The 1998 Austrian Grand Prix was the tenth round of the 1998 season. After a bizarre wet qualifying session which saw Giancarlo Fisichella claim his first pole position the race saw Mika Häkkinen lead a 1-2 finish for McLaren-Mercedes.Mika Häkkinen's championship rival Michael Schumacher was third in the race.
Background
Following the British Grand Prix, the teams headed to Monza for a week of testing before making the move to Austria for the Austrian Grand Prix. Shortly before the Austrian race, Michael Schumacher confirmed a deal with Ferrari which would see him remain with the team until 2002. Despite offers from McLaren to join their team in 1999, Schumacher made the long term committment to remain with Ferrari.
Following the Schumacher announcement, it was announced that Jacques Villeneuve would be leaving Williams at the end of 1998, to join fledgling team BAR in 1999.
Austria would be the home race for Benetton driver Alexander Wurz.
Practice Overview
FP1
David Coulthard set the initial pace following the conclusion of Friday practice. Coulthard was 0.042 seconds faster than McLaren teammate Mika Häkkinen. Giancarlo Fisichella performed well to finish the session in third place for Benetton. The big surprises was that Johnny Herbert finished the session fourth and Rubens Barrichello finishing fifth.
Home talent, Alexander Wurz was sixth at the end of the session. Ferrari appeared off the pace with Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine seventh and eighth. Their day was not as bad as Williams's, Jacques Villeneuve was thirteenth whilst teammate Heinz-Harald Frentzen finished in seventeenth following a spin into the gravel trap.
FP2
David Coulthard once again led the timesheets ahead of teammate Mika Häkkinen. Eddie Irvine was third ahead of Frentzen, Schumacher and Jean Alesi.
Qualifying
The Austrian Grand Prix brought the first wet qualifying session of the season. The circuit was drenched and the driver's were unwilling to make it out on track with the rain. 28 minutes into the session Toranosuke Takagi and Damon Hill were the first driver's to enter onto the circuit. In the wet conditions Takagi spun 360 de grees going into turn 8, Takagi continued without isssue. Following his first flying lap, Takagi then spun his car going into the first corner, the Tyrrell driver lightly clouted the barrier but once again was able to continue on.
After completing two flying laps, Damon Hill returned to the pits. As Hill exited the track, Jos Verstappen in the Stewart entered the circuit. Following this, the cars began making their move onto the race track. Eddie Irvine was the first of the front runners to enter the track with Michael Schumacher following him onto the circuit.
After completing his first flying lap, Verstappen went wide and into the gravel going into turn 1. Immediately afterwards Pedro Diniz went wide at the same place going into turn 1. Michael Schumacher then went faster to dislodge Hill's provisional pole time. Ralf Schumacher in the second Jordan then went second fastest before immediately being dislodged from second by Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
Frentzen then was on course to take provisional pole until he made a mistake going into the final corner. Jean Alesi then took the provisional pole time in his Sauber. Irvine then took the fastest time, going ahead of Alesi. Michael Schumacher then reclaimed his provisional pole position. Meanwhile, further down the McLaren cars languished down in eighth and tenth.
Jacques Villeneuve then spun into the gravel trap at turn 3, being forced to exit his car. Schumacher then bettered his own provisional pole time. Ricardo Rosset and Giancarlo Fisichella then both suffered their own spins. Coulthard and Häkkinen then improved to go third and fourth. Coulthard then moved into second, but still was unable to beat Schumacher's time.
Fisichella then improved his time to go third fastest. As the session came to a close, the sun began to shine and the track began to dry. Shinji Nakano then spun and stalled his Minardi. Frentzen then improved to go second fastest despite making yet another mistake during the lap. Fisichella then suffered another big spin but yet again was able to continue without major damage. Ralf Schumacher then improved to move into second position.
Olivier Panis was another driver to suffer going wide into the first corner. Rubens Barrichello then put in a strong lap to go third fastest with Verstappen right behind. Alesi then moved into second position. Mika Salo then went fifth fastest before Barrichello moved up to third. Häkkinen then improved to take fourth position, before to everyone's amazement Alesi took the provisional pole time. Häkkinen then went faster than Schumacher to go into second.
On Fisichella's final flying lap, he managed to take the pole position as the session came to a close. The result meant that Fisichella took his first pole time ahead of Alesi, Häkkinen, Schumacher, Barrichello and Salo. Frentzen was seventh followed by Irvine, Ralf Schumacher and Panis. Villeneuve was a disgruntled eleventh whilst Coulthard was in a disastrous fourteenth position.
Qualifying Results
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Race
Results
Milestones
Standings after race
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