1998 Monaco GP – Hakkinen dominates from pole and wins his second Grand Chelem

Mika Hakkinen secured a convincing victory on the streets of Monte Carlo from the pole position on this day in 1998, leading in all laps of the race and driving the fastest lap, which was his second Grand Chelem in Formula 1 after 1998 Brazilian GP.

The new big change of rules for 1998 brought narrower cars and grooved tyres and McLaren switched to Bridgestone, which proved to be a better tyre in 1998. The McLaren – Mercedes alliance was already very strong in 1997 with three victories, with numerous retirements due to unreliability, and in 1998 it all fell into place and Hakkinen had been a serious candidate for the title from the beginning of the season.

After the first five races of the season, Hakkinen had seven points more than Coulthard and 12 points more than Schumacher while McLaren had 30 points more than Ferrari.

Hakkinen won a convincing pole position in Monaco (1:19.798), 0.339 seconds ahead of Coulthard and 0.570 seconds ahead of Fisichella in Benetton while Michael Schumacher started just fourth with 0.904 seconds behind.

The McLarens started well ahead of Fisichella and Schumacher and in the first 17 laps Hakkinen had 3.744 seconds ahead of Coulthard and 17.349 seconds ahead of Fisichella who kept Schumacher at bay.

But Coulthard retired with an engine failure in the next lap and the drivers behind him moved up one place. Schumacher pitted in lap 30, Fisichella one lap later, but he came back behind the German. But Schumacher came back behind Wurz who was not in the pits and tried to overtake him at all costs to lose as little time as possible.

This proved to be a bad decision because Michael failed to pass Wurz in the slow Loews after he damaged his car and had to pit, after which he returned with three laps behind Hakkinen.

Although Wurz did not seem to have suffered any damage, he damaged the suspension, causing a big crash on the tunnel exit and stopping in the lap 42.

Hakkinen celebrated with 11.475 seconds ahead of Fisichella and 41.378 seconds ahead of Irvine, with Salo in Arrows, Villeneuve in Williams and Diniz in Second Arrow also scored.

STARTING GRID

1	8	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren/Mercedes	1:19.798	–
2	7	David Coulthard	McLaren/Mercedes	1:20.137	0.339
3	5	G.Fisichella	Benetton/Playlife	1:20.368	0.570
4	3	M.Schumacher	Ferrari	1:20.702	0.904
5	2	H-H.Frentzen	Williams/Mecachrome	1:20.729	0.931
6	6	Alexander Wurz	Benetton/Playlife	1:20.955	1.157
7	4	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	1:21.712	1.914
8	17	Mika Salo	Arrows	1:22.144	2.346
9	15	Johnny Herbert	Sauber/Petronas	1:22.157	2.359
10	12	Jarno Trulli	Prost/Peugeot	1:22.238	2.440
11	14	Jean Alesi	Sauber/Petronas	1:22.257	2.459
12	16	Pedro Diniz	Arrows	1:22.355	2.557
13	1	J.Villeneuve	Williams/Mecachrome	1:22.468	2.670
14	18	R.Barrichello	Stewart/Ford	1:22.540	2.742
15	9	Damon Hill	Jordan/Mugen-Honda	1:23.151	3.353
16	10	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan/Mugen-Honda	1:23.263	3.465
17	19	Jan Magnussen	Stewart/Ford	1:23.411	3.613
18	11	Olivier Panis	Prost/Peugeot	1:23.536	3.738
19	22	Shinji Nakano	Minardi/Ford	1:23.957	4.159
20	21	T.Takagi	Tyrrell/Ford	1:24.024	4.226
21	23	Esteban Tuero	Minardi/Ford	1:24.031	4.233

RACE RESULTS

1	8	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren/Mercedes	78	1:51:23.595
2	5	G.Fisichella	Benetton/Playlife	78	1:51:35.070	11.475
3	4	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	78	1:52:04.973	41.378
4	17	Mika Salo	Arrows	78	1:52:23.958	1:00.363
5	1	J.Villeneuve	Williams/Mecachrome	77	1:51:58.811	1 lap
6	16	Pedro Diniz	Arrows	77	1:52:06.752	1 lap
7	15	Johnny Herbert	Sauber/Petronas	77	1:52:36.186	1 lap
8	9	Damon Hill	Jordan/Mugen-Honda	76	1:51:47.513	2 laps
9	22	Shinji Nakano	Minardi/Ford	76	1:51:48.485	2 laps
10	3	M.Schumacher	Ferrari	76	1:52:16.789	2 laps
11	21	T.Takagi	Tyrrell/Ford	76	1:52:31.704	2 laps
12	14	Jean Alesi	Sauber/Petronas	72	1:44:13.825	Gearbox

(10)	12	Jarno Trulli	Prost/Peugeot	56	1:22:53.228	Gearbox
(13)	11	Olivier Panis	Prost/Peugeot	49	1:12:51.172	Wheel
(11)	10	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan/Mugen-Honda	44	1:05:23.379	Suspension
(4)	6	Alexander Wurz	Benetton/Playlife	42	1:00:20.557	Spun off
(12)	19	Jan Magnussen	Stewart/Ford	30	44:05.573	Suspension
(2)	7	David Coulthard	McLaren/Mercedes	17	24:02.426	Engine
(12)	18	R.Barrichello	Stewart/Ford	11	16:26.312	Suspension
(6)	2	H-H.Frentzen	Williams/Mecachrome	9	13:12.462	Collision
	23	Esteban Tuero	Minardi/Ford	0	–	Spun off

Fastest lap: Mika Hakkinen – 1:22.948 (lap 29)

DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER 6/16 RACES

1	Mika Häkkinen	46	10	10	6	–	10	10
2	David Coulthard	29	6	6	1	10	6	–
3	Michael Schumacher	24	–	4	10	6	4	–
4	Eddie Irvine	15	3	–	4	4	–	4
5	Alexander Wurz	9	–	3	3	–	3	–
6	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	8	4	2	–	2	–	–
7	Jacques Villeneuve	8	2	–	–	3	1	2
8	Giancarlo Fisichella	7	–	1	–	–	–	6
9	Mika Salo	3	–	–	–	–	–	3
10	Jean Alesi	3	–	–	2	1	–	–
11	Rubens Barrichello	2	–	–	–	–	2	–
12	Johnny Herbert	1	1	–	–	–	–	–
13	Pedro Diniz	1	–	–	–	–	–	1

CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP

1	McLaren/Mercedes	75	16	16	7	10	16	10
2	Ferrari	39	3	4	14	10	4	4
3	Benetton/Playlife	16	–	4	3	–	3	6
4	Williams/Mecachrome	16	6	2	–	5	1	2
5	Arrows	4	–	–	–	–	–	4
6	Sauber/Petronas	4	1	–	2	1	–	–
7	Stewart/Ford	2	–	–	–	–	2	–