After the 1999 European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring in Germany, the drivers’ championship was up for grabs between Mika Hakkinen ( McLaren ) and Eddie Irvine ( Ferrari ), who were barely separated by two points (62 vs. 60).
The situation in the constructors’ championship was not very different either. Those from Woking were ahead of those from Maranello by eight points (110 – 102). And with two races to go, the fight was getting intense.
And how is it that Irvine was fighting for the title? The Irishman took over the reins of Ferrari after a brutal accident involving Michael Schumacher , who suffered several fractures at the British Grand Prix on July 11. Since then six races had passed without the presence of the Kaiser.
Irvine, who until before the German’s misfortune had only won one race that season (the first, in Australia), scored two more in Austria and Germany, which added to his perseverance in the rest of the course allowed him not to lose track of the Finnish.
After the visit to the Nurburgring, Ferrari hoped that Michael Schumacher would be ready to rejoin for the Malaysian and Japanese races with the intention of helping his team. During his absence he was replaced by Mika Salo , who barely managed two podiums in Germany and Italy, being the only races in which he scored points.
To find out if the German could be back, the Italian brand organized a private test at Mugello on October 4, 1999, where they evaluated the physical condition of their driver.
The test did not start as they expected and after 15 turns, the Kaiser hit the protective barriers. Schumacher got out of the car without complications and returned to the circuit to continue with the test, with another single-seater.
But on the same day, Ferrari announced that the then two-time world champion would not return for the end of the season.
Michael Schumacher, Eddie Irvine, Ferrari
“I can understand that some people are disappointed that I am not going to be in Malaysia and Suzuka and I can only say that I am disappointed about that myself, but I have said it before: people expect me to do my job in the best possible way, and Right now I can’t do that consistently for a whole race. I can do it for five laps, and in the race my rivals won’t go slower just because I can’t go faster,” Schumacher said after the test.
“It was not a pleasant experience (the test) because all the thoughts I had at Silverstone come back immediately and that doesn’t help.
But for him, the physical condition had become a major impediment and he did not feel 100%.
“Usually I easily do two, three hours of cycling with a very high heart rate. Now I’m able to ride a bike with a low heart rate, really very low and I still have problems with my knee.”
“I’m sick of this back and forth because it’s been really hard for me. At one point you feel really good, you think you can do it and I get on the bike and do the training program, but then they ask me to back up a bit, And it hurts so much to go through this stage all the time, because I try to prepare myself, but I can’t.
Some pointed out that his decision was based on not wanting to help Irvine in the fight for the championship, but the German silenced those rumors when he finally decided to race at Sepang and Suzuka.
The Kaiser came back and took two second places, but Irvine only took victory in Malaysia and a third place in Japan, thus keeping the two-point gap, allowing Hakkinen a second title.
But one good thing did bring about Schumacher’s return, as Ferrari stormed back in the constructors’ championship to claim its first title after a 16-year drought.
We tell you the details of that season and, more specifically, of the 1999 British GP:
(Go through the photos and discover. If the images or their titles do not appear, click on ‘Full version’ at the end of the article)
Michael Schumacher was a two-time world champion. Jenson Button had not yet made his Formula 1 debut (he would do so next year), Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen had two seasons left to make their debut, and Hamilton was only 14 years old at the time. It was 1999.
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In July 1999, Formula 1 arrived at Silverstone. Great Britain was hosting the eighth of 16 grands prix that season.
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Hakkinen went to the second consecutive world championship, and had won three races and added two more podium finishes at the start of the course. He was followed by Michael Schumacher, who was eight points behind the Finn.
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Schumacher, who had already won two titles with Benetton, was trying to succeed at the wheel of a Ferrari. The last crown of those from Maranello had been achieved by Jody Shekter in the distant 1979. The German had already had two victories and two more podiums in the first seven races.
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At Silverstone, from the start of the weekend, the fans’ attention was focused on home crowd favorite Damon Hill. At the end of the previous race in France, the 1996 world champion hinted at his departure from F1.
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The official announcement had yet to be made, but the fans had already begun to say goodbye to Hill at his home race.
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Free practice results at Silverstone proved the speed of the McLaren: Hakkinen and David Coulthard were fastest
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On Saturday, after a lap of 1m24.804s, Hakkinen took pole position, beating Schumacher by 0.419s. Coulthard was third, remaining 0.790 seconds behind his teammate, and fourth was Irvine.
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The third row of the starting grid was for Jordan, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Hill, and the fourth for Rubens Barrichello’s Stewart and Ralf Schumacher’s Williams.
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For Schumacher, the race did not go well from the start. He got off to a bad start and lost position to Coulthard and Irvine.
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Then Ferrari openly moved their “number 1” and “number 2” drivers. Michael, without problems, caught up with his partner and was ready to pass him in Stowe…
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… but everything went wrong. Pressing the brake pedal did not produce the expected effect. From under the front wheels of the F399 a cloud of smoke came out and at that moment, the speed was already too high. Schumacher, without control of the car, was shot towards the tire wall, but until the last moment he grabbed the steering wheel and tried to steer the car in the direction of the curve.
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Moments later, the Ferrari zoomed across the gravel. Michael was stuck in the barrier, and a medical team and stewards rushed to help him.
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The race was stopped, but the red flag was not caused by the German: Jacques Villeneuve and Rubens Barrichello were stuck at the start. The signal to stop the test was given almost immediately, but the drivers at the front of the grid did not see the judges with flags and continued to fight.
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The memory of the death of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna was still somewhat fresh in the memory: everyone watched with bated breath as Schumacher’s car was covered with a tarpaulin, trying to hide the damage.
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Photo by: LAT Images
Michael was trying to get out of the wrecked Ferrari, but he stayed in the cockpit. A few minutes later, he was put on a stretcher and taken away in an ambulance. Schumacher encouraged the fans by waving his hand.
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Before the restart of the race, it was already known that in the coming months he would definitely not be able to fight for the title; doctors diagnosed him with a complex fracture of his right leg.
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And then it would be known that in the next six races Schumacher would be replaced at Ferrari by Miko Salo.
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40 minutes after the accident, when Michael was evacuated to a hospital in Northampton, the race was restarted. Schumacher’s position on the grid was empty.
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Hakkinen retained the race lead and began to break away from his rivals, with Irvine passing Coulthard in the hunt for second place.
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Hakkinen’s uneventful run was interrupted by a sudden loss of the left rear wheel, which bounced off the wall and fell onto the track, forcing the drivers to dodge.
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The Finn immediately headed to the pits, where a new wheel was quickly fitted. Hakkinen was back in the race, and after a few laps he was forced to retire for safety reasons, as the wheel was not properly adjusted.
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Photo by: LAT Images
At the same time, problems arose at the Irvine pit stop: the Ferrari driver, who inherited the top spot, did not stop where his mechanics were waiting, and the seconds he lost dropped him behind Coulthard. Irvine later justified his mistake in pit lane by saying that the McLaren mechanics obscured his vision.
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Coulthard reached the finish line first, and Irvine finished 1.829 seconds behind and, with his second place, equaled Schumacher on points.
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Third position went to Ralf Schumacher, who struggled to fend off Frentzen’s attacks at the end. The points zone was completed by Hill and Pedro Diniz’s Sauber.
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For Coulthard, that was his fifth F1 win, the first at his home grand prix and the fourth of the season for McLaren.
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Schumacher returned to the championship in the penultimate grand prix of the season, at the 1999 Malaysian GP in October, and tried to help Irvine take the title from Hakkinen.
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Photo By: Sutton Motorsport Images
In that race, Michael finished second in second behind winner Irvine and was second ahead of Irvine in Japan
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Enough to give Ferrari the first constructors’ championship since 1983, but Irvine could not win the drivers’ championship, and Hakkinen was proclaimed two-time world champion. The British Ferrari driver finished just two points behind the Finn from McLaren.
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Photo By: Sutton Motorsport Images
At the end of the season, Irvine would leave Ferrari, where Barrichello would go. He went to Stewart, a team bought and renamed Jaguar by Americans from Ford. There, Eddie spent three inglorious seasons, after which he left F1.
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Instead, the next five years in Formula 1 were dominated by Schumacher (in this photo, with a 12-year-old Sebastian Vettel). Without that injury, he probably would have been champion in 1999 as well, adding eight titles.
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