Hungarian GP 1998
Hungarian GP, 1998

Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard qualified the McLaren-Mercedes MP4-13s on the front row as usual but Michael Schumacher did a remarkable job to put his Ferrari (on hard Goodyear tyres) third ahead of Damon Hill's Jordan and Eddie Irvine's Ferrari. They were both using soft Goodyear rubber. At the start of the race Hakkinen built up a lead of around three seconds, while Coulthard found himself under attack from Schumacher's Ferrari. Irvine disappeared early in the race with gearbox trouble, which left Damon Hill in fourth place. When the pit stops began it was still unclear which cars were running which strategies but soon afterwards Schumacher's remarkable pace indicated that he might be stopping three times. The McLaren strategists spotted this and prepared to bring Hakkinen and Coulthard in as soon as Schumacher made a move: in this way the German would be bottled up in the vital laps when he needed to be lapping quickly. Schumacher's second stop came on lap 43 and immediately the McLarens were called in. Schumacher's pace in those vital laps was so fast, however, that he was ahead of both McLarens when he re-emerged. The Ferrari star then had to push incredibly hard to build up a sufficient advantage to stay ahead of the McLarens during his third pit stop. As Schumacher charged away Hakkinen began to struggle with a shock absorber problem. Coulthard radioed that he was being held up by the Finn but he was trapped until the team gave him the go-ahead to overtake. This did not happen for four laps during which time David lost vital seconds to Schumacher. The German was pushing so hard up front that at one point he went off the road. Although Coulthard pushed hard, his tyres would not allow him to lap any faster and when Schumacher pitted the Ferrari stayed ahead and won. Hakkinen's misfortune was compounded when he fell behind Jacques Villeneuve's Williams, Hill's Jordan and Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the second Williams. After the race Heinz-Harald was barely able to walk and spent the next few days in a Vienna Hospital recovering from salmonella poisoning.
POS | NO | DRIVER | ENTRANT | LAPS | TIME/RETIREMENT | QUAL TIME | POS |
1 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | 77 | 1h45m25.550 | 1m17.366 | 3 |
2 | 7 | David Coulthard | McLaren-Mercedes | 77 | 9.433 | 1m17.131 | 2 |
3 | 1 | Jacques Villeneuve | Williams-Mecachrome | 77 | 44.444 | 1m18.337 | 6 |
4 | 9 | Damon Hill | Jordan-Mugen Honda | 77 | 55.075 | 1m18.214 | 4 |
5 | 2 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | Williams-Mecachrome | 77 | 56.510 | 1m19.029 | 7 |
6 | 8 | Mika Hakkinen | McLaren-Mercedes | 76 | 1 Lap | 1m16.973 | 1 |
7 | 14 | Jean Alesi | Sauber-Petronas | 76 | 1 Lap | 1m19.210 | 11 |
8 | 5 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Benetton-Playlife | 76 | 1 Lap | 1m19.050 | 8 |
9 | 10 | Ralf Schumacher | Jordan-Mugen Honda | 76 | 1 Lap | 1m19.171 | 10 |
10 | 15 | Johnny Herbert | Sauber-Petronas | 76 | 1 Lap | 1m19.878 | 15 |
11 | 16 | Pedro Diniz | Arrows | 74 | 3 Laps | 1m19.706 | 12 |
12 | 11 | Olivier Panis | Prost-Peugeot | 74 | 3 Laps | 1m20.663 | 20 |
13 | 19 | Jan Magnussen | Stewart-Ford | 74 | 3 Laps | 1m20.198 | 17 |
14 | 20 | Toranosuke Takagi | Tyrrell-Ford | 74 | 3 Laps | 1m20.354 | 18 |
15 | 23 | Shinji Nakano | Minardi-Ford | 74 | 3 Laps | 1m20.635 | 19 |
16 | 6 | Alexander Wurz | Benetton-Playlife | 69 | 8 Laps | 1m19.063 | 9 |
r | 18 | Rubens Barrichello | Stewart-Ford | 54 | Gearbox | 1m19.876 | 14 |
r | 12 | Jarno Trulli | Prost-Peugeot | 28 | Engine | 1m20.042 | 16 |
r | 17 | Mika Salo | Arrows | 18 | Gearbox | 1m19.712 | 13 |
r | 22 | Esteban Tuero | Minardi-Ford | 13 | Engine | 1m21.725 | 21 |
r | 4 | Eddie Irvine | Ferrari | 13 | Gearbox | 1m18.325 | 5 |
nq | 21 | Ricardo Rosset | Tyrrell-Ford | 1m23.140 | 22 |