1999 Italian Grand Prix

It was the thirteenth race of the 1999 Formula One World Championship, and the last held on this layout.

1999 Italian Grand Prix
Race 13 of 16 in the 1999 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Autodromo Nazionale di Monza (last modified in 1995)
Race details
Date	12 September 1999
Official name	70º Gran Premio Campari d'Italia
Location	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza Monza, Lombardy, Italy
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.770 km (3.585 miles)
Distance	53 laps, 305.810 km (190.022 miles)
Weather	Hot and dry with temperatures reaching up to 30 °C (86 °F)
Pole position
Driver	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:22.432
Fastest lap
Driver	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-Supertec
Time	1:25.579 on lap 48
Podium
First	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Mugen-Honda
Second	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-Supertec
Third	Mika Salo	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 53-lap race was won by Heinz-Harald Frentzen, driving a Jordan-Mugen-Honda, after McLaren's Mika Häkkinen, seeking to defend his Drivers' Championship title, spun off while leading comfortably. Ralf Schumacher was second in a Williams-Supertec, with Mika Salo third in a Ferrari. Häkkinen's rival Eddie Irvine finished sixth in the other Ferrari, thus moving level on points with the Finn at the top of the Drivers' Championship.

Though the victory moved Frentzen to within ten points of Häkkinen and Irvine, it would turn out to be his third and last victory in Formula One, as well as the last for engine suppliers Mugen. It was also the Jordan team's only victory in dry conditions, their others coming in the rain.

Qualifying

Going into the race, McLaren's Mika Häkkinen led the Drivers' Championship by a single point from Ferrari's Eddie Irvine, with Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Häkkinen's team-mate David Coulthard also still in contention. Häkkinen was expected to do well on the fast Monza circuit, and duly claimed pole position by half a second from Frentzen. Coulthard was third, while Alessandro Zanardi, who had been having a poor year with Williams, was fourth, just ahead of teammate Ralf Schumacher. On Ferrari's home soil, Irvine had a poor qualifying session and could only manage eighth, behind teammate Mika Salo in sixth and Stewart's Rubens Barrichello – who had just signed with Ferrari to replace Irvine in 2000 – in seventh. Completing the top ten were Damon Hill in the second Jordan and Olivier Panis in the Prost.

Race

At the start, Häkkinen led away while Zanardi shot past Coulthard and Frentzen into second. Frentzen quickly re-passed Zanardi, but Coulthard fell further back, behind Schumacher and Salo. Meanwhile, at the back of the field, Minardi's Marc Gené tangled with Arrows' Pedro de la Rosa at the Roggia chicane and became the first retirement, while on the second lap Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella and Sauber's Pedro Diniz both spun off at the Rettifilo chicane.

On lap 3, Zanardi ran over a kerb and damaged the underside of his car. He managed to hold on to third place for another 15 laps, while Häkkinen and Frentzen pulled away. Barrichello passed Coulthard on lap 11 and then Salo on lap 19, while Zanardi waved Schumacher past on lap 18. On lap 24, there was more drama at the back as Toranosuke Takagi in the second Arrows tried to overtake Luca Badoer in the second Minardi at the Rettifilo, only to run into the back of Badoer and end his race.

Barrichello overtook Zanardi on lap 26; Salo did the same at the start of lap 28. At this point, Häkkinen led Frentzen by eight seconds, with Schumacher a further two-and-a-half seconds back. But on lap 30, going into the Rettifilo, Häkkinen made a mistake changing gear – selecting first instead of second – and spun off, in a virtual repeat of his unforced error at San Marino earlier in the year. In a rare show of emotion, the Finn burst into tears at the side of the track.

Frentzen thus inherited the lead as the front-runners began to make their pit stops. When these had been completed, Salo had moved back ahead of Barrichello and into third, while Coulthard and Irvine had both leapfrogged Zanardi and were now fifth and sixth.

Over the closing laps, Frentzen retained a comfortable lead over Schumacher – despite the Williams driver setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 48 – while Coulthard tried unsuccessfully to find a way past Barrichello, allowing Salo to pull away from both of them. Frentzen's eventual margin of victory was 3.2 seconds, with a further eight seconds back to Salo and another six back to Barrichello. Coulthard finished half a second behind the Stewart driver, but nine ahead of Irvine, who himself held off Zanardi for the final point.

This point moved Irvine level with Häkkinen in the Drivers' Championship on 60 points apiece, while the win put Frentzen just ten points behind on 50, with Coulthard on 48. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari cut McLaren's lead to six points, 108 to 102.

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Lap	Gap
1	1	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:22.432
2	8	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	1:22.926	+0.494
3	2	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:23.177	+0.745
4	5	Alessandro Zanardi	Williams-Supertec	1:23.432	+1.000
5	6	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-Supertec	1:23.636	+1.204
6	3	Mika Salo	Ferrari	1:23.657	+1.225
7	16	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	1:23.739	+1.307
8	4	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	1:23.765	+1.333
9	7	Damon Hill	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	1:23.979	+1.547
10	18	Olivier Panis	Prost-Peugeot	1:24.016	+1.584
11	22	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Supertec	1:24.188	+1.756
12	19	Jarno Trulli	Prost-Peugeot	1:24.293	+1.861
13	11	Jean Alesi	Sauber-Petronas	1:24.591	+2.159
14	10	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Playlife	1:24.593	+2.161
15	17	Johnny Herbert	Stewart-Ford	1:24.594	+2.162
16	12	Pedro Diniz	Sauber-Petronas	1:24.596	+2.164
17	9	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Playlife	1:24.862	+2.430
18	23	Ricardo Zonta	BAR-Supertec	1:25.114	+2.682
19	20	Luca Badoer	Minardi-Ford	1:25.348	+2.916
20	21	Marc Gené	Minardi-Ford	1:25.695	+3.263
21	14	Pedro de la Rosa	Arrows	1:26.383	+3.951
22	15	Toranosuke Takagi	Arrows	1:26.509	+4.077
107% time: 1:28.202
Source:

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	8	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	53	1:17:02.923	2	10
2	6	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-Supertec	53	+ 3.272	5	6
3	3	Mika Salo	Ferrari	53	+ 11.932	6	4
4	16	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	53	+ 17.630	7	3
5	2	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+ 18.142	3	2
6	4	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	53	+ 27.402	8	1
7	5	Alessandro Zanardi	Williams-Supertec	53	+ 28.047	4
8	22	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Supertec	53	+ 41.797	11
9	11	Jean Alesi	Sauber-Petronas	53	+ 42.198	13
10	7	Damon Hill	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	53	+ 56.259	9
11	18	Olivier Panis	Prost-Peugeot	52	Engine	10
Ret	17	Johnny Herbert	Stewart-Ford	40	Clutch	15
Ret	15	Toranosuke Takagi	Arrows	35	Spun Off	22
Ret	14	Pedro de la Rosa	Arrows	35	Withdrew	21
Ret	1	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	29	Spun Off	1
Ret	19	Jarno Trulli	Prost-Peugeot	29	Overheating	12
Ret	23	Ricardo Zonta	BAR-Supertec	25	Wheel Bearing	18
Ret	20	Luca Badoer	Minardi-Ford	23	Collision	19
Ret	10	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Playlife	11	Electrical	14
Ret	12	Pedro Diniz	Sauber-Petronas	1	Spun Off	16
Ret	9	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Playlife	1	Spun Off	17
Ret	21	Marc Gené	Minardi-Ford	0	Collision	20
Sources:

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1   Mika Häkkinen 60 2   Eddie Irvine 60 3   Heinz-Harald Frentzen 50 4   David Coulthard 48 5   Michael Schumacher 32 Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1   McLaren-Mercedes 108 2   Ferrari 102 3   Jordan-Mugen-Honda 57 4   Williams-Supertec 30 5   Stewart-Ford 17 Source:

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.