Belgian GP 1999

Belgian GP, 1999

Eddie Irvine arrived at Spa with a two-point advantage in the World Championship over McLaren's Mika Hakkinen. In qualifying, however, Hakkinen and his team-mate David Coulthard were first and second on the grid. Heinz-Harald Frentzen used the Mugen Honda engine to grab third and Damon Hill was fourth. Irvine's Ferrari was sixth beside the impressive Ralf Schumacher in his Williams-Supertec.

At the start of the race Hakkinen was slow off the line and so Coulthard was alongside him as the two cars went into the first corner. David did not lift, the two cars touched and Coulthard went ahead. Hakkinen was not happy although he disguised his feelings at the end of the race as best he could. Coulthard stayed ahead all afternoon while Hakkinen drove around in second, uninspired to such an extent that at one point the McLaren team put out a sign telling him to "Push". He finished second to take the lead in the World Championship by one point, Irvine having finished a lackluster fourth. Eddie would probably have been pushed back to fifth by Ralf Schumacher if his Ferrari team mate Mika Salo had not been used to block the German driver. Frentzen added to his score once again with third place for Jordan while Damon Hill finished sixth, scoring his last point in Formula 1.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL TIMEPOS
1 2 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes  44 1h25m43.057  1m50.484 2 
2 1 Mika Hakkinen McLaren-Mercedes  44 10.469  1m50.329 1 
3 8 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Mugen Honda  44 33.433  1m51.332 3 
4 4 Eddie Irvine Ferrari  44 44.948  1m51.895 6 
5 6 Ralf Schumacher Williams-Supertec  44 48.067  1m51.414 5 
6 7 Damon Hill Jordan-Mugen Honda  44 54.916  1m51.372 4 
7 3 Mika Salo Ferrari  44 56.249  1m52.124 9 
8 5 Alessandro Zanardi Williams-Supertec  44 1m07.022  1m52.014 8 
9 11 Jean Alesi Sauber-Petronas  44 1m13.848  1m52.921 16 
10 16 Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford  44 1m20.742  1m51.974 7 
11 9 Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Supertec  44 1m32.195  1m52.762 13 
12 19 Jarno Trulli Prost-Peugeot  44 1m36.154  1m52.644 12 
13 18 Olivier Panis Prost-Peugeot  44 1m41.543  1m53.148 17 
14 10 Alexander Wurz Benetton-Supertec  44 1m57.745  1m52.847 15 
15 22 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Supertec  43 1 Lap  1m52.235 11 
16 21 Marc Gene Minardi-Ford  43 1 Lap  1m54.557 21 
r 15 Pedro de la Rosa Arrows  35  1m54.579 22 
r 23 Ricardo Zonta BAR-Supertec  33 Gearbox 1m52.840 14 
r 20 Luca Badoer Minardi-Ford  33 Suspension 1m54.197 20 
r 17 Johnny Herbert Stewart-Ford  28 Accident 1m52.164 10 
r 12 Pedro Diniz Sauber-Petronas  19 Accident 1m53.778 18 
r 14 Toranosuke Takagi Arrows  0 Clutch 1m54.099 19