1998 San Marino Grand Prix

1998 San Marino Grand Prix
Previous←	1998 Argentine Grand Prix
Round	4 of 1998
Next→	1998 Spanish Grand Prix
Imola for the 1998 Grand Prix season
Race Details
Date	26 April, 1998
Race Number	618
Official Name	18° Gran Premio di San Marino
Location	Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari Imola, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.933 km (3.065 mi)
Distance	62 laps, 305.846 km (190.044 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:25.973
Fastest Lap
Driver	Michael Schumacher Ferrari
Time	1:29.345 on lap 48
Podium
First	David Coulthard
Second	Michael Schumacher
Third	Eddie Irvine
Lap Leaders

The 1998 San Marino Grand Prix, officially known as the 18° Gran Premio di San Marino, was the fourth round of the 1998 Formula One Season. It was won from pole position by David Coulthard in the McLaren-Mercedes with Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine taking second and third on Ferrari's home turf.

Background

The following week from the Argentine Grand Prix, FIA President Max Mosley hosted a meeting with the team bosses in Formula One in order to gain a consensus among the teams to ban what was labelled as the "x-wings" on some Formula One cars. Mosley believed that these sidepod winglets that were being used in an attempt to generate more downforce by the Jordan, Sauber and Tyrrell team were damaging to the aesthetic quality of Formula One racing. Whilst most teams agreed with Mosley in banning the devices, the move did receive opposition notably from the three teams that were already running the devices. Team Principal of Jordan Eddie Jordan stated about the 'x-wings' "Gary Anderson has come up with a couple of things that work very efficiently in the wind tunnel. They may not be the nicest things on the car to look at, but they give good downforce for very little drag". As well as the devices being operated by Jordan, Sauber and Tyrrell it was believed that Ferrari would be trialling the devices in San Marino after running it in private testing.

Between Argentina and San Marino, the teams returned to Europe to begin testing for the San Marino Grand Prix. Ferrari was testing at their private circuits at Mugello and Fiorano, Williams in Jerez, Sauber and Prost in Magny-Cours, Tyrrell in Barcelona and McLaren, Jordan, Benetton, Stewart and Arrows in Silverstone.

Benetton racer Giancarlo Fisichella suffered a huge accident in a Porsche Boxter road car on the Wednesday before the race, despite the car being completely demolished Fisichella escaped the accident unhurt and would be fit to race at the San Marino Grand Prix.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 1998 San Marino Grand Prix is outlined below:

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
1	Jacques Villeneuve	Winfield Williams	Williams	FW20	Mecachrome	GC37-01 3.0 V10	G
2	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Winfield Williams	Williams	FW20	Mecachrome	GC37-01 3.0 V10	G
3	Michael Schumacher	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F300	Ferrari	047 3.0 V10	G
4	Eddie Irvine	Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F300	Ferrari	047 3.0 V10	G
5	Giancarlo Fisichella	Mild Seven Benetton Playlife	Benetton	B198	Playlife	GC37-01 3.0 V10	B
6	Alexander Wurz	Mild Seven Benetton Playlife	Benetton	B198	Playlife	GC37-01 3.0 V10	B
7	David Coulthard	West McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4/13	Mercedes	FO 110G 3.0 V10	B
8	Mika Häkkinen	West McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4/13	Mercedes	FO 110G 3.0 V10	B
9	Damon Hill	Benson & Hedges Jordan	Jordan	198	Mugen-Honda	MF-301HC 3.0 V10	G
10	Ralf Schumacher	Benson & Hedges Jordan	Jordan	198	Mugen-Honda	MF-301HC 3.0 V10	G
11	Olivier Panis	Gauloises Prost Peugeot	Prost	AP01	Peugeot	A16 3.0 V10	B
12	Jarno Trulli	Gauloises Prost Peugeot	Prost	AP01	Peugeot	A16 3.0 V10	B
14	Jean Alesi	Red Bull Sauber Petronas	Sauber	C17	Petronas	SPE-01D 3.0 V10	G
15	Johnny Herbert	Red Bull Sauber Petronas	Sauber	C17	Petronas	SPE-01D 3.0 V10	G
16	Pedro Diniz	Danka Zepter Arrows	Arrows	A19	Arrows	T2-F1 3.0 V10	B
17	Mika Salo	Danka Zepter Arrows	Arrows	A19	Arrows	T2-F1 3.0 V10	B
18	Rubens Barrichello	HSBC Stewart Ford	Stewart	SF02	Ford Cosworth	VJ Zetec-R 3.0 V10	B
19	Jan Magnussen	HSBC Stewart Ford	Stewart	SF02	Ford Cosworth	VJ Zetec-R 3.0 V10	B
20	Ricardo Rosset	PIAA Tyrrell	Tyrrell	026	Ford Cosworth	JD Zetec-R 3.0 V10	G
21	Tora Takagi	PIAA Tyrrell	Tyrrell	026	Ford Cosworth	JD Zetec-R 3.0 V10	G
22	Shinji Nakano	Fondmetal Minardi Team	Minardi	M198	Ford Cosworth	JD Zetec-R 3.0 V10	B
23	Esteban Tuero	Fondmetal Minardi Team	Minardi	M198	Ford Cosworth	JD Zetec-R 3.0 V10	B
Source:

Practice Overview

FP1

The first practice session at San Marino saw what appeared to be a return to the pre-Argentina form for the McLaren team,  Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard dominated the timesheets, with Häkkinen's best time of 1:27.617 a full second faster than Michael Schumacher in third place for the Ferrari team. Schumacher notably ran the notorious "x-wing" configuration whilst teammmate Eddie Irvine who was seventh fastest did not. 

Williams had a reasonable session, the reigning champion Jacques Villeneuve felt happy with the Williams car-set up and feeling "okay compared to the other Goodyear runners". Teammate Heinz-Harald Frentzen could only manage the tenth fastest time after an oil leak forced him to stop out on track during the morning session. 

After a less than competitive start to the season, Jordan would bring some major updates to their car for the San Marino GP, major changes included a longer wheelbase, revised brake ducts, rear wing endplates, revised air box and air box intakes. Despite a hydraulic problem for Ralf Schumacher in the morning session, the younger Schumacher managed to post the fifth fastest time of the session. Teammate Damon Hill was ninth but commented he was "much happier with the feel of the car" indicating progress by the Jordan team. 

Despite a major road accident two days before hand Giancarlo Fisichella commented that his Benetton was "almost perfect" en route to the sixth fastest time. The Sauber's suffered a disappointing session Jean Alesi said he suffered from heavy traffic throughout the session whilst Johnny Herbert saw numerous set-up changes to his car running with and without the "x-wing configuration". Stewart suffered another disappointing session Rubens Barrichello complained that he suffered from both oversteer and understeer in his car, only managing eighteenth whilst teammate Jan Magnussen was an even lower twenty first.

FP2

The Saturday morning practice session saw McLaren once again leading the timesheets with David Coulthard ahead of Mika Häkkinen. Coulthard was a full two seconds faster than Schumacher in third place, reasserting McLaren's dominance. Jordan continued to demonstrate an improvement in their fortunes with Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher fourth and fifth. 

Williams struggled with Heinz-Harald Frentzen only seventh with Jacques Villeneuve in tenth. 

Practice Results

The full practice results for the 1998 San Marino Grand Prix are outlined below:

No.	Driver	Constructor	FP1		FP2		Warm-Up
			Time	Pos.	Time	Pos.	Time	Pos.
1	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Mecachrome	1:28.644	4	1:27.876	10	1:30.330	9
2	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Mecachrome	1:29.470	10	1:27.694	7	1:30.492	12
3	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:28.088	3	1:27.056	3	1:29.434	3
4	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	1:29.028	7	1:27.751	8	1:29.996	6
5	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Renault	1:28.963	6	1:27.653	6	1:29.891	5
6	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Renault	1:29.864	13	1:27.959	12	1:30.216	7
7	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:27.940	2	1:25.627	1	1:28.085	1
8	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:27.617	1	1:26.431	2	1:29.525	4
9	Damon Hill	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	1:29.246	9	1:27.318	4	1:30.275	8
10	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	1:28.891	5	1:27.421	5	1:31.321	17
11	Olivier Panis	Prost-Peugeot	1:29.175	8	1:27.854	9	1:30.423	10
12	Jarno Trulli	Prost-Peugeot	1:30.804	17	1:43.882	22	1:30.628	13
14	Jean Alesi	Sauber-Petronas	1:29.516	11	1:27.931	11	1:30.449	11
15	Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Petronas	1:30.223	15	1:28.291	14	1:30.662	14
16	Pedro Diniz	Arrows	1:30.795	16	1:29.954	17	1:32.345	20
17	Mika Salo	Arrows	1:29.828	12	1:28.130	13	1:29.428	2
18	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford Cosworth	1:30.849	18	1:28.712	15	1:32.092	19
19	Jan Magnussen	Stewart-Ford Cosworth	1:32.196	21	1:30.243	18	1:33.956	22
20	Ricardo Rosset	Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth	1:32.554	22	1:32.459	21	1:33.303	21
21	Tora Takagi	Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth	1:30.190	14	1:29.628	16	1:30.991	16
22	Shinji Nakano	Minardi-Ford Cosworth	1:32.052	20	1:30.349	19	1:30.948	15
23	Esteban Tuero	Minardi-Ford Cosworth	1:31.954	19	1:31.182	20	1:32.087	18
Source:

Qualifying

Esteban Tuero in the Minardi was the first car to set a lap-time setting a slow time of 1:31.297 twelve mintues into the session before quickly being beaten by Jarno Trulli's Prost with a 1:30.268. Shortly after exiting the pits Ricardo Rosset's Tyrrell suffered a major engine failure grinding to a halt shortly after leaving the pits. Following from this Mika Salo in the Arrows was forced to abandon his flying lap due to developing a gearbox problem. 

Jacques Villeneuve was the first of the front runners to a set a time with a 1:27.767, Damon Hill and Eddie Irvine setting times after him that were slightly slower. Alexander Wurz in the Benetton then went faster than all three of them with a 1:27.611. By this time David Coulthard in the McLaren had come around to complete his lap setting a blistering 1:26.342 for his laptime. 

Michael Schumacher came close but only managed a 1:26.787 at the end of his first run. Ralf Schumacher then ran quicker than his teammate Hill before Heinz-Harald Frentzen went faster than them both. Mika Häkkinen was now coming round to complete his first run, his time looked on course to easily beat teammate Coulthard's pole time however on the final corner Häkkinen was forced to back off after encontering the stricken Benetton of Giancarlo Fisichella who had spun on his first flying lap. Häkkinen was only a tenth slower than teammate Coulthard. 

Neither Williams car's of Villeneuve or Frentzen were able to better their times for their second run's, both driver's coming close to losing control of their cars during their flying laps. Michael Schumacher then abandoned his second flying lap after failing to get a strong enough momentum to challenge the McLarens. Häkkinen then came round to take provisional pole setting a blistering 1:26.075. Coulthard who was following his teammate around could not beat his first time on his second run and remained second behind Häkkinen. 

The Minardi of Shinji Nakano who was eighteenth fastest then stopped out on track with a mechanical problem. Damon Hill then improved his time to go fifth in the standings where he was then followed by Eddie Irvine who took fourth position. As this occured David Coulthard was out for his third flying lap where he went on to just beat his teammate's pole time with a 1:25.973. In the dying minutes of the session Häkkinen tried to reclaim pole position however going into the final corner he ran too far wide and onto the grass ruining his final attempt to gain pole position. Wurz went on to qualify a competitive fifth position whilst Villeneuve improved to go sixth

Damon Hill was robbed of the opportunity to improve his time on his final flying lap when his engine blew, however the weekend had demonstrated an improvement in pace for Jordan as well as Hill outqualifying teammate Ralf Schumacher who qualifed ninth for the first time in the season. 

Qualifying Results

The full qualifying results for the 1998 San Marino Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap	Ave. Speed
1	7	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:25.973	—	206.437 km/h
2	8	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:26.075	+0.102s	206.192 km/h
3	3	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:26.437	+0.464s	205.329 km/h
4	4	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	1:27.169	+1.196s	203.604 km/h
5	6	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Renault	1:27.273	+1.300s	203.362 km/h
6	1	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Mecachrome	1:27.390	+1.417s	203.090 km/h
7	9	Damon Hill	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	1:27.592	+1.619s	202.621 km/h
8	2	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Mecachrome	1:27.645	+1.672s	202.499 km/h
9	10	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	1:27.866	+1.893s	201.989 km/h
10	5	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Renault	1:27.937	+1.964s	201.826 km/h
11	15	Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Petronas	1:28.111	+2.138s	201.428 km/h
12	14	Jean Alesi	Sauber-Petronas	1:28.191	+2.218s	201.245 km/h
13	11	Olivier Panis	Prost-Peugeot	1:28.270	+2.297s	201.065 km/h
14	17	Mika Salo	Arrows	1:28.798	+2.825s	199.869 km/h
15	21	Tora Takagi	Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth	1:29.073	+3.100s	199.252 km/h
16	12	Jarno Trulli	Prost-Peugeot	1:29.584	+3.611s	198.116 km/h
17	18	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford Cosworth	1:29.641	+3.668s	197.990 km/h
18	16	Pedro Diniz	Arrows	1:29.932	+3.959s	197.349 km/h
19	23	Esteban Tuero	Minardi-Ford Cosworth	1:30.649	+4.676s	195.788 km/h
20	19	Jan Magnussen	Stewart-Ford Cosworth	1:31.017	+5.044s	194.997 km/h
21	22	Shinji Nakano	Minardi-Ford Cosworth	1:31.255	+5.282s	194.488 km/h
22	20	Ricardo Rosset	Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth	1:31.482	+5.509s	194.005 km/h
107% Time: 1:31.991
Source:

• Bold indicates their best/qualifying time.

Grid

The full grid for the 1998 San Marino Grand Prix is shown below:

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
	______________
Row 1	1	______________
	David Coulthard	2
	______________	Mika Häkkinen
Row 2	3	______________
	Michael Schumacher	4
	______________	Eddie Irvine
Row 3	5	______________
	Alexander Wurz	6
	______________	Jacques Villeneuve
Row 4	7	______________
	Damon Hill	8
	______________	Heinz-Harald Frentzen
Row 5	9	______________
	Ralf Schumacher	10
	______________	Giancarlo Fisichella
Row 6	11	______________
	Johnny Herbert	12
	______________	Jean Alesi
Row 7	13	______________
	Olivier Panis	14
	______________	Mika Salo
Row 8	15	______________
	Tora Takagi	16
	______________	Jarno Trulli
Row 9	17	______________
	Rubens Barrichello	18
	______________	Pedro Diniz
Row 10	19	______________
	Esteban Tuero	20
	______________	Jan Magnussen
Row 11	21	______________
	Shinji Nakano	22
	______________	Ricardo Rosset

Race

Report

The start saw the two McLaren cars of David Coulthard and Mika Häkkinen maintain their lead whilst the two Ferrari cars of Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine made slow getaways. Schumacher was weaving violently to maintain third at the start whilst Irvine lost a position to the Williams of Jacques Villeneuve. There was carnage in the midfield, Alexander Wurz suffered gear selection issues at the start and going into the second corner Damon Hill collided with the back of the Benetton losing his front wing forcing him into the pits and dropping him down to nineteenth. At the back there was also issues for Stewart, Jan Magnussen got his braking point all wrong and collided with the back of teammate Rubens Barrichello sending the latter out of the race.

Wurz's gearbox issues caused him to drop to last place by the end of the first lap yet he continued to push on despite now being a lap behind the leaders . Entering the second lap the top three of Coulthard, Häkkinen and Schumacher began to pull away from the rest of the field. By the fifth lap the two McLaren cars had begun to pull away from Schumacher's Ferrari. 

On lap 8 Jan Magnussen pulled out of the race with transmission failure, whilst this occured Giancarlo Fisichella had began applying heavy pressure to the rear of Heinz-Harald Frentzen for sixth place. Johnny Herbert in the Sauber then suffered a major puncture on lap 12 after going wide at the chicane forcing him to retire from the race. By lap 17 Fisichella remained stuck behind the Williams of Frentzen and out of frustration the Italian spun off the circuit and into the barriers at turn 10 ending his race. Worse was to follow for Benetton when teammate Wurz retired on the same lap albeit a lap down from the leaders with an engine failure.

Most significantly on lap 17 saw Häkkinen drastically slow losing position to Michael Schumacher due to a terminal gearbox issue. Häkkinen then pulled into the pits to retire, the championship leader suffering his first retirement of the season. This left Coulthard unchallenged at the front with a sixteen second advantage over Schumacher. 

By lap 18 Eddie Irvine had began to reapply pressure to the back of the Williams of Jacques Villeneuve for third who had taken the position from him at the start of the race. The same lap saw Pedro Diniz retire, his Arrows suffering yet another engine failure. 

At the front Coulthard held dominance over the field, despite nearly hitting the back of Jarno Trulli's Prost whilst attempting to lap him, Coulthard experienced no problems. On lap 23 he became the first of the front runners to enter the pits. He retained his lead of the race. The same lap saw Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve enter the pits. The following lap saw Irvine enter the pits, free from Villeneuve's dirty air Irvine's in-lap was quick enough to mean that he exited ahead of the Williams driver and moved up into third position. 

Lap 24 also Frentzen pit from fifth position, losing only a single place to that of Jean Alesi's Sauber. Alesi running a strong race after starting from twelfth on the grid.  Lap 27 saw Shinji Nakano suffer a large engine failure from fifteenth position. 

After losing fifth in the pit-stops Frentzen had began to catch up to the Sauber of Alesi ahead of him, seeking to reclaim the ground he had lost. On lap 34 Jarno Trulli's throttle stuck open forcing him to go wide into the gravel trap at turn 14, luckily avoiding the barriers. This however was unable to prevent the Prost driver from retiring from the race.

On lap 40 Alesi came in for his second pitstop, the following lap saw Frentzen go into the pits, the quicker Williams driver was able to exit ahead of Alesi following his pitstop. The same lap saw Toranosuke Takagi retire with engine failure.

On lap 42, Coulthard entered the pits for his second stop the McLaren driver had a 26 second lead over Schumacher in second. The following lap saw Schumacher enter the pits from second, himself having a 21 second lead over teammate Irvine. 

One lap later the duelling pair of Irvine and Villeneuve pitted. Villeneuve suffered a slow pitstop allowing Irvine to increase his gap over the Williams driver. 

As the race entered its final stages Michael Schumacher began to reduce David Coulthard's gap in the lead. Coulthard who had such a sizeable advantage had began to cruise, the Scotsman had developed a suspected brake issue and entered into a conservative pace allowing the Ferrari to gradually gain on the McLaren. On lap 48 Schumacher set the fastest lap time of 1:29.345. The same lap saw Ricardo Rosset retire with an engine failure. 

On lap 56, Olivier Panis retired from eighth place with engine failure. The following lap saw Damon Hill retire with hydraulics failure, a disappointing result for the Briton who had clawed his way from the back of the field and had begun to challenge teammate Ralf Schumacher for seventh. Ralf Schumacher himself had begun to pile on the pressure to Jean Alesi's Sauber at the end of the race for the final championship point in sixth position, the young German however was unable to find a way past before the end of the race. 

At race end Coulthard claimed the race victory in his McLaren, however Schumacher had closed the gap to within 4.5 seconds at the end of the race. Nearly 47 seconds adrift of Schumacher came Irvine in the second Ferrari to take third, allowing for a Ferrari 2-3 on Tifosi home turf. Villeneuve who had hounded Irvine all the way came fourth with Frentzen and Alesi rounding up the final points placings. 

Results

The full results for the 1998 San Marino Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	7	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	62	1:34:24.593	1	10
2	3	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	62	+4.554s	3	6
3	4	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	62	+51.775s	4	4
4	1	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Mecachrome	62	+54.590s	6	3
5	2	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Mecachrome	62	+1:17.476	8	2
6	14	Jean Alesi	Sauber-Petronas	61	+1 lap	12	1
7	10	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	60	+2 laps	9
8	23	Esteban Tuero	Minardi-Ford Cosworth	60	+2 laps	19
9	17	Mika Salo	Arrows	60	+2 laps	14
10*	9	Damon Hill	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	57	Valve	7
11*	11	Olivier Panis	Prost-Peugeot	56	Engine	13
Ret	20	Ricardo Rosset	Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth	48	Engine	22
Ret	21	Tora Takagi	Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth	40	Engine	15
Ret	12	Jarno Trulli	Prost-Peugeot	34	Throttle	16
Ret	22	Shinji Nakano	Minardi-Ford Cosworth	27	Engine	21
Ret	16	Pedro Diniz	Arrows	18	Engine	18
Ret	8	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	17	Gearbox	2
Ret	5	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Renault	17	Accident	10
Ret	6	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Renault	17	Engine	5
Ret	15	Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Petronas	12	Puncture	11
Ret	19	Jan Magnussen	Stewart-Ford Cosworth	8	Gearbox	20
Ret	18	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford Cosworth	0	Accident	17
Source:

• * Hill and Panis were still classified despite retiring as they had completed 90% of the race distance.

Standings

World Championship for Drivers Pos. Driver Pts. 1 Mika Häkkinen 26 2 David Coulthard 23 3 Michael Schumacher 20 4 Eddie Irvine 11 5 Heinz-Harald Frentzen 8 6 Alexander Wurz 6 7 Jacques Villeneuve 5 8 Jean Alesi 3 9 Johnny Herbert 1 = Giancarlo Fisichella 1

International Cup for Manufacturers Pos. Team Pts. 1 McLaren-Mercedes 49 2 Ferrari 31 3 Williams-Mecachrome 13 4 Benetton-Playlife 7 5 Sauber-Petronas 4

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.

References

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