1999 Malaysian Grand Prix

The 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix (formally the 1999 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix)[2] was a Formula One race held on 17 October 1999 at the new Sepang International Circuit near Sepang, Malaysia. It was the fifteenth race of the 1999 Formula One World Championship.

1999 Malaysian Grand Prix
Race 15 of 16 in the 1999 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 17 October 1999
Official name 1999 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix
Location Sepang International Circuit
Sepang, Malaysia
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.542 km (3.444 miles)
Distance 56 laps, 310.352 km (192.853 miles)
Weather Cloudy, hot, dry
Attendance 80,000 (Weekend) [1]
Pole position
Driver
Ferrari
Time 1:39.688
Fastest lap
Driver Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari
Time 1:40.267 on lap 25
Podium
First
Ferrari
Second
Ferrari
Third
McLaren-Mercedes
Lap leaders

The 56-lap race was won by Eddie Irvine, driving a Ferrari, after starting from second position. Teammate Michael Schumacher, in his first race back after breaking his leg at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, finished second having started from pole position, while Mika Häkkinen finished third in a McLaren-Mercedes.

The win gave Irvine a four-point lead over Häkkinen in the Drivers' Championship with one race remaining, though it would turn out to be his 4th and last F1 victory.

Report

This was the first Malaysian Grand Prix since a Formula Holden event in 1995, but the first time at Formula One world championship level. Michael Schumacher returned to Formula One having recovered from his broken leg, and took pole position by nearly a second from Ferrari team-mate Eddie Irvine, with the McLarens of David Coulthard and Mika Häkkinen third and fourth respectively. At the start, Schumacher led away from Irvine, Coulthard, Häkkinen and Rubens Barrichello. On lap 4, Schumacher slowed and allowed Irvine to pass him, then proceeded to block the McLarens. Coulthard forced his way past Schumacher on lap 5 and pursued Irvine for the lead, only to retire on lap 15 with fuel pressure problems.

Back in second place, Schumacher slowed again in order to allow Irvine to build an advantage. Then, as the first round of pit stops loomed, Schumacher accelerated the pace in order to stay ahead of Häkkinen. Realising this, McLaren gambled on giving Häkkinen half a tank of fuel, hoping it would be enough to get him out of the pits ahead of Schumacher. The gamble failed, as Schumacher stayed ahead of the Finn and proceeded to block him again, allowing Irvine to extend his lead to 20 seconds.

Ferrari F399's bargeboard

Irvine's lead was not big enough for him to stay ahead after his second pit stop, but Ferrari were sure that Häkkinen would have to stop again. He did, emerging in fourth place behind Johnny Herbert in the Stewart. Schumacher slowed once again to allow Irvine to retake the lead, while Häkkinen forced his way past Herbert for third.[3] Irvine duly took the chequered flag one second ahead of Schumacher, with Häkkinen a further eight seconds back.

Immediately after the race, the Ferraris were disqualified due to an infringement on their bargeboards. This meant that Häkkinen and McLaren were effectively handed their respective championships by default. However, Ferrari appealed against the FIA's decision in court and both drivers were subsequently reinstated.[4]

With one race remaining, Irvine led the Drivers' Championship by four points over Häkkinen, 70 to 66. Similarly, Ferrari held a four-point lead over McLaren in the Constructors' Championship, 118 to 114.

Classification

Qualifying
PosNoDriverConstructorLapGap
1 3 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:39.688  
2 4 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:40.635 +0.947
3 2 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:40.806 +1.118
4 1 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:40.866 +1.178
5 17 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Stewart-Ford 1:40.937 +1.249
6 16 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 1:41.351 +1.663
7 10 Austria Alexander Wurz Benetton-Playlife 1:41.444 +1.756
8 6 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-Supertec 1:41.558 +1.870
9 7 United Kingdom Damon Hill Jordan-Mugen-Honda 1:42.050 +2.362
10 22 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Supertec 1:42.087 +2.399
11 9 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Playlife 1:42.110 +2.422
12 18 France Olivier Panis Prost-Peugeot 1:42.208 +2.520
13 23 Brazil Ricardo Zonta BAR-Supertec 1:42.310 +2.622
14 8 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Mugen-Honda 1:42.380 +2.692
15 11 France Jean Alesi Sauber-Petronas 1:42.522 +2.834
16 5 Italy Alessandro Zanardi Williams-Supertec 1:42.885 +3.197
17 12 Brazil Pedro Diniz Sauber-Petronas 1:42.933 +3.245
18 19 Italy Jarno Trulli Prost-Peugeot 1:42.948 +3.260
19 21 Spain Marc Gené Minardi-Ford 1:43.563 +3.875
20 14 Spain Pedro de la Rosa Arrows 1:43.579 +3.891
21 20 Italy Luca Badoer Minardi-Ford 1:44.321 +4.633
22 15 Japan Toranosuke Takagi Arrows 1:44.637 +4.949
107% time: 1:46.666
Sources:[5][6]

Race
PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 4 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Ferrari 56 1:36:38.494 2 10
2 3 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 56 + 1.040 1 6
3 1 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 56 + 9.743 4 4
4 17 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Stewart-Ford 56 + 17.538 5 3
5 16 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 56 + 32.296 6 2
6 8 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Mugen-Honda 56 + 34.884 14 1
7 11 France Jean Alesi Sauber-Petronas 56 + 54.408 15  
8 10 Austria Alexander Wurz Benetton-Playlife 56 + 1:00.934 7  
9 21 Spain Marc Gené Minardi-Ford 55 + 1 Lap 19  
10 5 Italy Alessandro Zanardi Williams-Supertec 55 + 1 Lap 16  
11 9 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Playlife 52 + 4 Laps 11  
Ret 22 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Supertec 48 Hydraulics 10  
Ret 12 Brazil Pedro Diniz Sauber-Petronas 44 Spun Off 17  
Ret 14 Spain Pedro de la Rosa Arrows 30 Engine 20  
Ret 20 Italy Luca Badoer Minardi-Ford 15 Spun Off 21  
Ret 2 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 14 Fuel Pressure 3  
Ret 6 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-Supertec 7 Spun Off 8  
Ret 15 Japan Toranosuke Takagi Arrows 7 Transmission 22  
Ret 23 Brazil Ricardo Zonta BAR-Supertec 6 Engine/Spun Off 13  
Ret 18 France Olivier Panis Prost-Peugeot 5 Engine 12  
Ret 7 United Kingdom Damon Hill Jordan-Mugen-Honda 0 Collision 9  
DNS 19 Italy Jarno Trulli Prost-Peugeot 0 Engine 18  
Sources:[7][8]

Championship standings after the race
  • Bold text indicates who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References
  1. "Are tickets too dear? Where F1 race attendance fell in 2016 - F1 Fanatic". 8 February 2017.
  2. "Malaysian". Formula1.com. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  3. "Grand Prix Results: Malaysian GP, 1999". GrandPrix.com. Archived from the original on 28 February 2008. Retrieved 21 February 2008.
  4. "Ferrari wins F1 appeal". BBC. 23 October 1999. Archived from the original on 20 April 2003. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
  5. "1999 Malaysian GP: Qualification". ChicaneF1.com. Retrieved 31 July 2007.
  6. "Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix - 1999: Startgrid". The Formula One Database. Archived from the original on 8 October 2007. Retrieved 1 August 2007.
  7. "1999 Malaysian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  8. "1999 Malaysian GP: Classification". ChicaneF1.com. Retrieved 1 August 2007.
  9. "Malaysia 1999 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
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