Argentinean Grand Prix

Position:

Driver:

Team:

Time:

1.

D Coulthard

Mclaren

1m 25.852s

2.

M Schumacher

Ferrari

1m 26.251s

3.

M Hakkinen

Mclaren

1m 26.632s

4.

E Irvine

Ferrari

1m 26.780s

5.

R Schumacher

Jordan

1m 26.827s

HH Frentzen

Williams

1m 26.876s

7.

J.Villeneuve

Williams

1m 26.941s

8.

A Wurz

Benetton

1m 27.198s

9.

D Hill

Jordan

1m 27.483s

10.

G Fisichella

Benetton

1m 27.836s

11.

J Alesi

Sauber

1m 27.839s

12.

J.Herbert

Sauber

1m 28.016s

13.

T Takagi

Tyrrell

1m 28.811s

14.

R Barrichello

Stewart

1m 29.249s

15.

O.Panis

Prost

1m 29.320s

16.

J Trulli

Prost

1m 29.352s

17.

M Salo

Arrows

1m 29.617s

18.

P Diniz

Arrows

1m 30.022s

19.

S Nakano

Minardi

1m 30.054s

20.

E Tuero

Minardi

1m 30.158s

21.

R Rosset

Tyrrell

1m 30.437s

22.

J Magnussen

Stewart

1m 31.178s

Qualifying

The Mclarens domination looked as if it could be broken during at Argentina. Ferrari were the obvious contenders with virtually a brand new car. They had a new more powerful engine, a new exhaust and even a new chassis, not to mention Goodyear's new wider tyres

Scumacher had looked quick all practise and led qualifying for most of it before losing out to Coulthard.
Schumacher's nearest competetor seemed to be Irvine who was 6th after his first run. On his next run he was +0.400 quicker than Schumacher after the first section before he attacked the Senna S's to hard and almost lost control of the car.

On his next run he was +0.300 quiker than Schumacher only to get stuck behind Pedro Diniz, who was also on his quick lap, and it ruined Eddie's lap. When he finally got past him he decided to get his own back by break testing Diniz.

This left Irvine back in 10th palce with only 1 run left ( He did however have 4 laps left instead of 3 due to his aborted runs). On the first corner he locked his breaks badly leaving himself with 1 lap left.
By this time the track was beginning to slow and Irvine could only claw the Ferrari into 4th.

Position:

Driver:

Team:

Time:/Cause:

The Race

When the lights were flicked off Coulthard pulled of a rocket start with his partner Hakkinen flying past Schumacher it looked like it was going to be a quite strole in the park for McClaren.

However Schumacher had other plans and quikly caught the second McClaren.
Despite Hakkinen's attempts to hold Schumacher up failed dismally as Schumacher showed a touch of brilliance as he passed him on an area of track tha tno one else dared during the whole race.

Seven miles down the track Schumacher caught Coulthard and when the scot went wide Schumacher pounced. He darted up the inside of coulthard who tried to close the door. There was contact and the McClaren went spinning with peices of the undertrial flying off while Schumacher sped off with just a slightly damaged wishbone.

While your first reaction may be to think back to Jerez there was certainetly no intentional contact.
Even Murray Walker who condemed Schumachers actions in Jerez said....

" It was a good clean move and just bad luck............Anyone who is having bad thoughts about what happened out there and what happened between Schumacher and Villeneuve last season can forget them"

When it became clear that McClaren were only making one stop compared to Schumachers two it appeared that Hakkinen would win his 3rd GP of 1998, but due to some superb driving and a good stragergy Schumacher went on to win his first GP of the season.

He almost threw the win away when it started to drizzle. Scumacher hit a damp patch and went flying over the gravel trap. He kept calm though and reached an access road and regained the race track still in first.

Ferrari's number 2, Eddie Irvine drove a solid race and took his Ferrari into 3rd to join his team mate on the podium