Brazilian Grand Prix

Position:

Driver:

Team:

Time:

1.

M Hakkinen

Mclaren

1m 17.092s

2.

D Coulthard

Mclaren

1m 17.757s

3.

HH Frentzen

Williams

1m 18.109s

4.

M Schumacher

Ferrari

1m 18.250s

5.

A Wurz

Benetton

1m 18.261s

E Irvine

Ferrari

1m 18.449s

7.

G Fisichella

Jordan

1m 18.652s

8.

R Schumacher

Jordan

1m 18.735s

9.

O.Panis

Prost

1m 18.753s

10.

J.Villeneuve

Williams

1m 18.761s

11.

D Hill

Jordan

1m 18.988s

12.

J Trulli

Prost

1m 19.069s

13.

R Barrichello

Stewart

1m 19.344s

14.

J.Herbert

Sauber

1m 19.375s

15.

J Alesi

Sauber

1m 19.449s

16.

J Magnussen

Stewart

1m 19.644s

17.

T Takagi

Tyrrell

1m 20.203s

18.

S Nakano

Minardi

1m 20.390s

19.

E Tuero

Minardi

1m 20.459s

20.

M Salo

Arrows

1m 20.481s

21.

R Rosset

Tyrrell

1m 20.748s

22.

P Diniz

Arrows

1m 20.847s

Qualifying

The Mclarens again dominated qualifying with Hakkinen first and Coulthard second.
This was even without there advanced braking system which was outlawed by the stewards.
The Ferrari's performed well with both cars qualifying in the first six. Schumacher spent much of the qualification in 3rd before a final last ditch effort by Frentzen displaced him.
Irvine who is not renowed for his qualifacation speed managed to drag his Ferrari onto the third row.

Position:

Driver:

Team:

Time:/Cause:

The Race

As expected Mika Hakkinen has won the Brazilian GP in front of David Coulthard. Michael Schumacher followed in third with some competitive lap times in front of Alexander Wurz, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Giancarlo Fisichella. World Champion Jacques Villeneuve finished in 7th position. Although the Goodyear tyre performance has improved, the Bridgestone rubber still is dominant, as both McLaren's and Benetton's only needed a single stop, while Schumacher, Frentzen, Villeneuve and Eddie Irvine for example stopped twice.

The start saw Michael Schumacher in an unusual manner lose two positions, while Jacques Villeneuve had a perfect start up to 7th from 10th on the grid. Hakkinen, Coulthard, Frentzen, Irvine, Wurz and Schumacher were the top six after the first lap. Ralf Schumacher spun on the first lap, while brother Michael overtook Wurz at the end of the straight on the first lap. Shinji Nakano managed to spin his Minardi and retired from the race. Michael Schumacher overtook team mate Irvine and closed up to Frentzen, while Johnny Herbert, who had a bad start made up ground in the midfield. Jarno Trulli, Tora Takagi and Mika Salo retired with mechanical failures.

After the first round of pitstops Michael Schumacher came out in front of Frentzen. Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard had no problems with their one and only stops. In the second part of the race Michael Schumacher drove very strong and did similar lap times to the both McLaren's in front. On his second stop, Schumacher's engine suddenly switched off and the Ferrari pitcrew had to restart it, but the German still came out in front of Frentzen and Alexander Wurz, who passed Frentzen. In the end, Olivier Panis and Johnny Herbert retired with mechanical failures. Generally the race was more exciting than in Australia, with a lot of overtaking and exciting battles on the track.

Damon Hill had an unlucky weekend in Brazil. He had a couple of spins, and team mate Ralf Schumacher outqualified him. In the race he finished in 10th position and now he has been disqualified, because his car was too light. It was a bad weekend for the Jordan team as R. Schumacher spun off on the first lap. Team boss Eddie Jordan said :" "I don't think it gets much worse than this. The race was very disappointing from a Jordan point of view and also from a Formula 1 point of view - it was not a great show. I think Ralf could have given us a good start so it was awful to see him go off right at the start. Damon lost several places at the start and it is always difficult to fight back from so far down the grid."