The 1998 Canadian Grand Prix was the seventh round of the 1998 season. The race was won by Michael Schumacher for Ferrari with Giancarlo Fisichella and Eddie Irvine finishing alongside him on the podium. The race was notable for neither McLaren's finished the grand prix.
Background
Heading into Canada, Goodyear once again had received criticism from Ferrari's Michael Schumacher, Schumacher attibuting Ferrari's performance deficit to McLaren as being 75% the inferiority of the Goodyear tyres in comparison to the Bridgestone runners. The Head of Goodyear's Italian branch Antonio Corso stated in response to Schumacher's claim that Luca Di Montezemelo, Jean Todt and Eddie Irvine are people you can deal with. But with Schumacher it is different as he is considered only slightly lower than God". Goodyear, would however being a brand new tyre for its teams to Montreal in order to compete with the Bridgestone's.
The Canadian Grand Prix was also the home race of reigning world champion Jacques Villeneuve, Villeneuve who had suffered a torrid season was aiming "to put one foot back on the podium" in Montreal, with his and Williams's main goal being to get ahead of the Ferrari's in the race.
Practice Overview
FP1
Practice Results
| No. | Driver | Constructor | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Pos | Time | Pos | Time | Pos | |||
| 1 |  Jacques Villeneuve
|
 Williams-Mecachrome
|
1:21.597 | 16 | 1:19.898 | 8 | 1:22.822 | 7 |
| 2 |  Heinz-Harald Frentzen
|
1:20.622 | 6 | 1:19.512 | 6 | 1:21.940 | 1 | |
| 3 | Michael Schumacher
|
 Ferrari
|
1:19.999 | 2 | 1:19.198 | 3 | 1:22.360 | 5 |
| 4 | Eddie Irvine
|
1:20.821 | 7 | 1:19.979 | 9 | 1:30.685 | 22 | |
| 5 | Giancarlo Fisichella
|
Benetton-Playlife
|
1:20.480 | 5 | 1:19.464 | 5 | 1:22.351 | 4 |
| 6 |  Alexander Wurz
|
1:21.274 | 12 | 1:20.956 | 15 | 1:24.577 | 16 | |
| 7 | David Coulthard
|
McLaren-Mercedes
|
1:20.316 | 4 | 1:18.741 | 2 | 1:22.282 | 3 |
| 8 |  Mika Häkkinen
|
1:19.613 | 1 | 1:18.741 | 1 | 1:22.065 | 2 | |
| 9 | Damon Hill
|
 Jordan-Mugen-Honda
|
1:21.069 | 9 | 1:20.350 | 13 | 1:23.086 | 11 |
| 10 | Ralf Schumacher
|
1:21.294 | 14 | 1:19.362 | 4 | 1:23.583 | 13 | |
| 11 |  Olivier Panis
|
Prost-Peugeot
|
1:21.191 | 10 | 1:20.671 | 14 | 1:23.052 | 10 |
| 12 | Jarno Trulli
|
1:21.282 | 13 | 1:20.170 | 12 | 1:22.931 | 8 | |
| 14 | Jean Alesi
|
 Sauber-Petronas
|
1:20.252 | 3 | 1:19.623 | 7 | 1:23.647 | 14 |
| 15 | Johnny Herbert
|
1:21.239 | 11 | 1:19.990 | 10 | 1:22.447 | 6 | |
| 16 |  Pedro Diniz
|
Arrows
|
1:22.100 | 18 | 1:21.251 | 17 | 1:23.801 | 15 |
| 17 | Mika Salo
|
1:21.962 | 17 | 1:20.075 | 11 | 1:23.537 | 12 | |
| 18 | Rubens Barrichello
|
Stewart-Ford
|
1:21.069 | 10 | 1:21.196 | 16 | 1:23.051 | 9 |
| 19 |  Jan Magnussen
|
1:23.156 | 22 | 1:21.875 | 22 | 1:26.335 | 21 | |
| 20 | Ricardo Rosset
|
Tyrrell-Ford
|
1;23.011 | 21 | 1:21.505 | 20 | 1:25.859 | 19 |
| 21 |  Toranosuke Takagi
|
1:21.370 | 15 | 1:21.281 | 18 | 1:24.774 | 17 | |
| 22 | Shinji Nakano
|
Minardi-Ford
|
1:22.137 | 19 | 1:21.361 | 19 | 1:24.801 | 18 |
| 23 |  Esteban Tuero
|
1:22.425 | 20 | 1:21.700 | 21 | 1:26.042 | 20 |
Qualifying
Ralf Schumacher in the Jordan was the first car out setting a 1:19.682. Johnny Herbert then ruined his lap, running wide into the first corner. David Coulthard then easily bettered that time with a1:18.838.
On Mika Häkkinen's first lap he was notably held up by championship rival Michael Schumacher being forced to abort the lap. Schumacher then went second fastest with a 1:18.952. Schumacher's second lap saw him go faster than Coulthard with a 1:18.621.
Giancarlo Fisichella then put in a strong lap to go third fastest in the session. Home talent Jacques Villeneuve was running sixth fastest, behind Johnny Herbert and Ralf Schumacher. However the second Sauber of Jean Alesi would further demote Villeneuve as he moved into fifth place. Eddie Irvine then set his first lap moving into fourth place behind Schumacher, Coulthard and Fisichella.
Villeneuve then ruined his next lap to go faster when he overbraked himself before the hairpin. Michael Schumacher remained fastest by the mid-point of the session, Coulthard seemingly unable to respond on his third lap. The next lap, Coulthard pulled in a strong lap to take provisional pole with a 1:18.344. However when Häkkinen set his first competitive lap he took provisional pole position with a 1:18.282.
Rubens Barrichello then suffered an engine failure going into the first corner, ending his session whilst sitting in twelfth place. Jacques Villeneuve then improved his time to move into sixth position.
Ralf Schumacher who was running well for Jordan improved his time but failed to set a time to overtake Fisichella's Benetton in fourth. In the final few minutes, both Ralf Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve had completely their allocated 12 laps, meaning they would not improve their times. Coulthard then set the fastest time with a 1:18.213. Häkkinen failed to respond being forced to abort his flying lap.
This meant Coulthard took pole ahead of Häkkinen, Michael Schumacher, Fisichella, Ralf Schumacher and Villeneuve.
Qualifying Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | David Coulthard
|
McLaren-Mercedes
|
1:18.213 |
| 2 | 8 | Mika Häkkinen
|
McLaren-Mercedes
|
1:18.282 |
| 3 | 3 | Michael Schumacher
|
Ferrari
|
1:18.497 |
| 4 | 5 | Giancarlo Fisichella
|
Benetton-Playlife
|
1:18.826 |
| 5 | 10 | Ralf Schumacher
|
Jordan-Mugen-Honda
|
1:19.242 |
| 6 | 1 | Jacques Villeneuve
|
Williams-Mecachrome
|
1:19.588 |
| 7 | 2 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen
|
Williams-Mecachrome
|
1:19.614 |
| 8 | 4 | Eddie Irvine
|
Ferrari
|
1:19.616 |
| 9 | 14 | Jean Alesi
|
Sauber-Petronas
|
1:19.716 |
| 10 | 9 | Damon Hill
|
Jordan-Mugen-Honda
|
1:19.717 |
| 11 | 6 | Alexander Wurz
|
Benetton-Playlife
|
1:19.765 |
| 12 | 15 | Johnny Herbert
|
Sauber-Petronas
|
1:19.845 |
| 13 | 18 | Rubens Barrichello
|
Stewart-Ford
|
1:19.953 |
| 14 | 12 | Jarno Trulli
|
Prost-Peugeot
|
1:20.188 |
| 15 | 11 | Olivier Panis
|
Prost-Peugeot
|
1:20.303 |
| 16 | 21 | Toranosuke Takagi
|
Tyrrell-Ford
|
1:20.328 |
| 17 | 17 | Mika Salo
|
Arrows
|
1:20.536 |
| 18 | 22 | Shinji Nakano
|
Minardi-Ford
|
1:21.230 |
| 19 | 16 | Pedro Diniz
|
Arrows
|
1:21.301 |
| 20 | 19 | Jan Magnussen
|
Stewart-Ford
|
1:21.629 |
| 21 | 23 | Esteban Tuero
|
Minardi-Ford
|
1:21.822 |
| 22 | 20 | Ricardo Rosset
|
Tyrrell-Ford
|
1:21.824 |
Race
Report
As the cars left the grid, Michael Schumacher managed to overtake Häkkinen around the outside of the corner, moving into second behind Coulthard. However it was all to no avail, Ralf Schumacher stalled on the grid and to further the woes there was a major pile-up going into the first corner. Alexander Wurz was squeezed wide going onto the grass on the inside of the first corner, unable to break his car careered into the oncoming cars of Jarno Trulli, Jean Alesi and Johnny Herbert. Wurz flipped over these cars and into the gravel trap.
Luckily the race was stopped allowing Wurz, Alesi and Trulli to run back to the pits to get into their spare cars. Johnny Herbert in the second Sauber was forced to concede the spare car to Alesi. Luckily for Herbert, his car was returned to the pits and was able to be sufficiently repaired to be able to take the re-start, starting from the pit-lane.
40 minutes later the race prepared to take its second start. In contrast to the first start Michael Schumacher made a poor getaway, dropping to fourth behind Giancarlo Fisichella. However as the cars entered the first corner, Häkkinen suddenly suffered a gearbox failure bringing his car to a dead halt in the middle of the track, causing the cars one again to get out of shape into the first corner.
Ralf Schumacher spun round at the first corner, causing mayhem into turn two. Jean Alesi ran wide into turn 2, before Jarno Trulli plowed into the back of him, launching on top of Alesi's car. Entering the first corner Häkkinen, Ralf Schumacher, Trulli and Alesi were elliminated from the grand prix.
At the front Michael Schumacher was able to regain second, going around the outside of Fisichella at the hairpin. After the first lap, the stewards brought out the safety car instead of restarting the race. The carnage of the first lap had an effect on Eddie Irvine's Ferrari, Irvine was left running at the back with a puncture, being forced to stop at the end of the first lap. Toranosuke Takagi also retired when his car failed to leave the grid.
As the safety car lapped round it was Coulthard leading Schumacher, Fisichella, Villeneuve, Frentzen, Barrichello, Hill, Magnussen, Diniz and Rosset. At the end of the fifth lap, the safety car came into the pits, resuming the race. The end of lap six saw Barrichello overtake Villeneuve for fifth position.
Coulthard and Schumacher began sprinting away from Fisichella in third, Schumacher attempted to overtake into the penultimate corner, however Coulthard defended the move. Barrichello however was able to dispose of the second Williams of Heinz-Harald Frentzen to move into fourth.
However as Barrichello began to chase down Fisichella, he ran wide at the hairpin and into the gravel. This meant he would drop down to seventh behind the two Williams and Damon Hill's Jordan. Lap 11 saw Pedro Diniz spin off the circuit whilst chasing down Jan Magnussen in eighth. Diniz rejoined but was some way down the field.
As Diniz rejoined the track, his car's radiator ducts were filled with grass and dirt from when he went off. For the next lap Diniz was exerting dirt and grass throughout various places of the circuit. Diniz struggled around back to the pits, to get the dirt cleared out of his car. The safety car then came out to clear out the dirt that Diniz had left throughout the circuit.
When the cars resumed racing on lap 17, Diniz was caught in the middle of the leaders following his pit-stop. This allowed Coulthard and Schumacher to pull away as the cars behind struggled to get around the lapped Diniz. However the following lap, Coulthard slowed down suddenly with a throttle failure crippling his car as the field overtook him before he peeled into the pits and into retirement. Causing the first double-McLaren retirement of the season.
The same lap saw Mika Salo in the second Arrows plough into the wall and into retirement. A few corners later, Johnny Herbert in the Sauber spun off the circuit and into retirement. The incidents on this lap meant that the safety car returned to the track.
Lap 20 saw Michael Schumacher conduct his first pit-stop whilst under the safety car, Schumacher exited the pits just ahead of Heinz-Harald Frentzen, however Schumacher refusing to concede the position to Frentzen, shot across the circuit forcing Frentzen wide into the first corner. The Williams driver went wide and spun into the gravel.
This meant as the safety car came into the pits it was Fisichella leading Villeneuve and Schumacher. Heading into the first corner Villeneuve challenged for the lead going down the inside of Fisichella. The Williams driver overshot the first corner going wide into the gravel trap dropping behind Hill and Magnussen. A valiant Esteban Tuero attempted to overtake Villeneuve in his Minardi, however Villeneuve shut the door, causing Tuero to collide with the rear of Villeneuve's car. Tuero lost his front wing as Villeneuve lost his rear wing.
Villeneuve appeared to be heading in for retirement as he exited his car, however he was then directed to get back into his Williams and resume the race, despite being multiple laps down on the leaders.
Results
Milestones
Standings after race
| v·d·e | Nominate this page for Featured Article |