followed by Irvine or Coulthard then Salo and Barrichello.
Marc Gene was again impressive in the Minardi setting the 13th fastest time mixing it with all the Supertec runners.
Looking for an interesting qualifying session.
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Hungarian GP Preview:
The Hungarian GP is a must win situation for both Hakkinen and McLaren if they want to get back on the championship track. Hakkinen has suffered a string of bad luck races so if he does get better luck this time he should win. David Coulthard didn't run into bad luck in the past 2 races but he did not perform so he too will be aiming for a top finish.
Eddie Irvine will be looking for a win to increase his lead, it will be hard if Hakkinen does not run into problems. Mika Salo was impressive at Germany and will probably be equally impressive in Hungary but he must let Irvine pass him if he is ahead so as we saw in Germany, if he is leading and Irvine behind he will be forced to let Irvine through.
Jordan will be strong in Hungary and Damon Hill in particular as this is one of his favourite circuits. Hill will probably outqualify Frentzen on this circuit and if he is comfortable with the car he will proabably finish ahead but both will be strong.
Barrcihello will be strong and so will both Benetton drivers as this kind of circuit suites their cars. Ralph Schumacher could be a points finisher too. Finally, we could see Jacques Villeneuve finishing a race this season and if he does it will most probably be in the points.
Stay tuned for all the news and results.
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German GP Results:
Eddie Irvine wins the German Grand Prix ahead of temmate Mika Salo and Heinz Harald Frentzen, Ralph Schumacher, David Coulthard and Olivier Panis make the top 6.
A surprising result which saw Hakkinen crash midway through the race and Coulthard damaging his front wing. Mika Salo letting Irvine pass handed the Irvine the win and the lead in the drivers championship.
Race Start
Mika Salo gets a superb start while Frentzen and Irvine don't. Mika Hakkinen leads followed by Mika Salo, David Coulthard. Frentzen, Barrichello and Irvine make the top 6.
Pedro Diniz and Jacques Villeneuve touch and both go out on the first corner.
Barrichello passes Frentzen and starts catching Coulthard who was catching Salo.
Barrichello retires with hydraulic problems on lap 7 while Fisichella retires on the following lap with suspension problems.
David Coulthard attempts to pass Mika Salo
but touches the rear wheel of Salo and loses a part of his front win, he
pits to replace the front wing and rejoins in 11th.
Race Order: Hakkinen, Salo, Frentzen,
Irvine, Ralph Schumacher and Wurz.
Irvine manages to pass Frentzen in the pits while Hakkinen pits and loses valuable time while his pit crew struggle with his refuelling pump. He rejoins in 4th behind Frentzen but manages to pass him very quickly. A few moments later his left rear tyre disintegrates throwing the McLaren in a few spins before crashing into the tyre barrier.
Salo lets Irvine through handing him the lead, race order: Irvine, Salo, Frentzen, Ralph Schumacher, Coulthard, Herbert.
The race finishes with Irvine ahead of Salo followed by Frentzen, Ralph Schumacher, David Coulthard and Olivier Panis.
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German GP Qualifying:
Mika Hakkinen grabs his 8th pole position of the year only 5 hundredth of a second ahead of a very impressive Heinz-Harald Frentzen. David Coulthard was 3rd while Mika Salo was 4th outqualifying Eddie Irvine in 5th. Rubens Barrichello made the top 6.
Olivier Panis was 7th in a strong performance from the Prost while Damon Hill was 8th more than 1 second slower than his teammate Frentzen. Jarno Trulli was 9th and he could have done better but suffered 2 blown engines during the qualifying session. Gian Carlo Fisichella was the 10 and the fastest of the Supertec's followed by Ralph Schumacher, Jacques Villeneuve Alex Wurz and Alex Zanaradi. Marc Gene' in the Minardi was certainly impressive by Minardi's standards in 15th while it was a nightmare session for the Sauber team with Diniz 16th and Jean Alesi 21st !!, it was also a very dissapointing session for Johnny Herbert who was way back in 17th almost 1.5 seconds slower than his teammate Barrichello.
Hakkinen on pole was expected but Frentzen in 2nd place certainly wasn't, he outqualified a McLaren and the 2 Ferrari's which are superior cars. It is clear that Frentzen is a top driver and being at Jordan made him tick. Damon Hill on the other hand was again dissapointing being more than a second slower than his teammate. Mika Salo showing Irvine the way in his second ever appearance for Ferrari is a sign that Salo is an excellent driver. Whether he will be able to impress during the race is yet to be seen.
So will Hakkinen extend his lead in the champioship tomorrow or will Irvine manage to pull out something special and challenge Hakkinen or will we see a new World Championship contender in Frentzen ?
Looking forward to the race, stay tuned !!
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German GP Friday Practice:
A surprise Jarno Trulli clocks the fastest time during Friday's practice sessions ahead of Eddie Irvine and Gian Carlo Fisichella. Coulthard, Barrichello and Panis make the top 6.
So were did the Prosts and the Benettons get the speed on a circuit which relies heavily on engine power ? The only answer I have is that certainly some teams are not showing the true potential of their cars until qualifying. When Marc Gene in the Minardi is in 11th less than 0.1 seconds slower than Hakkinen, this certainly does not reflect the real situation !!.
Of the worst performances, Hakkinen was down in 10th, Villeneuve 14th, Alesi 16th and Frentzen way back in 17th position.
Surely the grid tomorrow will not even be close to this order, stay tuned !!
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Michael Schumacher Update
Willi Weber, Michael Schumacher's manager indicates that Schumacher's recovery is not as fast as they would like it. He indicated that they are hoping that Schumacher will return for the Malaysian Grand Prix in October. This was in sharp contrast to the comments made by Luca di Montezemo - President of Ferrari - a few hours earlier that Michael Schumacher will be returning to Grand Prix racing at the Italian GP on the 12th of September and that he will be conducting tests at the same track between the 1st and 4th of September.
Ferrari have announced that a loose screw in the rear brake system might have caused the failure of the rear brakes in Schumacher's car which then led to his crash. Michael Schumacher appeared to have locked both front wheels just before going onto the gravel trap and hitting the tyre barrier.
Ferrari have announced that Mika Salo will drive for Ferrari in place on the injured Michael Schumacher at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Michael Schumacher has successfully undergone surgery to his right leg. It is expected that he will be out of action between 6 to 8 weeks depending on his recovery. This means that he will miss the next 3 races (Austria, Germany and Hungary) and possibly Belgium.
This injury will make it almost impossible for Michael Schumacher to challenge for the title unless Mika Hakkinen suffers problems in the next few races and different drivers win different races. Both cases are unlikely and therefore Michael's chances appear to be very slim which is very unfrotunate for the sport.
This section will be updated as soon as
more news is available
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German GP Preview:
Only a week after the Austrian GP, the Formula 1 circus moves to Germany with only 2 points separating Mika Hakkinen and Eddie Irvine. So will Hakkinen manage to extend his lead here or will Irvine continue his dream run?
All the predictions point to a McLaren 1-2 as the McLaren will be far superior on this fast circuit than the Ferrari so provided that the McLaren does not break down and we have not seen that in the last few races, expect a McLaren 1-2. A challenge from Coulthard is very unlikely as he will no doubt try to make up for his actions in Austria when he caused his teammate Hakkinen to spin.
Eddie Irvine and Mika Salo will struggle in Germany as the Ferrari does not seem to be competitive on fast tracks. It would not be surprising if Stewart's Rubens Barrichello or Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frenzen manage to outqualify the Ferrari's. In addition, it will become clearer how Ferrari are very much dependant on Michael Schumacher in the setup and development of the car and with his absence it is only a matter of time when we will see them struggle.
Ralph Schumacher in the Williams is the other German hope here and expect him to do well and possibly another podium finish. Alex Zanardi on the other hand will not perform. Both Benetton's will struggle on this type of track but the car is very reliable and if enough top runners drop out, Fisichella or Wurz could finish in the points.
Sauber and Prost have not scored results yet and will be fighting with the Benetton's for a top 10 finish. This brings us to BAR who have not scored a single point to date and Jacques Villeneuve has yet to finish a race. If BAR do manage to get the reliability sorted out, they will be scoring points and challenging Williams but that is a big if.
Minardi and Arrows will be at the back
of the field racing among themselves.