1999 Canadian Grand Prix

  1999 Canadian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 6 of 16 in the 1999 Formula One season
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (last modified in 1996)
Date	June 13, 1999
Official name	XXXVII Grand Prix Air Canada
Location	Montreal, Canada
Course	Temporary street circuit 4.421 km (2.747 mi)
Distance	69 laps, 305.049 km (189.549 mi)
Weather	Temperatures up to 31 °C (88 °F); wind speeds up to 5.1 kilometres per hour (3.2 mph)[1]
Pole position
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Time	1:19.298
Fastest lap
Driver	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari
Time	1:20.382 on lap 62
Podium
First	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes
Second	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Playlife
Third	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari

The 1999 Canadian Grand Prix^[2] was a Formula One race held on June 13, 1999 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada. It was the sixth race of the 1999 Formula One season. The race was notable for the four crashes that occurred in turn 13 and for the number of times the safety car was deployed. Turn 13, the final chicane, had four separate crashes in which a driver either went wide or spun into the wall. Three of the drivers who crashed there had previously won the Driver's Championship, leading to the wall becoming known as the "Wall of Champions". The safety car was deployed four times in the race, a record at the time, and was the first F1 race to finish behind the safety car following Heinz-Harald Frentzen's massive crash with four laps to go.^[3]

Report

Race

The race was won by Mika Häkkinen for McLaren.

The front runners got off the line cleanly, with Michael Schumacher maintaining first place after starting on pole for the first time in 1999. Jarno Trulli, starting ninth, went off the track trying to pass Heinz-Harald Frentzen up the inside into turn one. Trulli spun across turn one, collecting Jean Alesi and Rubens Barrichello. Trulli and Alesi retired, and the safety car was deployed. Alexander Wurz also retired with transmission problems.^[4]

Eddie Irvine posted his only career fastest lap in this race.

Ricardo Zonta retired on lap 3 after spinning into the wall at turn 13. He stopped just off the track, missing his right rear wheel, which brought the safety car out again. Zonta was the first of four drivers to hit the “Wall of Champions” in this race. On lap 15, Damon Hill became the second driver to hit the turn 13 wall. Hill was able to pull off the track in a safe location, and the safety car was not deployed. Michael Schumacher hit the wall on lap 30, giving the lead to Mika Häkkinen. The fourth and final driver to hit to wall was Jacques Villeneuve on lap 35, bringing the safety car out for the third time. Hill, Schumacher, and Villeneuve were three of the four Formula 1 Driver’s Champions competing in the race.^[5]

On the lap 41 restart following Villeneuve’s crash, David Coulthard tried to go around the outside of Eddie Irvine into turn one, then the inside on turn two. They touched, and both spun off. Both were able to rejoin, though Coulthard had to pit for a new nose. The fourth and final safety car of race came out on lap 66 after Heinz-Harald Frentzen, running in second place, suffered a brake failure and had a massive crash. He was uninjured. The safety car pulled in at the end of the final lap, and Mika Häkkinen won the race.^[4] Eddie Irvine scored his first fastest lap^[6] and finished third behind Giancarlo Fisichella.

Classification

Jacques Villeneuve (BAR) (top), Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) (center), and Damon Hill (Jordan) (bottom) all became victims of the outside wall at the exit of the final chicane. Because all three of them were former World Champions, their collisions with that wall (which all happened on separate occasions) resulted in it being nicknamed the "Wall of Champions".

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Lap	Gap
1	3	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:19.298
2	1	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:19.327	+0.029
3	4	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	1:19.440	+0.142
4	2	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:19.729	+0.431
5	16	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	1:19.930	+0.632
6	8	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	1:20.158	+0.860
7	9	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Playlife	1:20.378	+1.080
8	11	Jean Alesi	Sauber-Petronas	1:20.459	+1.161
9	19	Jarno Trulli	Prost-Peugeot	1:20.459	+1.259
10	17	Johnny Herbert	Stewart-Ford	1:20.829	+1.531
11	10	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Playlife	1:21.000	+1.702
12	5	Alessandro Zanardi	Williams-Supertec	1:21.076	+1.778
13	6	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-Supertec	1:21.081	+1.783
14	7	Damon Hill	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	1:21.094	+1.796
15	18	Olivier Panis	Prost-Peugeot	1:21.252	+1.954
16	22	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Supertec	1:21.302	+2.004
17	23	Ricardo Zonta	BAR-Supertec	1:21.467	+2.169
18	12	Pedro Diniz	Sauber-Petronas	1:21.571	+2.273
19	15	Toranosuke Takagi	Arrows	1:21.693	+2.395
20	14	Pedro de la Rosa	Arrows	1:22.613	+3.315
21	20	Luca Badoer	Minardi-Ford	1:22.808	+3.510
22	21	Marc Gené	Minardi-Ford	1:23.387	+4.089
Source:[7]

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	69	1:41:35.727	2	10
2	9	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Playlife	69	+0.782	7	6
3	4	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	69	+1.797	3	4
4	6	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-Supertec	69	+2.392	13	3
5	17	Johnny Herbert	Stewart-Ford	69	+2.805	10	2
6	12	Pedro Diniz	Sauber-Petronas	69	+3.711	18	1
7	2	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	69	+5.004	4
8	21	Marc Gené	Minardi-Ford	68	+1 Lap	22
9	18	Olivier Panis	Prost-Peugeot	68	+1 Lap	15
10	20	Luca Badoer	Minardi-Ford	67	+2 Laps	21
11	8	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	65	Brakes	6
Ret	5	Alessandro Zanardi	Williams-Supertec	50	Brakes	12
Ret	15	Toranosuke Takagi	Arrows	41	Transmission	19
Ret	22	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Supertec	34	Spun off	16
Ret	3	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	29	Spun off	1
Ret	14	Pedro de la Rosa	Arrows	22	Transmission	20
Ret	7	Damon Hill	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	14	Spun off	14
Ret	16	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	14	Steering	5
Ret	23	Ricardo Zonta	BAR-Supertec	2	Spun off	17
Ret	11	Jean Alesi	Sauber-Petronas	0	Collision	8
Ret	19	Jarno Trulli	Prost-Peugeot	0	Collision	9
Ret	10	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Playlife	0	Transmission	11
Source:[8]

Notes

• Statistics:
  • 1st (and only) fastest lap for Eddie Irvine.
  • 25th race entry for Alexander Wurz.
  • 1st Formula One Grand Prix to end under safety car conditions, a circumstance which did not reoccur until the 2009 Australian Grand Prix.

Standings after Grand Prix

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mika Häkkinen 34 2 Michael Schumacher 30 3 Eddie Irvine 25 4 Heinz-Harald Frentzen 13 5 Giancarlo Fisichella 13

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 55 2 McLaren-Mercedes 46 3 Jordan-Mugen-Honda 16 4 Benetton-Playlife 14 5 Williams-Supertec 12

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

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1999 Canadian Grand Prix.