Formula-1.co.uk Race Commentary

by Formula-1.co.uk

There is only one word that can adequately describe the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring today and that is sensational….

From start to finish the race was full of action. The first attempt to start the race was something of a farce as Marc Gene stalled his Minardi Ford in 20th position. Pole man Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Mika Hakkinen and Ralf Schumacher all thought the race had begun, and had to be wheeled back into their correct grid positions. This ensured a five minute delay and the race was reduced by one lap to 66 laps.

The restart saw a frightening accident. Damon Hill seemed to loose power on the exit of turn two and did not pull off on to the grass immediately to his left. Alexander Wurz took avoiding action and clipped the rear of Pedro Diniz’s passing Sauber Petronas. The Brazilian was immediately pitched into a roll, the roll-bar striking the circuit and snapping off. Early reports suggest that Diniz sustained no major injury, but surely there should be an investigation into why the Sauber’s roll-bar failed so comprehensively.

With the pace car out while Doctors extracted Diniz from his ruined Sauber, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Mika Hakkinen, David Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher all followed the pace car for the next seven laps.

Once the race restarted it soon became clear that Eddie Irvine was looking to get past Giancarlo Fisichella and take the sixth position. The frantic scrap continued while the leading four cars pulled away at over a second per lap. Meanwhile Alex Zanardi finished his dismal weekend, running into Toranosuke Takagi and retiring on the spot. Takagi continued only to have his usual crash later in the race.

Out front it appeared that Heinz-Harald Frentzen was unable to pull out from his pursuers, indicating that the German was running a one stop strategy. Indeed at this stage of the race the top four drivers were covered by just 1.4 seconds and it was only when rain began to fall on lap 18 that Frentzen began to inch away from Mika Hakkinen, who had somehow found a way past team-mate Coulthard in the early laps.

It was then that McLaren and Mika Hakkinen made their first major error of the day. According to reports, Ron Dennis instructed Hakkinen to pit for wet tyres immediately. The Finn stationary for 8.1 seconds. Team-mate David Coulthard meanwhile had his work cut out to hold off the charging Ralf Schumacher in his Williams Supertec. As the rain eased and the lap times began to drop once again, Hakkinen having made the wrong choice.

Mika Salo pitted two laps later and was no doubt angry as Ferrari completely bungled the stop – apparently not having his tyres ready – and finally left the pit 38 seconds later, any chance of points now lost.

Eddie Irvine was the next driver to pit, having finally found a way past Giancarlo Fisichella [the Italian ran wide] and sat incredulously as the Ferrari team scrambled around trying to find a right rear tyre. Irvine emerged in 13th position having lost no less than 8 places thanks to Ferrari’s disarray. Significantly, Irvine had opted to take slick tyres instead of wet tyres, while Hakkinen circulated on the drying circuit in 10th position on his wet weather tyres.

Out front Ralf Schumacher passed David Coulthard for second place and homed in on the back of Frentzen’s Jordan. Mika Hakkinen dropped another four places on his wet tyres and it was not until three laps later that he finally accepted that he was on the wrong tyre and pitted for slicks.

Ralf Schumacher pitted for the first of his two scheduled stops on lap 26, finally giving Frentzen some breathing space – but not for long – as Coulthard took over the task of trailing the German.

It was on lap 28 that it became apparent that Mika Hakkinen had given up. Lapping two seconds slower than his rivals, Giancarlo Fisichella, now in third place, lapped the Finn. Quite why Hakkinen chose simply to cruise for the next 25 laps is not clear, but it was a poor performance from a World Champion with the best car in the world.

Frentzen meanwhile was under a sustained attack from David Coulthard and was lucky to escape a penalty after locking his left rear tyre and missing the Veedol chicane. Approaching half distance the battling leader pitted together and emerged in the same positions. Frentzen only made it around turn one however, his car rolling to a halt with suspected transmission failure, David Coulthard now took over the lead.

Coulthard enjoyed a trouble-free couple of laps, until rain began to fall once again on lap 36. With Ralf Schumacher some seven seconds behind the McLaren, Coulthard simply had to keep his McLaren on the road. He didn’t - sliding off at Sachs Kurve and into retirement. Championship over for Coulthard who later admitted that it was simply a mistake.

Ralf Schumacher now led this unpredictable race. Rain continued to fall and the German – still on slicks – tiptoed around the circuit. Giancarlo Fisichella, now in second position was now being reeled in by Johnny Herbert – who unlike the leading duo, had stopped for wet weather Bridgestone’s.

Meanwhile Eddie Irvine, now lapping nearly 30 seconds off the dry pace, pitted from seventh position to take on wet tyres… at the precise moment that it stopped raining.

Giancarlo Fisichella had his second off track excursion of the day allowing Johnny Herbert to close right in for the battle over second position. Ralf Schumacher was next to pit at two-thirds distance, handing over the lead to Fisichella, to take on a fresh set of slick tyres.

Giancarlo Fisichella led the race at this stage having only stopped once, while Ralf Schumacher emerged from his stop in second position. Herbert, having finally given up on his wet tyres pitted for fresh slicks.

Almost unbelievably Fisichella repeated his earlier mistake at the Veedol chicane and spun into retirement, handing the lead to Ralf Schumacher. While Fisichella held his head in his hands and thought about what might have been, Ralf Schumacher left the circuit with a right rear puncture. Was anyone going to win this thing?

As Schumacher slowly made his way back to the pits, Johnny Herbert took over the lead in his Stewart Ford. While we all focused on the comedy of errors at the front of the race, Luca Badoer had somehow kept out of trouble and was cruising around in fourth position in his Minardi Ford and trailed the equally impressive Rubens Barrichello who now occupied third position.

Eddie Irvine and Mika Hakkinen meanwhile circulated in 7th and 8th positions. It was only then that it dawned on Hakkinen that he should try and gets some points. With the car advantage that Hakkinen clearly enjoys, he soon closed up on the Ferrari.

Jacques Villeneuve was the next driver to retire, pulling off the circuit with just five laps separating him and British American Racing’s first championship point. Meanwhile Luca Badoer sat sobbing at the side of the circuit having lost fourth place and three world championship points in his Minardi. The Italian’s retirement would prove to be a blessing for his team-mate Marc Gene just a few laps later.

With two laps remaining, Mika Hakkinen passed Irvine when the Ulsterman locked up his left front wheel at the Veedol chicane. The Finn quickly set the fastest lap of the day and took fifth position from Gene’s Minardi.

And that is how they finished. Johnny Herbert gave Stewart Ford their first ever Grand Prix win and secured his first victory since he won the 1995 Italian Grand Prix with Benetton Renault. Jarno Trulli held off Rubens Barrichello to take a stunning second position. Ralf Schumacher was never able to recover from his puncture earlier in the race and finished the race in fourth from Mika Hakkinen. Marc Gene deservedly scored the final point – the first that Minardi have secured since Pedro Lamy scored for the Italian team at the Australian Grand Prix in 1995.

Eddie Irvine finished just one second behind the young Spaniard in seventh place and will spend the evening asking Ferrari why they managed to ruin his race with the awful first pitstop. Mika Hakkinen may be World Champion, but today he has nothing to be proud of. He drove an awful race and did not deserve the two points that he finally secured. The man who did deserve to win came away with nothing and was philosophical about his Jordan’s failure….. Heinz Harald Frentzen.

European Grand Prix Weekend