The 1999 Monaco Grand Prix (formally the LVII Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco) was a
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
motor race held on 16 May 1999 at the
Circuit de Monaco
Circuit de Monaco is a street circuit laid out on the city streets of Monte Carlo and La Condamine around the harbour of the Principality of Monaco. It is commonly, and even officially, referred to as "Monte Carlo" because it is largely inside ...
in
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
,
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
. It was the fourth race of the
1999 Formula One season
The 1999 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 53rd season of Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Formula One motor racing. It commenced on 7 March and ended on 31 October after sixteen races.
The Drivers' Championship w ...
. The 78-lap race was won by
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
driver
Michael Schumacher after starting from second position. It was Schumacher's 16th win with Ferrari, breaking the record held by
Niki Lauda. His team-mate
Eddie Irvine finished second with
Mika Häkkinen third for the
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
team.
The race was Schumacher's second win of the season, his fourth at Monaco, and the result meant that he extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship, to eight points over Irvine and twelve over Häkkinen. Ferrari extended their lead in the
Constructors' Championship, twenty-four points ahead of McLaren and twenty-eight ahead of
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
with 12 races of the season remaining.
Report
Background
The Grand Prix was contested by eleven teams, each of two drivers.
The teams, also known as
constructors, were
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
,
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
,
Williams,
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
,
Benetton,
Sauber,
Arrows,
Stewart,
Prost,
Minardi
Minardi was an Italian automobile racing team and constructor founded in Faenza in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi. It competed in the Formula One World Championship from 1985 until 2005 with little success, nevertheless acquiring a loyal followin ...
and
BAR
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (u ...
.
Tyre supplier
Bridgestone
is a Japanese multinational tire manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (1889–1976) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of , meaning 'stone bridge' in Japan ...
brought four different tyre types to the race: two dry compounds, the extra soft and the soft, and two
wet-weather compounds, the intermediate and full wet.
Going into the race, Ferrari driver
Michael Schumacher led the
Drivers' Championship with 16 points, ahead of
Eddie Irvine on 12 points and
Mika Häkkinen on 10 points.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen
Heinz-Harald Frentzen (born 18 May 1967) is a German former racing driver. He competed in multiple disciplines including Sportscars, Formula One and DTM. He had his most success in Formula One, entering over 150 Grands Prix and winning three.
...
was fourth with 10 points while
Ralf Schumacher
Ralf Schumacher (born 30 June 1975) is a German former racing driver. He is the younger brother of seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher, and the pair are the only siblings to each win Formula One races.
Schumacher began kart ...
was fifth on 10 points. In the
Constructors' Championship Ferrari were leading with 28 points, McLaren and Jordan were second and third with 16 and 13 points respectively, while Williams with 7 and Stewart with 6 points contended for fourth place. Ferrari had so far dominated the championship, winning two out of the three previous races, with Häkkinen winning the
Brazilian Grand Prix
The Brazilian Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prêmio do Brasil), currently held under the name São Paulo Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prêmio de São Paulo), is a Formula One championship race which is currently held at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace ...
. Championship contenders Frentzen and
David Coulthard had each gained one second-place finish, and Ralf Schumacher and
Rubens Barrichello had achieved third place podium finishes.
Following the
San Marino Grand Prix on 2 May, several teams conducted testing sessions at circuits around the world. Ferrari and Minardi headed for
Fiorano where testing for the set-up around the Monaco circuit took place. McLaren and Prost tested at the
Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours running over the course of three days, while Prost elected to test for one day. Jordan tested at the
Lurcy-Lévis
Lurcy-Lévis () is a commune on the northern limits the Allier department in Auvergne in central France.
It is around east of Saint-Amand-Montrond and the A71 autoroute and west of ( Moulins) and the N7.
Population
Economy
Within Lurcy-L ...
test track with driver
Andrew Gilbert-Scott
Andrew Gilbert-Scott (born 11 July 1958) is a former British racing driver.
Early career
He started his racing career in the Formula Ford British championship in 1981. In 1983, he moved to the Lola Formula Ford works team. Gilbert-Scott was s ...
performing aerodynamic mapping runs.
Practice and qualifying
![Mika Hakkinen DTM Norisring 2009](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Mika_Hakkinen_DTM_Norisring_2009.jpg)
Four practice sessions were held before the race; two one-hour sessions on Thursday and two 45 minutes sessions on Saturday.
The Friday sessions were held in dry and cloudy conditions. Irvine was the fastest driver in the first session, with a time of 1:18.910 that was less than six-tenths of a second faster than Michael Schumacher. Jordan driver
Damon Hill was less than two-tenths of a second off Michael Schumacher's pace, with Barrichello,
Alessandro Zanardi and
Jean Alesi rounding out the top six. In the second practice session, Michael Schumacher was fastest with a time of 1:22.718, ahead of Häkkinen,
Olivier Panis
Olivier Panis (; born 2 September 1966) is a French former racing driver. Panis raced in Formula One for ten seasons, earning his first and only win at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix for the Ligier team.
He is the father of racing driver Aurél ...
, Irvine,
Giancarlo Fisichella
Giancarlo Fisichella (; born 14 January 1973), also known as Fisico, Giano or Fisi, is an Italian professional racing driver, also captain of the official ''Nazionale Piloti'' association football team (composed of the racing drivers). He has d ...
and Coulthard.
Saturday's afternoon qualifying session lasted for an hour. During this session, the
107% rule
The 107% rule is a sporting regulation affecting Formula One racing qualifying sessions. During the first phase of qualifying, if the circuit is dry, any driver who is eliminated in the first qualifying session and fails to set a lap within 107 p ...
was in effect, which necessitated each driver set a time within 107% of the quickest lap to qualify for the race. Each driver was limited to twelve laps.
Häkkinen achieved his fourth pole position of the season, his second at the Circuit de Monaco, with a time of 1:20.547. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Michael Schumacher, who was less than one-tenth of a second behind.
Race
The conditions for the race were dry with the
air temperature
Atmospheric temperature is a measure of temperature at different levels of the Earth's atmosphere. It is governed by many factors, including insolation, incoming solar radiation, humidity and altitude. When discussing surface air temperature, the ...
and the track temperature . The drivers took to the track at 09:30 (
GMT +1) for a 30-minute warm-up session.
Both Ferrari drivers maintained their good pace from qualifying; Michael Schumacher set the fastest time, a 1:23.792. Irvine was second in the other Ferrari car. Both McLaren drivers were just off Irvine's pace—Häkkinen ahead of Coulthard—while Hill and Ralf Schumacher rounded out the top six.
Both Ferraris gained a position at the start, with
Michael Schumacher taking the lead from
Mika Häkkinen,
Eddie Irvine and
David Coulthard. The order remained this way until lap 35 when Coulthard's car began to slow, eventually causing him to retire. Further bad luck befell
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
a few laps later when Häkkinen went straight on at Mirabeau from oil left after
Toranosuke Takagi's blown engine.
Eddie Irvine moved into 2nd place and stayed there.
On the podium, the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...
's flag was erroneously flown for Irvine instead of the British one.
[ 3:06]
Post-race
The race result left Michael Schumacher extending his lead in the Drivers' Championship with 26 points. Irvine's second place ensured that he maintained second position in the Championship with 18 points, four points ahead of Häkkinen and five ahead of Frentzen. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari extended their lead to 44 points, McLaren maintained second with 20 points, with Jordan maintaining third with 16 points, with 12 races of the season remaining.
Classification
Qualifying
Race
Championship standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings
;Constructors' Championship standings
*
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
External links
{{Coord, 43, 44, 4.74, N, 7, 25, 16.8, E, scale:1563_type:landmark_region:MC, display=title
Monaco Grand Prix
The Monaco Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de Monaco) is a Formula One motor racing event held annually on the Circuit de Monaco, in late May or early June. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigiou ...
Monaco Grand Prix
Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
May 1999 sports events in Europe