1998 Luxembourg Grand Prix

The 1998 Luxembourg Grand Prix (formally the Grosser Warsteiner Preis von Luxemburg 1998)[2] was a Formula One motor race held at the Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany on 27 September 1998. It was the fifteenth and penultimate race of the 1998 FIA Formula One World Championship. The 67-lap race was won by Mika Häkkinen driving for the McLaren team. Michael Schumacher finished second driving a Ferrari car, with David Coulthard third in the other McLaren.

1998 Luxembourg Grand Prix
Race 15 of 16 in the 1998 Formula One World Championship
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The Nürburgring in its 1998 configuration
The Nürburgring in its 1998 configuration
Race details
Date 27 September 1998
Official name Grosser Warsteiner Preis von Luxemburg 1998
Location Nürburg, Germany
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.556 km (2.831 miles)
Distance 67 laps, 305.235[1] km (189.664 miles)
Weather Cloudy, cold, dry
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:18.561
Fastest lap
Driver Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes
Time 1:20.450 on lap 25
Podium
First McLaren-Mercedes
Second Ferrari
Third McLaren-Mercedes
Lap leaders

Report

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With two races remaining of the season, McLaren's Mika Häkkinen and Ferrari's Michael Schumacher were battling for the drivers title; they were level on 80 points with Häkkinen ahead on countback. However the momentum was with Schumacher who had won the previous race at Monza, whereas Häkkinen had not won a race since the German Grand Prix four races earlier.

Ferrari locked out the front row with Schumacher on pole ahead of Eddie Irvine. Häkkinen qualified third. At the start Irvine passed Schumacher to take the lead, however he allowed his team leader past at the end of the first lap and then proceeded to hold up Häkkinen. The Finn passed the Ulsterman at the Veedol Chicane on lap 14 and began to close on Schumacher. The German pitted on lap 24, while Häkkinen stayed out until lap 28, emerging from his stop ahead of Schumacher albeit by less than a second. Häkkinen resisted pressure from Schumacher during the second stint and narrowly held on to his lead during the second round of pit stops. In the final stint Häkkinen pulled away from Schumacher, extending his lead to five seconds before easing off in the closing laps to take victory by 2.2 seconds from Schumacher, with the other McLaren of David Coulthard completing the podium having leapfrogged Irvine during the first round of pitstops. The win gave Häkkinen a four-point lead in the championship heading into the final race in Suzuka, meaning he would only need second place there to clinch his first title.

Classification

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Qualifying

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Pos. No. Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 3   Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:18.561
2 4   Eddie Irvine Ferrari 1:18.907 +0.346
3 8   Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:18.940 +0.379
4 5   Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Playlife 1:19.048 +0.487
5 7   David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:19.169 +0.608
6 10   Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Mugen-Honda 1:19.455 +0.894
7 2   Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Mecachrome 1:19.522 +0.961
8 6   Alexander Wurz Benetton-Playlife 1:19.569 +1.008
9 1   Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Mecachrome 1:19.631 +1.070
10 9   Damon Hill Jordan-Mugen-Honda 1:19.807 +1.246
11 14   Jean Alesi Sauber-Petronas 1:20.493 +1.932
12 18   Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 1:20.530 +1.969
13 15   Johnny Herbert Sauber-Petronas 1:20.650 +2.089
14 12   Jarno Trulli Prost-Peugeot 1:20.709 +2.148
15 11   Olivier Panis Prost-Peugeot 1:21.048 +2.487
16 17   Mika Salo Arrows 1:21.120 +2.559
17 16   Pedro Diniz Arrows 1:21.258 +2.697
18 19   Jos Verstappen Stewart-Ford 1:21.501 +2.940
19 21   Toranosuke Takagi Tyrrell-Ford 1:21.525 +2.964
20 22   Shinji Nakano Minardi-Ford 1:22.078 +3.517
21 23   Esteban Tuero Minardi-Ford 1:22.146 +3.585
22 20   Ricardo Rosset Tyrrell-Ford 1:22.822 +4.261
107% time: 1:24.060
Source:[3]

Race

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Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 8   Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 67 1:32:14.789 3 10
2 3   Michael Schumacher Ferrari 67 +2.212 1 6
3 7   David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 67 +34.164 5 4
4 4   Eddie Irvine Ferrari 67 +58.183 2 3
5 2   Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Mecachrome 67 +1:00.248 7 2
6 5   Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Playlife 67 +1:01.360 4 1
7 6   Alexander Wurz Benetton-Playlife 67 +1:04.790 8  
8 1   Jacques Villeneuve Williams-Mecachrome 66 +1 lap 9  
9 9   Damon Hill Jordan-Mugen-Honda 66 +1 lap 10  
10 14   Jean Alesi Sauber-Petronas 66 +1 lap 11  
11 18   Rubens Barrichello Stewart-Ford 65 +2 laps 12  
12 11   Olivier Panis Prost-Peugeot 65 +2 laps 15  
13 19   Jos Verstappen Stewart-Ford 65 +2 laps 18  
14 17   Mika Salo Arrows 65 +2 laps 16  
15 22   Shinji Nakano Minardi-Ford 65 +2 laps 20  
16 21   Toranosuke Takagi Tyrrell-Ford 65 +2 laps 19  
NC 23   Esteban Tuero Minardi-Ford 56 +11 laps 21  
Ret 10   Ralf Schumacher Jordan-Mugen-Honda 53 Brakes 6  
Ret 15   Johnny Herbert Sauber-Petronas 37 Engine 13  
Ret 20   Ricardo Rosset Tyrrell-Ford 36 Engine 22  
Ret 12   Jarno Trulli Prost-Peugeot 6 Transmission 14  
Ret 16   Pedro Diniz Arrows 6 Hydraulics 17  
Source:[4]

Championship standings after the race

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  • Bold text indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

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  1. ^ Video on YouTube
  2. ^ "Luxembourg". Formula1.com. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  3. ^ F1, STATS. "Luxembourg 1998 - Qualifications • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 19 October 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ "1998 Luxembourg Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 5 December 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Luxembourg 1998 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.


Previous race:
1998 Italian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1998 season
Next race:
1998 Japanese Grand Prix
Previous race:
1997 Luxembourg Grand Prix
Luxembourg Grand Prix Next race:
None
Next race at the Nürburgring: 1999 European Grand Prix