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1998: race by race

1998 started better than anyone had ever hoped for: After testing the new West-McLaren-Mercedes MP4/13 at Barcelona, the car is faster than any other car in the F1 field. With the magnificent designed car by Adrian Newey and the new tyres combined with the experience both Mika and David have now in F1 racing, this should become a perfect season for our Flying Finn.

Mika Häkkinen saves the best for last
(click on the picture for some music)

Australia, March 6-8, 1998.

The season started with the second victory ever of Mika Häkkinen. Mika was the fastest of the whole field in free practice, qualifying (2nd pole), and the race. Due to a miscommunication with the team, Mika came in the pits in |eading position, and lost it to his team mate David Coulthard, who was 2nd at that time. Because Mika and David agreed to give victory to whoever entered the first corner first, David let Mika pass a few laps before the end of the race. Third became Heinz-Harald Frentzen in his Winfield-Williams more than one lap behind the two McLarens.

David lets Mika pass on the straight

Brazil, March 27-29, 1998.

Again on both Friday and Saturday free practice, the McLarens are faster than anyone else. Mika Häkkinen was fastest, followed close by David Coulthard, both more than 1 second faster than the rest of the field. On Saturday afternoon Mika archived his third pole position! Second is David, so again a whole silver front row at the GP of Brazil at Interlagos. Mika started very well while David almost lost his 2nd place to HH Frentzen. After a few laps the 'silberpfeilen' were leading in a superb way. The McLarens lapped most cars once or twice (except Michael Schumacher and Alexander Wurz) and were never threatened by the Ferrari's, Benettons' or Williams'. After 72 laps Mika took victory for the third time in his career.

a hattrick for our flying Finn

Argentina, April 10-12, 1998.

The McLaren-cars where not as dominating as the first two races of the season, but pole position for David Coulthard and a third place on the starting grid for our flying Finn was not bad at all. At the start of the race the two McLarens entered the first corner 1st and 2nd, but soon Michael Schumacher with his much improved Ferrari, passed the silver arrows. David kept hanging on, on 7th position after his 'touch' with Schumacher. Half-way the race Mika was leading for some laps because of Schumacher's pit-stop. Mika came close to victory again when Michael spun off the track, due to the slippery rain conditions. With less than 23 seconds ahead of Mika, Michael Schumacher took victory, Mika finished 2nd, well ahead of the Ferrari of Eddie Irvine. After another 'touch' with Jacques Villeneuve, David passed Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella in the last few laps and finished 6th, earning one championship point.

Mika leaving the box

San Marino, April 24-26, 1998

Mika's 100th Grand Prix was the first disappointment of the 1998 season. Mika was quickest on Friday free practice and only 0,1 second away from pole position at qualifying on Saturday. But Sunday didn't start as it should. The oil temperature was too high in the warm-up session, so only 6 laps for our flying Finn. At the start of the race everything seemed to go as well as the other races, but after 17 laps Mika had to retire due to a broken gearbox. At that moment he was driving in 2nd position right behind David Coulthard, who started from pole. David was leading the race from start to finish, and took victory 5 seconds before the Ferrari's of Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine.

100.. not his lucky number.

Spain, May 8-10, 1998.

The perfect Grand Prix for our flying Finn: Fastest on Friday free practice, fastest on Saturday free practice, fastest in qualifying (Mika's 4th pole position), fastest in Sunday warm-up, fastest lap in the race and finally: Victory! Mika Häkkinen has won his fourth grand-prix of his career, his third in 1998. Of course the McLarens performed very well at circuit de Catalunya because they do a lot of testing here. Mika lapped every car once or twice except the top 4: David was 2nd at 9 sec., Ferrari's Michael Schumacher battled with the 1998 F1 talent-of-the-year Alexander Wurz in his Benetton for 3rd position. Finally Schumacher completed the podium finishing 47 sec. behind Mika.

the rain in spain tastes mainly like champagne

Monaco, May 21-24, 1998.

Another one of Mika Hakkinen's dreams came true: Winning the Formula One Grand Prix of Monaco. In his 'home' GP he was fastest at free practice on Thursday, took pole position on Saturday and despite his touch with the barrier at Rascasse he led from start to finish and took victory on Sunday. A real 'home-run'. His first victory in Monaco, his fourth win this year, the fifth in his F1 career. Mika also drove the fastest lap in the race. Benettons' Giancarlo Fisichella who also touched the Rascasse barrier and spun, finished 2nd at 11 sec. behind the Flying Finn. David Coulthard blew up his Illmor-Mercedes engine and had to retire.

Mika cornering Rascasse

The only ones who could threaten the McLarens were the Benettons (Fisi 2nd, Wurz retired) and the Ferrari's (Irvine 3rd, but Michael Schumacher made unusual mistakes and crashes and finished 10th). A Grand Prix victory at Monaco is something special for all the drivers, that's why Mika was very delighted with this win. He drove a slow victory-round to take a good look at his cheering fellow-Monaco-citizens, gave Ron Dennis a champagne-shower, kissed his fiancee Erja in front of the camera's and celebrated this win with the rest of the team.

Canada, June 5-7, 1998.

Mika Häkkinen married his girlfriend Erja Honkanen in Monaco one week before the Canadian GP.

For more information about his marriage see 'Who's Mika'.

After this ceremony it was back to the racing scene again at the 'ile de Notre Dame' in Montreal, Canada. Friday started as good as expected: first in free practice. On Saturday Coulthard and Häkkinen both had exactly the same time in free practice, which was the fastest untill then. On Saturday afternoon David qualified just 0,06 sec. quicker than Mika and took pole position. Mika was next to his team-mate on the front row when the 'demolition-race' of the year started on Sunday.

At the first start Michael Schumacher pushed his Ferrari between the two McLarens before the first corner. Due to a major crash behind the leading guys, the race was stopped and restarted. At the restart Mika couldn't switch from first into second gear and had to retire due to a broken gearbox. David had to retire 18 laps later with also technical problems (gearbox, throttle). After a lot of crashes Michael Schumacher took victory, 16 sec. before the Benetton-Italian Giancarlo Fisichella. Eddie Irvine (Ferrari) completed the podium finishing third.

France, June 26-28, 1998.

At the Magny Cours circuit in France, Mika was fastest on both Friday and Saturday free practice and took his 5th pole position of the year (6th in his career) on Saturday afternoon. But at the re-start on Sunday (due to gear problems of Stewarts' Jos Verstappen) Mika was unable to keep his position and was passed by the Ferrari's of both Schumacher and Irvine.

Mika got stuck behind Irvine who was defending his team-mates position. Mika tried to pass Irvine several times but did not succeed. Maybe he was afraid to be run off by the Irishman, so Schumacher could come too close to Mika in the championship standings. After 71 laps Mika tried to pass Irvine again in the last corner, but despite a spectacular drift of both cars Mika finished 3rd behind the two Ferrari's.

Great Britain, July 10-12, 1998.

The home GP of the F1 teams McLaren, Williams, Jordan, Arrows, Stewart and Tyrrell. Mika Hakkinen was second fastest on Friday (0,2 sec behind David Coulthard) but fastest on Saturday and took his 6th pole position this year on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday it became the first wet (rain) race of the year. Mika started well, and led the race for 50 laps. Due to the slippery conditions lots of cars slide off the track, including our flying Finn: at very high speed he made a 360 degrees spin but didn't lose control of his McLaren and came back on the tarmac.

mika putting up a rain curtain

At the 43rd lap, when the rain really came pouring down and only 11 cars were still in competition, the safety car was brought out. Mika lost his 38,5 sec advantage he had on number two, his rival in the championship, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher. At the re-start Schumacher passed Fisichella before the start-finish line, which meant a 10 sec stop and go penalty. Mika slide off the track once more and now Schumacher was able to pass him. The stewards informed Ferrari too late about Schumacher's penalty so Schumacher took his penalty in the last lap and finished in the pits. Mika took the chequered flag first but was ranked 2nd between the two Ferrari's at 12 sec from the number 1. A most controversial finish. Ron Dennis protested but it was rejected. Later Schumachers penalty was rescinded and the official time gap between nr 1 and 2 was 22 seconds.

Austria, July 24-26, 1998.

At the A1-ring at Spielberg/Zeltweg, Austria, Mika Häkkinen won his fifth Grand Prix of 1998. On sunny Friday he was 3rd fastest on the small and twisted circuit after team mate David Coulthard and Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella. The Saturday started sunny. In the free practice sessions Mika was 2nd fastest behind David. But when the rain came pouring down at noon, it was obvious that it was going to be a wet qualifying session. Everyone waited to come out, and let the track dry by the sun and by the other drivers. The one's who drove their last lap before 1400 hour were therefore the quickest: Fisichella on pole (his first!), Alesi 2nd (almost the first pole for the Sauber-team) and luckily Häkkinen 3rd just before his rival Michael Schumacher.

rain tyres during qualifying

On Sunday at the start of the race Mika passed Fisi and Alesi already before the first corner and held off the attacking Ferrari of Schumacher. Mika drove faultless, and took victory at the end. David Coulthard, who started from a disappointing 14th position, drove the race of his life and finished 2nd. Michael Schumacher spun off 3 times but fought his way back to 4th position, then he was helped by his team mate Eddie Irvine who let the German pass to take the 3rd podium place.

Germany, July 31- August 2, 1998.

Mercedes power was needed at the highspeed Hockenheimring. Friday: Mika first, David second. Saturday: David first, Mika second. Qualifying: The Mercedes power let Mika Häkkinen fly faster than the pole time of 1997 and Mika took his 7th pole position of the year: 1:41.838. David second at only 0,5 sec just before 'reborn' Jacques Villeneuve. Michael Schumacher struggled with his Ferrrari and started only 9th.

Mika let the race from start to finish (except for the lap when he pitted before Coulthard) and put down a perfect result: Victory, 10 points for the driver championship and with David the whole race just behind him, 16 points for the constructors championship. Jacques Villeneuve finished at 2,5 sec. from the McLarens and had his first podium finish of 1998. Michael Schumacher gathered 2 points by finishing 5th just before brother Ralf (6th).

After the German GP McLaren confirmed the drivers-line up for 1999:
Mika and David will continue to drive for West-McLaren-Mercedes.

Hungary, August 14-16, 1998.

Another silver front row at the 12th GP of the year at the dusty and twisty Hungaroring near Budapest. Mika Hakkinen archived his 8th pole position of the year, qualifying just 0,1 sec. faster than team-mate David Coulthard. Both of the McLarens blew away from the start, leaving the rest of the field, led by Michael Schumacher, behind. Because overtaking is almost impossible on this track the race was decided by pitstops.

Mika making his 2nd and last pitstop.

Mika and David made 2 pitstops and Michael even 3. His 2nd pitstop put Michael in front of David, so he was able to hunt Mika. His 3rd pitstop put him in front of Mika, who was dropping back due to handling problems after his 2nd pitstop. Later Mika explained that the car was "impossible to drive, especially over the bumps and through the corners". McLaren said it was due to a broken shock absorber, but many people doubt that explanation. Not only David passed Mika, but even Villeneuve, Hill and Frentzen passed by, leaving Mika struggle for 6th position, earning only 1 point. Schumacher won, David represented McLaren on the podium finishing 2nd, and Williams' Jacques Villeneuve had his second podium finish in a row finishing 3rd. While Schumacher gave Jean Todt a champagne shower, David and Jacques celebrated their own party.....

Belgium, August 28-30, 1998.

The most spectacular race of the year was held at the always spectacular circuit of Spa-Francorchamps. Due to the slippery and rainy conditions the crashes this whole weekend cost the teams an estimated of 25 million US dollars. It started on Friday when Mika Häkkinen crashed in the first training session at Stavelot and one hour later Villeneuve lost control of his Williams at Au Rouge. On Saturday Mika archived his 10th pole position (his 9th in 1998), and started the race on Sunday next to team-mate David Coulthard. The first start ended in the biggest crash of a GP ever, taking out 15 cars. Crash-specialist Eddie Irvine hit Coulthard from behind, David spun from left to right and back again over the track. Other cars braked, spun and crashed into each other. Luckily everyone escaped alive and (almost) unhurt. Mika, who was running in first position with the best view in the rainy conditions, escaped the crash at all.

Grand-stand Gold-3, the place to be when it's raining....

At the second start Damon Hill passed both David and Mika. Mika was entering the first corner alongside Michael Schumacher. They gave each other not enough room and touched. Mika spun and then was hit by Johnny Herbert, which meant the end of the race for our flying Finn. David spun off into the gravel with Alexander Wurz, but was able to continue. Michael passed Damon on the ninth lap and was looking for a certain win. When he wanted to lap David, he crashed into the back of the McLaren and lost his right-front-wheel. Back in the pits they almost started a fight. David's car was repaired and he finished 5 laps behind race winner Damon Hill. With Ralf Schumacher finishing 2nd, the Jordan-team had their first GP victory and their first 1-2 win in 126 races. Rain-specialist Jean Alesi took 3rd place for Sauber in a race where only 8 cars completed the 44 laps.

Italy, September 11-13, 1998.

On Friday and Saturday the Ferrari's were almost always quicker on their Monza home circuit than the McLarens. Mika Hakkinen was close to a pole position but in the last stage of the qualification the ex-worldchampions Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve took the front row. Second row for the silver arrows of Mika (3rd) and David Coulthard (4th). Both of the Mclarens had a dream start. Mika squeezed his way through the both front row sitters and David followed his team-mate. They built up a comfortable lead, but due to a unbalance of Mika's car he let David pass in the 8th lap.

In he 17th lap disaster struck for the Mclarens: David blew up his engine. Due to another blow up by Minardi's Nakano the visibility was very poor, Mika went off to the grass and Schumacher was able to pass him. Mika didn't let him go and followed closely. After the one and only pitstop the two champion-competitors were separated by only 6 seconds, and Mika pushed hard to follow Schumacher. He even set the fastest lap of the race! Maybe too hard because his brakes failed him 7 laps before the end. Mika spun and soon had the second Ferrari of Irvine on his tail. In the last laps Irvine and little schumi Ralf passed Mika, leaving him 4th with only 3 points.

Luxembourg GP at the Nurburgring, 25-27 September, 1998.

Fastest on Friday but no pole on Saturday. Mika Häkkinen had to start from third position behind the both Ferrari's at 'The Ring'. At the start 'fast'-Eddie Irvine took the lead followed by pole sitter Michael Schumacher. Irvine let Schumacher pass in the first round and Mika brilliantly overtook Irvine on the 14th lap. Mika chased Schumacher who already had built up a 6 second gap. Schumacher went into the pits first, and Mika one round later. When Mika entered the track again, he came back in leading position just before Schumi. Whatever Schumacher tried, he was unable to jeopardise Mika's position.

Mika took his 7th victory of the year; his 8th ever. David Coulthard, who started from 5th position, was also able to overtake the struggling Irvine and claimed the last podium place. This Mercedes home GP left Mika 4 points ahead of his rival Schumacher, and put McLaren 15 points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors championship.

Japan, 30-31 October - 1 November, 1998.

WORLD CHAMPION !

In Japan it finally happened: after 8 seasons F1,driving 112 races, Mika Häkkinen is the 1998 World Champion Formula One. In the practice sessions his rival Michael Schumacher was still 0,1 sec. faster than our flying Finn, but both of the championship leaders were more than a full second faster than the rest of the field. Mika started from second position next to Shumi, with David Coulthard behind him as number three. At the second start Schumacher stalled his Ferrari in first gear and had to start from the back of the grid as number 21. Mika lead from the start, followed closely by the Ferrari of Irvine, while David had too much wheel spin and got stuck behind the Williams of Frentzen in 4th position. Schumacher fought his way back to the front, only held up by the Jordan of his old rival Hill, and soon drove on third position.

concentrated until the end: Häkkisen Mika.

When Tuero crashed his Minardi into the Tyrell of Takagi, some rubbish was on the circuit which caused a tyre blow-up at Schumachers' right hand rear tyre. With 10 laps to go Schumacher had to retire, and McLaren knew they won the Formula One Constructors World Championship title. At that time Mika became the new world champion, no matter what position he would finish. But Mika wouldn't be Mika if he didn't pushed to the end and finished the brilliant 1998 season with his ninth ever victory. Irvine did his duty by finishing 2nd, in front of the second McLaren of David Coulthard.

Final standings in the Formula One drivers world championships 1998:

1. Mika Hakkinen (Finland) 100 points
2. Michael Schumacher (Germany) 86
3. David Coulthard (Britain) 56
4. Eddie Irvine (Britain) 47
5. Jacques Villeneuve (Canada) 21
6. Damon Hill (Britain) 20
7 equal. Alexander Wurz (Austria) 17
7 equal. Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Germany) 17
9. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) 16
10. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) 14
11. Jean Alesi (France) 9
12. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) 4
13 equal. Mika Salo (Finland) 3
13 equal. Pedro Diniz (Brazil) 3
15 equal. Jan Magnussen (Denmark) 1
15 equal. Johnny Herbert (Britain) 1
15 equal. Jarno Trulli (Italy) 1

the team with the Nr.1 car.

Constructors' championship 1998:

1. McLaren 156
2. Ferrari 133
3. Williams 38
4. Jordan 34
5. Benetton 33
6. Sauber 10
7. Arrows 6
8. Stewart 5
9. Prost 1

All time winners

McLaren won the constructors' championship for the 8th time in history. With this victory the English team climbed to the second position of all time constructors' championship winners. They share this position with Ferrari. Williams is the team with most championships, they won 9 times.

All time race winners (Constructors):

All time championship winners (Constructors):

Championship winners (Drivers):

click on the McLaren to race to 1999.

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