The Belgian Grand Prix - Spa-Francorchamps
1998
In
this column we’ll take a look at the epic races of the modern era. Races that
were so unforgettable that they deserve to be retold and re-lived, and what better place to start than with the
Granddaddy of them all.
The Story so Far
It’s
August 1998. Armageddon is top of the box office and Steve Tyler’s band
Aerosmith have a smash hit from the soundtrack with a love song about his own
daughter. You know the one. The Formula One season is heading towards a
thrilling conclusion with four races to go with Mika Hakkinen and Michael
Schumacher locked in a vicious battle for the ultimate prize.
This
was a year of sweeping technical regulation changes aimed at improving
overtaking and slowing the cars down (Sound familiar?), so they were now
narrower and ran on hideous grooved tyres. One team, or rather, one man had
adapted to the changes better than anyone else.
Perhaps you’ve heard of him?
After
leaving Williams at the end of 96, Adrian Newey, aka the smartest man on the
planet, ensured McLaren finished 1997 with a very fast car, but it had all the
reliability of an Amy Winehouse stint in rehab (and frequently died just as
often). The MP4-13 that McLaren raced in 1998 was Newey’s first full effort for
the Woking team, and boy did it show as it decimated everything before it in
winter testing. Reigning champ Jacques Villeneuve bet his Williams team mate
Heinz-Harald Frentzen before the opening race in Melbourne that it would lap
the field. Frentzen disagreed, then lost the bet, but still managed to be best-of-the-rest with a credible,
though very distant, lapped third place.
It
was slightly better in Brazil, the two McLarens only managed to lap up to
fourth place. In both races Mika Hakkinen took pole, fastest lap and the
victory. Ominous times for the paddock, but Michael Schumacher kick started the
resistance with a brilliantly judged wet weather win for Ferrari in Argentina.
Three more victories for McLaren (One for David Coulthard and two more for
Hakkinen) over the next three races served to show Ferrari that its Argentine
win was a flash in the pan, but as many have felt over the years, you
underestimate Schumacher at your peril.
Barrichello underestimating Schumacher’s blind
spot.....to his peril.
Schumacher
won the next three races in a row including Montreal and Silverstone, that were
so incredible they might make this column themselves one day, and he left
English shores trailing Hakkinen by only 2 points. A stunning turnaround of
form for Ferrari who had worked hard on developing their car, but even harder
on getting Goodyear to adapt to the grooved tyres which was where the major
gains were made.
At the other end of the field, Jordan Grand Prix had suffered a shocking start
to 1998 and left Silverstone with their first point of the season thanks to
Ralf Schumacher’s distant sixth place. The Jordan 198 initially proved very
unreliable, but they were just starting to turn their season around with a
myriad of car developments, and as they also ran on Goodyears, were benefiting
from all Ferrari’s influence in improving the tyres.
Mika Hakkinen again squashed Schumacher's latest resurgence with two commanding
wins in Austria and Germany before Schumacher once again pulled a metaphorical
rabbit out of his sphincter to win in Hungary, in a race so tactically
brilliant it grew a moustache and proceeded to reunite Mongolia. Coupled with
Hakkinen's struggling sixth place due to gearbox woes the Championship was,
once again, looking finely poised with Hakkinen on 77 points and Schumacher on
70.
Very finely poised indeed, if you know what I
mean!
The Build Up
So
onto Round 13 and the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. Almost 7
kilometres of the most feared, respected and loved track anywhere in the world.
Nestled deep in the Ardennes, it combines epic, undulating, flowing corners
with postcard scenery and a storied history that makes it many drivers
favourite circuit, ever! Indeed, if a heaven exists for racing drivers, this is
the track they’d be lapping in the clouds, as God himself would struggle to
come up with something so special.
Truly epic epicness
As
the practice sessions wore on it became apparent that McLaren had truly
rebounded from their Hungarian disappointment and had arrived with the fastest
car once again. Damon Hill also showed flashes of true pace and legitimately
ran towards the front, dicing with the Ferrari’s and appearing to have the legs
over his team mate Ralf Schumacher, who had already signed a contract with
Williams for the 1999 season. But at the time it was only rumour.
Jacques
Villeneuve, who was already out of the Championship reckoning, had turned up at
Spa on a mission. He wanted to take the most feared corner on the circuit, Eau
rouge, flat. That is, without lifting his foot off the throttle, even to fart a
squeaker. If it was easy though, everyone would be doing it, and predictably
enough towards the end of the second practice session Villeneuve lost control
of his Williams as he exited Eau Rouge attempting a flat run and slammed into the tyre
barriers. (I know, I know. Technically it was Raidillon, but bear with me uber geeks, I’m just trying to
keep it easy to follow) It was, in his own words, his “Best accident in Formula
One so far”.
Funnily
enough, it was a personal record that would only last for a year as at the
exact same race 12 months later Jacques had a bigger accident at the same
corner in his infamous zipper liveried BAR. Though this time I presume he threw
it off the road because it was so damn ugly.
You ain't got no alibi!
Come
qualifying and the two McLarens were trading fastest laps, each driver pushing
the other to the absolute limit and beyond. In the end it took something pretty
special from Mika to beat Coulthards time on his final attempt. How
special? In Mika’s words - “I still can't explain it one hundred per cent....I
knew I would have to do something unbelievable because I had been on the limit
on the run before”. Especially impressive considering it must have cost him a
bit of time dragging his massive balls around, but he still magic-ed a couple
tenths from somewhere to bang it on pole for the 9th time of the year.
So big, Stephen Hawking has published a theory
about them
Hill
and Schumacher were busy reminiscing over past times together, but this time
only for third fastest which Damon managed to take by 3 tenths of a second,
albeit over a full second slower than Hakkinen's ball busting lap. Schumacher
was relegated to fourth and with it all to do tomorrow to stay in the
Championship fight.
What
about Villeneuve? Well he succeeded in his mission, took Eau Rouge flat, and
was rewarded with a respectable sixth place on the starting grid. Though the
combined gravitational pull of his and Hakkinens testicals must have played
havoc with the local weather the following day.
Race Day
The
forecast for Sunday said warm and dry, but it was wrong. It wasn’t just wet, it
was biblically wet, with the rain coming down hard and early on race day and
not letting up until everyone had long left the circuit that evening.
The
warm up session (yes recent F1 fans, they used to have them) was run on wets,
with the drivers all taking the opportunity to tweak their car setup (yep, they
could do that too!) so the cars would work submerged. A very different
competitive picture emerged, with the Ferraris now leading the pack by over a
second, with Michael Schumacher fastest. The biggest difference to the day
before - tyres. Goodyear’s wet weather offerings (both the intermediate and
full wet tyres) were incredible and the Bridgestone shod McLarens struggled to
keep pace.
Though it is preferable they’re touching the road
The
inclement Belgian weather had opened the Championship door a crack for
Schumacher, after all, he wasn’t known as ‘die Regenmeister’ for nothing.
The grid was set and they picked their way around the track for the formation
lap in conditions that were, well, pretty slippery to say the least. Damon Hill
reported to his team over the radio that he thought he saw “something” fall off
one of the McLarens. This may be of significance, it may not, but just bear it
in mind when you read what came next.
There
were discussions before the race about whether it might be appropriate to start
behind the safety car, as the same race had done the previous year. Certainly
if a race is run today in those conditions then the decision is a no-brainer,
but the very reason for present day caution was lying, literally, just around
the corner.
They
formed up and the lights went out to Murray Walker’s frenzied cries. The spray
was immediately so intense you couldn’t see past the leading couple cars on the
short run to turn 1, La Source Hairpin. Damon Hill got an awful start and fell
back towards the midfield, while Villeneuve took off like a rocket from his 6th
place grid slot and tucked into 2nd place behind Hakkinen as they turned into
La Source.
The field was roaring towards Eau Rouge when David Coulthard’s McLaren suddenly
veered right and speared into the inside wall, before bouncing back into the
path of a grid-full of blinded drivers. The intensity of the spray makes it
impossible to see what actually triggered it, but the most common held belief
is that Coulthard was helped around by Eddie Irvine’s Ferrari, or did Damon
really see something fall off a McLaren, Coulthard’s McLaren, that may have
contributed? Either way, the end result was pure carnage, as car after unsighted car poured into a
growing ball of wreckage.
<
Very, very expensive carnage.
Very, very expensive carnage.
In
total there were 15 cars involved from 22 starters, and if you’ve watched the video above you’ve seen the two Jordans had the biggest escapes. Damon Hill
somehow managed to avoid Coulthards car as it rebounded from the initial impact
and Ralf Schumacher, the one driver with a reputation for being reckless at
Grand Prix starts did the only sensible thing. He reigned his Jordan to a
slithering halt on the grass and actually put it in neutral as the bad kind of
hell opened up all around him. You know, the kind without the smell of napalm.
DC’s wrecked McLaren, after being pounded harder
than your Mum
Obviously
the race was red flagged and it took nearly an hour to clean away the
devastation. Because Barrichello had injured his arm in the smash he couldn’t
restart, plus a lack of working spares meant another three drivers, Rosset,
Panis and Salo, also missed out.
At
the second start, still without a safety car, Damon Hill made up for his awful
first effort and blasted past both McLarens into the lead. Hakkinen and
Schumacher made light contact on the exit of La Source as the German tried the
outside, but it was enough to tip the Finn into a spin, and Johnny
Herbert could not avoid making heavy contact and wiped a front corner off the
McLaren. Hakkinen, the championship leader, was out of the race!
Bugger, unless you’re German, then weeeee!
McLarens
luck turned from bad to worse when Coulthard then went off after tangling with
Alexander Wurz, but after backing out of the gravel trap he managed to rejoin
at the back of the field. After a quick safety car period (finally!) to clear
away Hakkinen’s broken car, Hill led and led well. Together with Schumacher
they comfortably pulled away from the rest, but because Germans don’t share the
English obsession with queueing, Schumacher barged his way past at the end of
the 8th lap at the Bus Stop chicane. He then proceeded to thoroughly
demoralized the Englishman by pulling out 4.5 seconds in the next circuit
alone! The door was well and truly ajar now, with Hakkinen already out of the
race, a Schumacher victory meant he would lead the championship for the first
time all year.
Just like the good old days, but with a lot less
crashing into each other.
The
race then entered a fairly stable phase. Verstappen, Takagi and Tuero dropped
out, while Villeneuve spun off taking his worn tyres one lap too far in
worsening conditions. By lap 25, Ralf Schumacher had moved into third place and
was gaining on his teammate, while Shuey’s lead over Hill had grown to a
ridiculous 37 seconds, but he was also coming up to lap the unfortunate David
Coulthard, whose day was about to go from bad to Cthulhu.
Yup, about as bad as it gets!
Ferrari
team principal, le petit Frenchman Jean Todt, took a walk down the pitlane to
pay McLaren a visit, to ensure DC wasn’t a hindrance in letting his driver
through. Because Hakkinen was already out and Coulthard was cruising around out
of the points, McLaren radioed DC and asked him to let Schuey through nicely.
Then I guess because Coulthard was having a stupid day, he slowed on the racing
line in the pouring rain and blinding spray to let the Ferrari past, and then
this happened;
<
So
far as dramatic F1 moments go, this pretty much had it all. I mean, just listen
to Murray Walker’s blasphemy at the point of impact! The three wheeled Ferrari
showed a good turn of pace heading back to the pits into retirement and
Coulthard at least made one right call on the day and dutifully followed, tail between
his legs. Now we knew Shuey would be pissed, but I don’t think anyone expected
him to go start a fight in the McLaren garage while accusing Coulthard of
attempted murder, least of all his own engineers who he was pushing aside as he
stalked down the pitlane with a face like thunder. It was absolutely brilliant
drama, but just like that, the first chance Schumacher had to lead the
Championship all year, was gone.
Bugger, unless you’re Finnish, then weeeee!
Now Jordan were
first and second in the race! In 126 previous starts they’d never won a Grand
Prix before, but to break their duck they still needed to finish the last 19
laps in continuing torrential rain, and we still needed to put up with 19 laps of unabashed Hill-thusiasm from Murray Walker. (That’s Hill enthusiasm, but
snappier!)
We didn’t get too
much time to dwell though, because almost at the same time, just to top the day
off nicely for the Italian team, Eddie Irvine was busy beaching his Ferrari in
the gravel trap from 6th place. Then on the very next lap there was another
massive accident. Giancarlo Fisichella
was pitting from 5th place, but because the Spa pitlane bypassed the Bus Stop Chicane the entry was considerably faster than the normal racing line, which
wouldn’t have been a problem if the drivers could see where they were going,
but Minardi driver Shinji Nakano was dawdling around the circuit (As Minardi’s
were prone to do), completely obscured in the spray to the rapidly approaching
Benetton.
The
impact was immense, Fisichella
probably still had no idea what he’d just hit as he slid uncontrolled down the
Bus Stop escape road and back onto the main straight.
Another casualty of the most expensive Grand Prix
ever.
Both
drivers were ok, but the safety car was inevitable, and though they got
Fisichella's mess cleared away fairly quickly, race control had finally seen
sense and kept it circulating in the hope the weather, and hence visibility,
improved. The order at this stage was Hill, Ralf Schumacher, Alesi, Frentzen,
Diniz and Trulli who was 2 laps down. Only 6 of the 22 that started were left, so McLaren and Minardi used the safety car period to repair Coulthard and
Nakano’s cars and they rejoined 5 laps down, but with the chance of scoring a
point or two if anyone else retired, and because DC just needed some more
punishment.
Just look at that jaw! Don’t you think he’s been
punished enough?
The
safety car came in at the end of lap 32 and off they set again. Immediately
Hill ran wide at turn 1 and Ralf looked like getting a run at him but couldn’t
get the power down on the sodden track. It appeared as though we were in for a
barnstorming finish, but for the next 12 laps Hill did just enough to stay in
front of Ralf, who in turn did just enough to stay in front of Alesi’s Sauber.
In fact, disappointingly, there wasn’t a single change of position at all from
this point, which was remarkable considering the insanity the race had produced
so far.
Damon
Hill took the chequered flag and celebrated with a Shuey style leap on the
podium (as you do). He was followed home by Ralf to make it a Jordan 1-2 and
Alesi scored a sensational podium place for the Sauber team, the last for a
Frenchman until Bahrain 2012! But the last laps were not as drama-free as they
appeared, and as Ralf’s slapped-arse face on the podium attested there was
more going on that met the eye.
Pick your lip up Junior!
The Aftermath
Damon sat in the press conference grinning like a
goon, and was asked directly about the end of the race and having his team mate
so close behind;
“....was Ralf ever going to challenge you or were
you settled on a 1-2 finish at that stage?”
He reeled off an answer that any politician would
have been proud of, that is, no bloody answer at all. He brought up the safety
car and how hard he was pushing, then he talked about his tyres and the weather
before finally summing up with;
“....I was under pressure the whole way.”
Now I respect Damon, he was a very
deserving champion in 1996 and what he was able to do in an Arrows in 1997 was
nothing short of miraculous, but couldn’t he just have answered the question?
Under pressure! No shit! You’re driving a twitchy, prototype Formula One
machine in the torrential rain for a team that has never won before. You’re in
the twilight of your career, going through the longest F1 winless streak you’ve
ever had, and supposedly on a contract that pays you big money for every
championship point you win, so yeah, I’d already guessed you were under a bit
of goddamn pressure.
Damon soaking it up
Not surprisingly, Ralf was a little more
forthcoming,
“....after the Safety Car made its second appearance we just
settled. Us as one and two”
And
then just to make sure there were no doubts, quickly added;
“Damon
- one and me - two”
Indeed, despite just earning his career best
finish to that point with 2nd place, he didn’t crack a smile until asked about
his amazing escape on the first start.
So
there had been team orders imposed, this was pre-Austria 2002 so they weren’t
illegal, but still frowned upon. If I was in team owner Eddie Jordan’s shoes I can’t say I would have
done anything differently and I’d defy anyone to say differently and mean it,
but as a viewer, I’d love to know if Ralf could have got past had he been
allowed to try.
10 foot tall team owner celebrates
It
wasn’t until a little later that the radio transmissions became public and we
all heard that the team order was actually ‘suggested’ by Damon Hill, which may
explain his shyness in the press conference. His exact words during the race;
“I'm
going to put something to you here, and I think you'd better listen to this. If
we race, if we two race, we could end up with nothing, so it's up to Eddie
(Jordan). If we don't race each other, we've got an opportunity to get a first
and second, it's your choice.”
Did
you notice the mocking single quotations around the word ‘suggested’ above?
Damon’s use of the phrase “It’s your choice” makes it sound as though he was
downright threatening the team, albeit delivered very cleverly and subtly.
Though there has never been any question about Damon’s smarts has there....
Though I’m pretty sure I know what he’s thinking
here
You can hear the transmissions here and make up your own mind about Damon’s tone of voice. The
best bit is how long it took Ralf to respond once the order was issued. Weighing up the choice of going for his first win with
the chances of an accident must have been
difficult, especially as he had a Williams contract in his back pocket anyway.
It ended up being a truly historic day for the Silverstone based team and they rode the
momentum all the way into 1999, when Ralf’s replacement Heinz Harald Frentzen,
won another two races and had a sniff at taking the championship that no one
else seemed to want.
As
for Damon Hill, Spa 98 turned out to be his last win in a truly remarkable
career, and after being thoroughly overshadowed by Frentzen the following
season, he retired.
David
Coulthard eventually admitted in an interview to being at fault in the clash with Michael Schumacher, a full 5 years
later in 2003, and the championship fight between Hakkinen and Schumacher did
go all the way down to the wire. Hakkinen prevailed in a final race showdown to
claim his maiden World Drivers Title and complete a thrilling, unpredictable
season.
But of all the races there were in 1998, indeed of all the races there have
ever been, perhaps there are none so thrilling and unpredictable as Spa 98.
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