1999 Brazilian Grand Prix

  1999 Brazilian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 2 of 16 in the 1999 Formula One season
Autódromo José Carlos Pace (last modified in 1997)
Date	April 11, 1999
Official name	XXVIII Grande Prêmio Marlboro do Brasil
Location	Interlagos, São Paulo, Brazil
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.292 km (2.667 mi)
Distance	72 laps, 309.024 km (192.019 mi)
Weather	Sunny, hot, dry during race Rain during practice
Pole position
Driver	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1.16.568
Fastest lap
Driver	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:18.448 on lap 70
Podium
First	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes
Second	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Third	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Mugen-Honda

The 1999 Brazilian Grand Prix (formally the XXVIII Grande Prêmio Malboro do Brasil) was a Formula One motor race held on 11 April 1999 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil. It was the second race of the 1999 Formula One season. The race, contested over 71 laps, was won by McLaren drive Mika Häkkinen after starting from pole position. Michael Schumacher finished second in a Ferrari with Heinz-Harald Frentzen third for the Jordan team.

Ricardo Zonta did not qualify for the race, after he had injured his left foot in a big crash during Saturday's practice.^[1]

Report

Background

Driver Changes

The race marked the debut for Stéphane Sarrazin, who drove the Minardi for an injured Luca Badoer.^[2] Badoer had injured his hand in a testing accident, and Sarrazin - then the test driver for Prost - was drafted in to Minardi.^[2]

As Luca Badoer returned for the following race, and he was still the test driver for Prost, it was Stéphane Sarrazin's only entry in Formula One.^[2]

Race

At the start of the race, pole sitter Mika Häkkinen raced off with the lead, while his McLaren teammate David Coulthard stalled on the grid.^[1] McLaren at this point had been reeling from a double-DNF at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, and Coulthard's failure raised eyebrows at the team.^[1] Coulthard's car was pushed into the pit lane, where it was restarted as the leaders began lap 4.

On lap 4, local hero Rubens Barrichello took the lead of the race from Mika Häkkinen after Häkkinen's car suffered a temporary transmission malfunction and was unable to select any gears. Häkkinen was also passed by Michael Schumacher before his car regained the ability to select gears.^[3] Barrichello was able to stay in front until he pitted on lap 27.^[4] It was the first time a Stewart car had led a race.^[4] The crowd of roughly 80,000^[4] cheered wildly as "Rubinho" built a lead of about 5 seconds over Schumacher.^[1]

Alexander Wurz and Damon Hill collided on lap 10, ending Hill's race.^[1] Rubens Barrichello fell to fourth place after his pit stop, and Michael Schumacher took over the lead.^[3] David Coulthard's day ended when he pulled off the track with a mechanical failure. Stéphane Sarrazin had a massive crash on the pit straight on lap 31 after suffering a wing failure, with him spinning more than six times.^[2] On lap 35, Barrichello passed Eddie Irvine under braking into the first corner to take third place.

Michael Schumacher came in for a pit stop on lap 38, allowing Mika Häkkinen past. Häkkinen had been held up by Schumacher, so he began trying to build up enough of a gap so he could come out ahead of Schumacher after his own pit stop. Lap traffic delayed his progress at first, but after one lap he was able to turn in a couple of fast laps. He pitted on lap 42, and his fast laps combined with quick work by his pit crew allowed him to easily retain the lead over Schumacher.^[3]

On lap 42, Pedro Diniz spun off and beached his car after trying to pass another car to the inside. Rubens Barrichello's race ended on the same lap with a blown engine.^[1] Eddie Irvine came in for an unscheduled pit stop on lap 55 to clear the radiators of his overheating Ferrari, dropping him back to fifth.^[3]

Mika Häkkinen won the race, with Michael Schumacher second. Heinz-Harald Frentzen was classified third despite running out of fuel on the final lap, as the next car was a lap down. Ralf Schumacher finished fourth after being closely pursued by Eddie Irvine for the last few laps.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	1	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:16.568
2	2	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:16.715	+0.147
3	16	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	1:17.305	+0.737
4	3	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:17.578	+1.010
5	9	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Playlife	1:17.810	+1.242
6	4	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	1:17.843	+1.275
7	7	Damon Hill	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	1:17.884	+1.316
8	8	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	1:17.902	+1.334
9	10	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Playlife	1:18.334	+1.766
10	17	Johnny Herbert	Stewart-Ford	1:18.374	+1.806
11	6	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-Supertec	1:18.506	+1.938
12	18	Olivier Panis	Prost-Peugeot	1:18.636	+2.068
13	19	Jarno Trulli	Prost-Peugeot	1:18.684	+2.116
14	11	Jean Alesi	Sauber-Petronas	1:18.716	+2.148
15	12	Pedro Diniz	Sauber-Petronas	1:19.194	+2.626
16	5	Alessandro Zanardi	Williams-Supertec	1:19.452	+2.884
17	20	Stéphane Sarrazin	Minardi-Ford	1:20.016	+3.448
18	14	Pedro de la Rosa	Arrows	1:20.075	+3.507
19	15	Toranosuke Takagi	Arrows	1:20.096	+3.528
20	21	Marc Gené	Minardi-Ford	1:20.710	+4.142
21	22	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Supertec		Penalty 1
DNS	23	Ricardo Zonta	BAR-Supertec		Injured

1.^ Qualified 16th, stripped of time due to illegal fuel.^[5]

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	72	1:36:03.785	1	10
2	3	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	72	+4.925	4	6
3	8	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	71	Out of fuel	8	4
4	6	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-Supertec	71	+1 Lap	11	3
5	4	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	71	+1 Lap	6	2
6	18	Olivier Panis	Prost-Peugeot	71	+1 Lap	12	1
7	10	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Playlife	70	+2 Laps	9
8	15	Toranosuke Takagi	Arrows	69	+3 Laps	19
9	21	Marc Gené	Minardi-Ford	69	+3 Laps	20
Ret	14	Pedro de la Rosa	Arrows	52	Hydraulics	17
Ret	22	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Supertec	49	Hydraulics	21
Ret	5	Alessandro Zanardi	Williams-Supertec	43	Gearbox	16
Ret	16	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	42	Engine	3
Ret	12	Pedro Diniz	Sauber-Petronas	42	Collision	15
Ret	9	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Playlife	38	Clutch	5
Ret	20	Stéphane Sarrazin	Minardi-Ford	31	Accident	18
Ret	11	Jean Alesi	Sauber-Petronas	27	Gearbox	14
Ret	2	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	22	Gearbox	2
Ret	19	Jarno Trulli	Prost-Peugeot	21	Gearbox	13
Ret	17	Johnny Herbert	Stewart-Ford	15	Hydraulics	10
Ret	7	Damon Hill	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	10	Collision	7
DNQ	23	Ricardo Zonta	BAR-Supertec		Not qualified

Standings after Grand Prix

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Eddie Irvine 12 2 Mika Häkkinen 10 3 Heinz-Harald Frentzen 10 4 Ralf Schumacher 7 5 Michael Schumacher 6

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 18 2 McLaren-Mercedes 10 3 Jordan-Mugen-Honda 10 4 Williams-Supertec 7 5 Benetton-Playlife 3

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Notes

• Statistics:
  • 10th race win for Mika Häkkinen.^[4]
  • 100th race entry for Rubens Barrichello.
  • Only race entry ever for Stéphane Sarrazin.^[2]

References

Classification
Qualifying
"1999 Brazilian GP: Qualification". ChicaneF1.com. Retrieved 2007-08-01. 
"28o Grande Premio Marlboro do Brazil - 1999: Startgrid". The Formula One Database. Retrieved 2007-08-02. 
Race
"1999 Brazilian Grand Prix". The Official Formula 1 Website. Retrieved 2007-07-25. 
"1999 Brazilian GP: Classification". ChicaneF1.com. Retrieved 2007-08-01. 

Notes, Race details
"1999 Brazilian GP: Overview". ChicaneF1.com. Retrieved 2007-08-01.