Grand Prix of Luxembourg Review
Nurburgring, Bonn, Germany 25th - 27th September 1998	by Paul Ryder & Ian Burley, England

McLaren boss, Ron Dennis, stated after last weekend's 1998 Luxembourg Grand Prix that his team's win there had possibly been the most important of McLaren International's history. Never mind the feats of Niki Lauda, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna - Dennis, almost a father figure to Mika Hakkinen, placed Mika Hakkinen's win above all these former McLaren champions. Purists might want to debate the point with Dennis, but nobody would doubt that it was the finest race of Hakkinen's career, rejuvenating his championship challenge and bringing McLaren to within a point of the constructors' title with just the one race to go at Suzuka in five weeks. However, the Luxembourg weekend showed little signs, if not the opposite, that this was going to be the race we were about to watch. Qualifying Weather was expected to be a factor throughout the weekend, but other than a morning rain on Saturday, this was to be a dry race. However, Saturday's morning rain left its mark on the track, and caught out Michael Schumacher on his first - and rather early - run of the qualifying session. The German ventured out slightly earlier than the other front runners and lost the rear end as he entered the RTL Curve. However, he managed to rejoin the track and made it back to the pits without damage. Hakkinen took his first run and claimed provisional pole with what was believed to be the lap to beat, and boy was it beat; on his second run Schumacher put in a magnificent lap of 1:18.561s, smashing Hakkinen's provisional pole. Hakkinen attempted to respond but could only put in a 1:18.940s. The Finn had the pace - he was quick in the first sector - but later revealed the car was not at its best on the second half of the circuit, which ultimately cost him the pole position. Likewise, his McLaren team-mate David Coulthard was struggling for pace. The Scot's car did not look happy and could only manage fifth place with 1:19.169. Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella, however, seemed to have a great setup, after being dominant throughout Friday practice sessions, where he ended up with the second fastest time of the day. In qualifying, the young Italian grabbed the 4th position and seemed to threaten the third place for most of the session. Eddie Irvine was the second big surprise of the day. On his final run he managed to put in a lap to match Schumacher's for magnificence, taking the second place with 1:18:907, and join his team-mate on the front row of the grid, his highest ever grid position. Once again, it seemed, McLaren had been steamrollered in qualifying by Ferrari, and with the front row completely red, McLaren's prospects for the race - and ultimately for the Championship - looked down and out. Lower on the grid, there was little surprise, other than a struggling Damon Hill who could not better 10th position (as opposed to his team-mate Ralf Schumacher who clocked the 6th fastest time). Eventually, the session ended in the following order: M.Schumacher (Pole), E.Irvine, M.Hakkinen, G.Fisichella, D.Coulthard, R.Schumacher, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, A.Wurz, J.Villeneuve, D.Hill, J.Alesi, R.Barrichello, J.Herbert, J.Trulli, O.Panis, M.Salo, P.Diniz, J.Verstappen, T.Takagi, S.Nakano, E.Tuero, R.Rosset. All drivers made it within the 107% rule. The Race McLaren made the most of the Sunday warm-up session, to work on the handling problems they suffered in Qualifying and their attempts to resolve the issues appeared successful with Mika Hakkinen toping the times followed by David Coulthard Both Ferraris settled for fourth and fifth and one could only wonder at that point whether McLaren were out-foxing Ferrari, with Ron Dennis later admitting that his cars were carrying more fuel than usual throughout the un-timed sessions and official qualifying, which meant the silver cars were in much better shape for the race itself than it seemed on Saturday. Nevertheless, there were two Ferraris in front and, unlike at Monza a fortnight earlier, neither made a poor start. As the start got underway, Schumacher and Irvine left the grid well. Irvine managed to power his way past Schumacher as they approached the first corner, and was unable to back off to allow Schumacher to take the lead. Coulthard also had a great start, got alongside Hakkinen but backed off enough to allow the Finn to take position behind Schumacher going into the first corner. As the field streamed through the first corner, no major collisions occurred. A few drivers, notably Villeneuve, had to leave the circuit slightly as the traffic filtered through the corner and left no room. Fisichella, who was passed by Coulthard at the start was in fifth place, followed by team-mate Wurz who made a great start from eighth. It was obvious now that Irvine would have to let Schumacher by in order to play the team game, and try to prevent Hakkinen from passing the German. However, the pass itself did not go as smoothly as Ferrari would have hoped. As Irvine went into the final chicane he went wide running over the curb and dirt. This slowed him down and allowed Schumacher to slot passed. Hakkinen was now apparently stuck behind Eddie Irvine and there is no better Number Two in a situation like this. But Hakkinen was content to bide his time in third place and evaluate things before commencing his assault. At the end of lap 7, Schumacher held a 3.3 second lead over Irvine, who was 1.8 seconds ahead of Hakkinen. Coulthard followed Hakkinen 2.4 seconds behind. Coulthard was under increasing pressure from Fisichella who was running well, one second behind Coulthard. Wurz could not keep up with his team mate, and was three seconds adrift of the top five. Hakkinen now appeared to feel more at home with his race setup and began to slowly close on Irvine. As he increased the pressure, Irvine also began to close in on Schumacher who at Lap nine only had a 3.9 second advantage. Hakkinen proved he was on the pace setting a fastest lap on Lap 10. Coulthard followed 4.2 seconds behind and appeared to be having a harder time with his setup. Fisichella, Wurz and Frentzen remained very close to each other. Ralf Schumacher, Villeneuve and Hill followed, but each spread out by an average of three seconds a gap. Hakkinen continued to close on Irvine, and was now very close looking for a passing opportunity. His calm demotion of Irvine at the Veedol chicane on lap 14 could prove to be the defining moment of Hakkinen's season. Irvine did not make the pass as difficult as we may have expected in the current championship situation. Ferrari would have also hoped for Irvine to have kept Hakkinen behind for a lot longer, but Irvine appeared to be suffering from setup problems and couldn't keep the Finn behind any longer. Nonetheless, it must have given Hakkinen a massive confidence boost and of course it freed him to pursue Schumacher's lead at a rate which probably startled the Ferrari team. Coulthard, too, quickly caught Irvine, but despite the Ferrari's handling deteriorating further, the Scot was unable to repeat the passing example set by his, now distant, team mate. From Lap 14 onwards Hakkinen had a clear run at his rival, and Schumacher responded with a fastest lap, but to no avail. Hakkinen was now closing on Schumacher, and put in his own fastest lap on Lap 16. Over the next four laps Schumacher did managed to slightly increase the gap and keep it stable. Hakkinen had found the limit with regards to his setup and had locked his right front on a few occasions. Schumacher was also locking up, but it was becoming apparent that he was not having the best of times with his Goodyear front tyres. Lap 22 marked the start of the first pit stops. Takagi was first to pit, then Verstappen. Hakkinen put in another fastest lap on Lap 22, preparing for a critical phase of the race. Hakkinen was behind Schumacher on the circuit but was aiming to pass the German in the pits. A critical point in the race arrived on lap 24 with Schumacher heading into the pits for his first stop. Hakkinen was now 3.5 seconds behind the German. Schumacher's stop was a quick one and he rejoined the circuit in second place, ahead of Irvine who was able to keep a pack of three drivers behind him - Coulthard, Wurz and Frentzen - to enabled Schumacher to leave the pit ahead of these drivers, giving him a clear run at Hakkinen without having to worry about passing these fast front runners. Irvine himself made his own pit stop on lap 25. By now, Hakkinen managed to stay out four laps more than Schumacher, and built up a 19.3 second lead before he made his stop on Lap 28. Ferrari fans will argue that luck was on Hakkinen's side as, undoubtedly, Schumacher was held up by traffic just before Hakkinen emerged from his first pit stop. Nonetheless, McLaren's pit stop was impressively fast and the Finn re-joined the track mere metres ahead of his challenger; Schumacher was not even allowed a taste of a chance to get past. McLaren, so it seemed, had got their strategy right for once. Hakkinen now came under pressure from Schumacher, who was very close but unable to take advantage of Hakkinen's cold tyres and slightly heavier fuel load. Coulthard made his stop on Lap 29, Villeneuve on Lap 31. At the end of the first stint of stops the positions leveled out. Hakkinen had a very small lead over Schumacher, which was below one second for the next 10 laps. Coulthard followed in third place but was still unable to match the pace of the top two, and fell back 30 seconds. Irvine was also falling back, 6 seconds behind Coulthard. After 10 laps of pressure from Schumacher, Hakkinen began to slowly pull away, but by a very small margin at this point. He was still close enough to see red in his mirrors, but was unchallenged by this. Prior to this race, many have been quick to question Hakkinen's mental strength, saying that Schumacher was ruthlessly hunting him down. In reality, nobody really knew how Hakkinen would actually cope with the pressure because he had not been in this sort of situation - certainly not in Formula One - before. But, if Hakkinen ever made a firm reply to those doubter, it was during those laps where he held Schumacher a close second, not making a mere mistake and proving to be superior throughout the run. The second round of stops began on lap 42. Fisichella came in first, followed by Wurz and Frentzen on lap 43. Frentzen made a surprise move in the pits when he left his pit behind Salo. Frentzen made a passing move on Salo after the pair crossed the pit speed limit line, and actually passed Salo before the pair rejoined the circuit. Legal in the books, but an obviously dangerous move to take. On Lap 46 Schumacher made his second stop. He had fell back 2.3 seconds from the leader Hakkinen and his stop lasted 25.8 seconds. Hakkinen pitted Lap 48 and was in need of a fast stop to enable him to rejoin ahead of Schumacher. McLaren delivered the goods, getting the Finn in and out in 24.8 seconds, which allowed him to rejoin the track 2.9 seconds ahead of Schumacher. Irvine in 4th stopped on lap 49. Coulthard stopped on lap 52, and rejoined in 3rd place. Hakkinen was now holding station, and keeping his lead at around 4-5 seconds. Schumacher was still unable to respond, but was doing his best to keep with Hakkinen. Coulthard was 30 seconds adrift, 20 seconds ahead of Irvine. The battle for 5th, 6th and 7th place was still as hot as ever. Frentzen was 5th, 0.9 seconds ahead of the Benetton of Fisichella. Team mate Wurz was falling back slightly. 2 laps to go and Hakkinen had a 4.7 second lead. The Finn began to relax as it came to his last lap, making sure he brought the car home. Schumacher was unable to do anything, and one wonders what he could have done if not for his tyre problems. Eventually, Hakkinen took the flag, 2.2 seconds ahead of Schumacher in second place. Coulthard made up the final podium spot in 3rd, 31.9 seconds behind the winner. Irvine came in 4th, Frentzen won the battle for 5th, followed by Fisichella, Wurz, Villeneuve, Hill and Alesi in 10th place. Crossing the finish line, Hakkinen waved to the fans on his parade lap and was visibly ecstatic as he left his car in the parc farme and rubbed the Mercedes badge on the nose. Schumacher however looked very down and almost battered. He obviously was not happy with the way his car had been, and of losing such a valuable chance of taking a championship lead into the final race. Coulthard came home in 3rd place, which left Mclaren one point short of the Constructors Championship which would most certainly go their way in the next race. Many claim Hakkinen's win was the best of his career and indeed, if the championship were to be judged on this race, Hakkinen surely deserves the title; he was under pressure from Schumacher for over 12 laps, but was able to cope and still keep the gap. Schumacher was obviously hindered by bad tyres, be it because of a bad setup or general bad Goodyears here. Which means there is one more test awaiting for McLaren and Hakkinen, in Japan. Indeed, the pressure is back on Schumacher. But whatever the eventual outcome of the season may be, the Luxembourg Grand Prix would be remembered as one of the classic Grands Prix of thew year - and it would be remembered as the race where Hakkinen, at the very least, earned his moral Championship title.

Classified

 P   DRIVER            NATION   TEAM                      TIME                     
 1.  M.Hakkinen        FIN      McLaren-Mercedes MP4/13   1h 32:14.789s   198.534 kph;
 2.  M.Schumacher      GER      Ferrari F300              1h 32:17.001s   +    2.212  
 3.  Coulthard         GBR      McLaren-Mercedes MP4/13   1h 32:48.952s   +   34.164  
 4.  E.Irvine          GBR      Ferrari F300              1h 33:12.971s   +   58.183  
 5.  H.H.Frentzen      GER      Williams-Mecachrome FW20  1h 33:15.036s   + 1:00.248  
 6.  G.Fisichella      ITA      Benetton-Mecachrome B198  1h 33:16.148s   + 1:01.360  
 7   A.Wurz            AUT      Benetton-Mecachrome B198  1h 33:19.578s   + 1:04.790  
 8.  J.Villeneuve      CAN      Williams-Mecachrome FW20  66 laps         + 1 lap     
 9.  D.Hill            GBR      Jordan-Mugen-Honda 198    66 laps         + 1 lap     
10.  J.Alesi           FRA      Sauber-Petronas C17       66 laps         + 1 lap     
11.  R.Barrichello     BRA      Stewart-Ford SF2          65 laps         + 2 laps    
12.  O.Panis           FRA      Prost-Peugeot AP01        65 laps         + 2 laps    
13   Jos Verstappen    NED      Stewart-Ford SF2          65 laps         + 2 laps    
14.  M.Salo            FIN      Arrows A19                65 laps         + 2 laps    
15.  S.Nakano          JPN      Minardi-Ford M198         65 laps         + 2 laps    
16.  T.Takagi          JPN      Tyrrell-Ford 026          65 laps         + 2 laps    

Fastest Lap: Mika Hakkinen Lap 25 1:20.450 secs 203.873 kph.

Not Classified: 

Lap 6   P.Diniz      Arrows A19              hydraulics
Lap 6   J.Trulli     Prost-Peugeot AP01      gearbox mainshaft
Lap 36  R.Rosset     Tyrrell-Ford 026        engine
Lap 37  J.Herbert    Sauber-Petronas C17     engine
Lap 53  R.Schumacher Jordan-Mugen-Honda 198  brake disc
Lap 56  E.Tuero      Minardi-Ford M198       changed broken driveshaft
                                                                                       
All timing is unofficial