On this day in 1999, Rubens Barrichello led his home race at Interlagos, but Ford V10 engine did not survive and race was won by Hakkinen who previously had problems with the gearbox.
After the first race of the season in Australia, where both McLaren retired from leading position due to a engine and hydraulics failures and Michael Schumacher finished eighth, silver cars were again leading the pack from the front row.
Hakkinen took the pole position (1:16.558), 0.147 seconds ahead of Coulthard, 0.737 seconds ahead of Barrichello in Stewart Ford and 1.010 seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher in Ferrari.
Coulthard stalled on the grid and couldn’t continue while Hakkinen took the lead ahead of Barrichello and Schumacher. Finn was two seconds ahead of Brazilian and almost four seconds ahead of Schumacher at the end of lap three, but then he had some gearbox issues which enabled Barrichello and Schumacher to overtake him easily.
Hakkinen soon resumed with his chase with four seconds behind the leading Barrichello who entered the pits in lap 27 when it became obvious he was on a two stop strategy.
Schumacher entered the pits in lap 38, while Barrichello retired in lap 42 from the third place due to an engine failure. Hakkinen pitted in the same lap and returned in front of Schumacher and then nursed his McLaren home to clinch his 10th victory in his F1 career.
Frentzen finished third in Jordan and latter became an unlikely tittle contender after Schumacher broke his leg in Silverstone and Hakkinen lost a lot of points due to mechanical failures and odd mistakes when leading in Imola and Monza.
1999 BRAZILIAN GP RESULTS
1 | 1 | Mika Häkkinen | McLaren/Mercedes | 72 | 1:36:03.785 | |
2 | 3 | M.Schumacher | Ferrari | 72 | 1:36:08.710 | 4.925 |
3 | 8 | H-H.Frentzen | Jordan/Mugen-Honda | 71 | 1:35:56.877 | 1 lap |
4 | 6 | Ralf Schumacher | Williams/Supertec | 71 | 1:36:22.860 | 1 lap |
5 | 4 | Eddie Irvine | Ferrari | 71 | 1:36:23.103 | 1 lap |
6 | 18 | Olivier Panis | Prost/Peugeot | 71 | 1:37:13.368 | 1 lap |
7 | 10 | Alexander Wurz | Benetton/Playlife | 70 | 1:36:12.021 | 2 laps |
8 | 15 | T.Takagi | Arrows | 69 | 1:36:10.072 | 3 laps |
9 | 21 | Marc Gené | Minardi/Ford | 69 | 1:37:02.116 | 3 laps |
(8) | 14 | Pedro de la Rosa | Arrows | 52 | 1:12:15.709 | Hydraulics |
(9) | 22 | J.Villeneuve | BAR/Supertec | 49 | 1:08:09.488 | Hydraulics |
(12) | 5 | A.Zanardi | Williams/Supertec | 43 | 1:01:32.436 | Gearbox |
(3) | 16 | R.Barrichello | Stewart/Ford | 42 | 56:45.095 | Engine |
(7) | 12 | Pedro Diniz | Sauber/Petronas | 42 | 57:37.329 | Collision |
(6) | 9 | G.Fisichella | Benetton/Playlife | 38 | 51:40.942 | Clutch |
(11) | 20 | S.Sarrazin | Minardi/Ford | 31 | 42:50.145 | Spun off |
(9) | 11 | Jean Alesi | Sauber/Petronas | 27 | 37:15.031 | Gearbox |
(18) | 2 | David Coulthard | McLaren/Mercedes | 22 | 34:20.981 | Gearbox |
(18) | 19 | Jarno Trulli | Prost/Peugeot | 21 | 30:20.768 | Gearbox |
(19) | 17 | Johnny Herbert | Stewart/Ford | 15 | 22:57.879 | Hydraulics |
(20) | 7 | Damon Hill | Jordan/Mugen-Honda | 10 | 14:17.096 | Collision |
Fastest lap: Mika Hakkinen: 1:18.488 (lap 70)
Leaders: 3 (Hakkinen 38 laps, Barrichello 23, Schumacher 11)
Top speed: Hakkinen (311.6 km/h)
Pitstops: 27
Overtakes: 26
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1 | Eddie Irvine | 12 |
2 | Mika Häkkinen | 10 |
3 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen | 10 |
4 | Ralf Schumacher | 7 |
CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
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