1999 Formula One Season

1999 FIA Formula One World Championship
Previous	1998
Next	2000
1999 World Champion, Mika Häkkinen
Season Information
Number of races	16
Season opener	Australian Grand Prix
Season finale	Japanese Grand Prix
Tyre suppliers	B
Drivers' World Championship
Champion	Mika Häkkinen 76 points
Runner-Up	Eddie Irvine 74 points
3rd	Heinz-Harald Frentzen 54 points
Constructors' World Championship
Champion	Ferrari 128 points
Runner-Up	McLaren-Mercedes 124 points
3rd	Jordan-Mugen-Honda 61 points

The 1999 Formula One Season was the 50th World Championship Season. It started in Melbourne, Australia on March 7th and ended in Suzuka, Japan on October 31th, after sixteen races. The champion was Mika Häkkinen, and the runner-up was Eddie Irvine. This was the first season of the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang International Circuit.

Season report

Mika Häkkinen, who became the second Finn to win a World Championship last year, originally retained his World Championship in Malaysia after both Ferraris were disqualified. After the drivers were reinstated on appeal, Irvine retook the lead going into the final race. But Häkkinen won the race, which gave him the title by two points from Irvine, as he'd have won the title regardless of Irvine's position.

Michael Schumacher missed six races in 1999 after an accident where he smashed into the tyre wall at the British Grand Prix and broke his leg. This meant he had to sit out of both his home races.

Mika Salo, who had replaced Ricardo Zonta for three races at the start of the season, took the German's place, with a best finish of second at Hockenheim, and repeated his podium with third in Italy. Schumacher returned at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Stewart took their first and only win at the European Grand Prix, courtesy of Johnny Herbert.

1999 saw the debuts of Spaniards Marc Gené and Pedro de la Rosa, both of whom would score points in their first season. French future WRC driver Stéphane Sarrazin would also make his only F1 appearance at the Brazilian Grand Prix substituting for Luca Badoer at Minardi. This was the final season for 1996 World Champion Damon Hill, who retired from the sport at the end of the year.

Teams and Drivers

Outlined below is the full list of teams and drivers for the 1999 FIA Formula One World Championship:

Constructor	Chassis	Tyre	No.	Driver	Rounds	Test/Reserve Drivers
Team	Engine
McLaren-Mercedes	MP4/14	B	1	Mika Häkkinen	All	Mário Haberfeld Nick Heidfeld Andrew Kirkaldy
West McLaren Mercedes	Mercedes FO110H 3.0 V10		2	David Coulthard	All
Ferrari	F399	B	3	Michael Schumacher	1–8, 15–16	Luca Badoer Max Biaggi
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari 048 3.0 V10		3	Mika Salo	9–14
			4	Eddie Irvine	All
Williams-Supertec	FW21	B	5	Alex Zanardi	All	Bruno Junqueria Darren Manning Jörg Müller Antônio Pizzonia
Winfield Williams	Supertec FB01 3.0 V10		6	Ralf Schumacher	All
Jordan-Mugen-Honda	199	B	7	Damon Hill	All	Martin Brundle Tomáš Enge David Kennedy Shinji Nakano Jos Verstappen
Benson & Hedges Jordan	Mugen-Honda MF-301 HD 3.0 V10		8	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	All
Benetton-Playlife	B199	B	9	Giancarlo Fisichella	All	Laurent Rédon
Mild Seven Benetton Playlife	Playlife FB01 3.0 V10		10	Alexander Wurz	All
Sauber-Petronas	C18	B	11	Jean Alesi	All	Enrique Bernoldi Jörg Müller
Red Bull Sauber Petronas	Petronas SPE-03A 3.0 V10		12	Pedro Diniz	All
Arrows	A20	B	14	Pedro de la Rosa	All	Tom Coronel Mika Salo Mark Webber
Repsol Arrows F1 Team	Arrows T2-F1 3.0 V10		15	Tora Takagi	All
Stewart-Ford Cosworth	SF3	B	16	Rubens Barrichello	All	Luciano Burti
HSBC Stewart Ford	Ford Cosworth CR-1 3.0 V10		17	Johnny Herbert	All
Prost-Peugeot	AP02	B	18	Olivier Panis	All	Stéphane Sarrazin
Gauloises Prost Peugeot	Peugeot A18 3.0 V10		19	Jarno Trulli	All
Minardi-Ford Cosworth	M01	B	20	Luca Badoer	1, 3–16	Fernando Alonso Norberto Fontana Gastón Mazzacane Peter Sundberg
Fondmetal Minardi Team	Ford Cosworth VJM Zetec-R 3.0 V10		20	Stéphane Sarrazin	2
			21	Marc Gené	All
BAR-Supertec	01	B	22	Jacques Villeneuve	All	Jean-Christophe Boullion Patrick Lemarié Nicolas Minassian
British American Racing	Supertec FB01 3.0 V10		23	Ricardo Zonta	1–2, 6–16
			23	Mika Salo	3–5

Driver Changes

Exiting Formula One from 1998

• After failing to retain his Minardi drive into 1999, Shinji Nakano was forced off the Formula One grid in 1999 being unable to find a drive. Nakano remained in Formula One in 1999 as a test driver for Jordan throughout the season.
• After a dismal performance for the Tyrrell team in 1998, Ricardo Rosset was ousted from the team as soon as his contract expired by new owners BAR. Rosset negotiated with the Minardi team for a race seat in 1999. Upon failing to get the drive, Rosset retired from motor racing all together.
• 1998 Arrows driver, Mika Salo was not retained heading into the 1999 season, Salo instead wishing to take a year off to assess his options for the 2000 season. Salo would get the opportunity to return to F1 in 1999 when he substituted for Ricardo Zonta and Michael Schumacher at BAR and Ferrari respectively. 
• After a reasonably impressive first season in 1998, Minardi signed young Esteban Tuero to the team until the end of the 2000 season. This would later be reversed in January 1999 when Tuero announced his retirement from Formula One at the young age of 20 for unknown reasons. Tuero returned to his native Argentina to compete in touring cars.
• After failing to impress Stewart to retain him for 1999, Jos Verstappen appeared out of work in F1 once again. He found solace as a test driver in the Honda F1 project, however this was short lived following the programme's termination in February 1999 following the death of its director Harvey Postlethwaite. Verstappen then found work as a Jordan test driver for the remainder of the season. 

Debutants for 1999

• After a season working as the Jordan test driver, Spanish driver Pedro de la Rosa made his debut in 1999 for the Arrows team. De la Rosa had impressed following a succesful evaluation test in pre-season testing.
• Following succesful tests in December 1998, Marc Gené was signed for Minardi following the departure of Esteban Tuero. Gené had won the Open Fortuna by Nissan championship in 1998.
• Whilst signed on for the season as the Prost test driver, Stéphane Sarrazin made his debut in Brazil for Minardi, substituting for the injured Luca Badoer. This was the only race Sarrazin competed in during his Formula One career.
• After two years as test driver for Jordan and McLaren, Ricardo Zonta made his Formula One debut in 1999, joining the newly formed BAR team. 

Returning to Formula One

• Italian driver, Luca Badoer made his return to Formula One racing in 1999, after serving two year's as test driver for Minardi and Ferrari. Whilst remaining the Ferrari test driver, Badoer rejoined his old team at Minardi on loan by Ferrari to compete as race driver in the 1999 season.
• Alessandro Zanardi would make his return to Formula One for the first time since 1994. Since Zanardi's first stint in Formula One, he had competed in the USA in the CART series taking the 1997 and 1998 CART championships. Now considered a world class driver Zanardi was expected to be the lead driver in the renowned Williams F1 team for 1999.

Moved seats for 1999

• Brazilian driver Pedro Diniz joined the Sauber team for 1999, his sponsership and strong results in the Arrows during 1998 were enough for Sauber to take Diniz for the new season.
• After being dropped by Williams in 1998, Heinz-Harald Frentzen had considered joining the IndyCar Series for the 1999 but opted to remain in F1 by joining the Jordan team, his old team from his Formula 3000 days back in 1990.
• After being dropped by Sauber in 1998, Johnny Herbert signed a two year deal with the Stewart team starting in the 1999 season. 
• Ralf Schumacher had made the switch to the Williams team after two years with Jordan. 
• With the Tyrrell team being relaunched as BAR in 1999, Toranosuke Takagi found himself without a drive in the team, however his strong performances in 1999 assisted in him gaining a drive at the Arrows for the new season in 1999.
• The 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve opted to leave the Williams team for 1999 after disappointing results by the team in 1998. Villeneuve opted to join the new BAR team, working alongside his old manager, now team principal Craig Pollock, with the aim to turn the fledgling team into race winning material by the end of the season. 

Mid-Season Changes

• When Luca Badoer fractured his hand in a testing accident ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix, he was replaced for the grand prix by Prost test driver Stéphane Sarrazin in the Minardi team, Sarrazin subsequently making his Formula One debut in Brazil. 
• After injuring his foot during qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix, Ricardo Zonta, was forced to sit out the next three races in order for it to heal. Zonta was replaced by out of work driver Mika Salo in the team until Zonta was well enough to return.
• When Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher broke his leg in the British Grand Prix, he was subsequently replaced by Mika Salo for the next six rounds in the championship until Schumacher was well enough to return at the Malaysian Grand Prix. 

Calendar

Calendar Changes:

The first Malaysian Grand Prix was held at the Sepang International Circuit, designed by Hermann Tilke. The race was eventually won by Ferraris Eddie Irvine, after his teammate, Michael Schumacher waved him through for the sake of the championship.

Results

Standings and Statistics

Points system: 10, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 from first to sixth.

Drivers

Outlined below are the full standings for the 1999 FIA Formula One World Championship for Drivers:

World Championship for Drivers
Pos.	Driver	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Points
1st	Häkkinen	RetP	1stP	RetP	3rdP	1stP	1st	2nd	RetP	3rdP	RetP	1stP	2ndP	RetP	5th	3rd	1st	76
2nd	Irvine	1st	5th	Ret	2nd	4th	3rd	6th	2nd	1st	1st	3rd	4th	6th	7th	1st	3rd	74
3rd	Frentzen	2nd	3rd†	Ret	4th	Ret	11th†	1st	4th	4th	3rd	4th	3rd	1st	RetP	6th	4th	54
4th	Coulthard	Ret	Ret	2nd	Ret	2nd	7th	Ret	1st	2nd	5th	2nd	1st	5th	Ret	Ret	Ret	48
5th	M. Schumacher	8th	2nd	1st	1st	3rd	RetP	5th	DNS	INJ	INJ	INJ	INJ	INJ	INJ	2ndP	2ndP	44
6th	R. Schumacher	3rd	4th	Ret	Ret	5th	4th	4th	3rd	Ret	4th	9th	5th	2nd	4th	Ret	5th	35
7th	Barrichello	5th	Ret	3rd	9th†	DSQ	Ret	3rdP	8th	Ret	Ret	5th	10th	4th	3rd	5th	8th	21
8th	Herbert	DNS	Ret	10th†	Ret	Ret	5th	Ret	12th	14th	11th†	11th	Ret	Ret	1st	4th	7th	15
9th	Fisichella	4th	Ret	5th	5th	9th	2nd	Ret	7th	12th†	Ret	Ret	11th	Ret	Ret	11th	14th†	13
10th	Salo			7th†	Ret	8th				9th	2nd	12th	7th	3rd	Ret			10
11th	Trulli	Ret	Ret	Ret	7th	6th	Ret	7th	9th	7th	Ret	8th	12th	Ret	2nd	DNS	Ret	7
=	Hill	Ret	Ret	4th	Ret	7th	Ret	Ret	5th	8th	Ret	6th	6th	10th	Ret	Ret	Ret	7
13th	Wurz	Ret	7th	Ret	6th	10th	Ret	Ret	10th	5th	7th	7th	14th	Ret	Ret	8th	10th	3
=	Diniz	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	6th	Ret	6th	6th	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	11th	3
15th	Alesi	Ret	Ret	6th	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	14th†	Ret	8th	16th†	9th	9th	Ret	7th	6th	2
=	Panis	Ret	6th	Ret	Ret	Ret	9th	8th	13th	10th	6th	10th	13th	11th†	9th	Ret	Ret	2
17th	Gené	Ret	9th	9th	Ret	Ret	8th	Ret	15th	11th	9th	17th	16th	Ret	6th	9th	Ret	1
=	de la Rosa	6th	Ret	Ret	Ret	11th	Ret	11th	Ret	Ret	Ret	15th	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	13th	1
—	Zanardi	Ret	Ret	11th†	8th	Ret	Ret	Ret	11th	Ret	Ret	Ret	8th	7th	Ret	10th	Ret	0
—	Takagi	7th	8th	Ret	Ret	12th	Ret	DSQ	16th	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	0
—	Villeneuve	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	15th	8th	10th†	Ret	9th	0
—	Zonta	Ret	DNP	INJ	INJ	INJ	Ret	9th	Ret	15th†	Ret	13th	Ret	Ret	8th	Ret	12th	0
—	Badoer	Ret	INJ	8th	Ret	Ret	10th	10th	Ret	13th	10th	14th	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	0
—	Sarrazin		Ret															0
Pos.	Driver																	Points
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16

• ^P Indicates a driver who qualified pole position.
• Italic donates as the fastest lap.
• ^† Indicates a driver who was still classified despite retiring as he had completed 90% of the race distance.

Constructors

Outlined below are the full standings for the 1999 FIA Formula One World Championship for Constructors:

World Championship for Constructors
Pos.	Driver	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Points
1st	Ferrari	3	8th	2nd	1st	1st	3rd	RetP	5th	DNS	9th	2nd	12th	7th	3rd	Ret	2ndP	2ndP	128
		4	1st	5th	Ret	2nd	4th	3rd	6th	2nd	1st	1st	3rd	4th	6th	7th	1st	3rd
2nd	McLaren-Mercedes	1	RetP	1stP	RetP	3rdP	1stP	1st	2nd	RetP	3rdP	RetP	1stP	2ndP	RetP	5th	3rd	1st	124
		2	Ret	Ret	2nd	Ret	2nd	7th	Ret	1st	2nd	5th	2nd	1st	5th	Ret	Ret	Ret
3rd	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	7	Ret	Ret	4th	Ret	7th	Ret	Ret	5th	8th	Ret	6th	6th	10th	Ret	Ret	Ret	61
		8	2nd	3rd†	Ret	4th	Ret	11th†	1st	4th	4th	3rd	4th	3rd	1st	RetP	6th	4th
4th	Stewart-Ford Cosworth	16	5th	Ret	3rd	9th†	DSQ	Ret	3rdP	8th	Ret	Ret	5th	10th	4th	3rd	5th	8th	36
		17	DNS	Ret	10th†	Ret	Ret	5th	Ret	12th	14th	11th†	11th	Ret	Ret	1st	4th	7th
5th	Williams-Supertec	5	Ret	Ret	11th†	8th	Ret	Ret	Ret	11th	Ret	Ret	Ret	8th	7th	Ret	10th	Ret	35
		6	3rd	4th	Ret	Ret	5th	4th	4th	3rd	Ret	4th	9th	5th	2nd	4th	Ret	5th
6th	Benetton-Playlife	9	4th	Ret	5th	5th	9th	2nd	Ret	7th	12th†	Ret	Ret	11th	Ret	Ret	11th	14th†	16
		10	Ret	7th	Ret	6th	10th	Ret	Ret	10th	5th	7th	7th	14th	Ret	Ret	8th	10th
7th	Prost-Peugeot	18	Ret	6th	Ret	Ret	Ret	9th	8th	13th	10th	6th	10th	13th	11th†	9th	Ret	Ret	9
		19	Ret	Ret	Ret	7th	6th	Ret	7th	9th	7th	Ret	8th	12th	Ret	2nd	DNS	Ret
8th	Sauber-Petronas	11	Ret	Ret	6th	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	14th†	Ret	8th	16th†	9th	9th	Ret	7th	6th	5
		12	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	6th	Ret	6th	6th	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	11th
9th	Arrows	14	6th	Ret	Ret	Ret	11th	Ret	11th	Ret	Ret	Ret	15th	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	13th	1
		15	7th	8th	Ret	Ret	12th	Ret	DSQ	16th	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret
=	Minardi-Ford Cosworth	20	Ret	Ret	8th	Ret	Ret	10th	10th	Ret	13th	10th	14th	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	1
		21	Ret	9th	9th	Ret	Ret	8th	Ret	15th	11th	9th	17th	16th	Ret	6th	9th	Ret
—	BAR-Supertec	22	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	15th	8th	10th†	Ret	9th	0
		23	Ret	DNP	7th†	Ret	8th	Ret	9th	Ret	15th†	Ret	13th	Ret	Ret	8th	Ret	12th
Pos.	Driver	No.																	Points
			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16

• ^P Indicates a driver who qualified pole position.
• Italic donates as the fastest lap.
• ^† Indicates a driver who was still classified despite retiring as he had completed 90% of the race distance.

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