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The 1998 Monaco Grand Prix was the sixth race in the 1998 Formula One Season. Mika Häkkinen achieved his second grand chelem at Monaco when he took pole position, fastest lap as well as leading every single lap of the race.


Background

Heading into Monaco, it was announced that Arrows chief designer John Barnard had also joined Prost as a technical consultant, his company B3 Technologies taking over the manufacturing of Prost's carbon fibre suspensions. Despite Barnard's new role at Prost, he denied that anything was amiss with Arrows and would remain with the team to at least the end of the season. Prost team principal Alain Prost also announced an expression in interest for Michelin tyres for 1999, after expressing dissatisfaction with Bridgestone due to what was perceived as favouritism towards McLaren and Benetton.

In the week leading up to the Monaco Grand Prix, all the teams with the exception of Stewart were testing throughout Europe in preparation for the race. Goodyear would be releasing an updated wider rear-tyre for their teams in order to reduce the performance deficit to the Bridgestone teams.

Entry list

No. Driver Entrant Constructor Chassis Engine Model Tyre
1 Canada Jacques Villeneuve United Kingdom Winfield Williams Williams FW20 Mecachrome GC37-01 V10 3.0 G
2 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen United Kingdom Winfield Williams Williams FW20 Mecachrome GC37-01 V10 3.0 G
3 Germany Michael Schumacher Italy Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro Ferrari F300 Ferrari 047 V10 3.0 G
4 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Italy Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro Ferrari F300 Ferrari 047 V10 3.0 G
5 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Mild Seven Benetton Playlife Benetton B198 Playlife GC37-01 V10 3.0 B
6 Austria Alexander Wurz Italy Mild Seven Benetton Playlife Benetton B198 Playlife GC37-01 V10 3.0 B
7 United Kingdom David Coulthard United Kingdom West McLaren Mercedes McLaren MP4/13 Mercedes FO 110G V10 3.0 B
8 Finland Mika Häkkinen United Kingdom West McLaren Mercedes McLaren MP4/13 Mercedes FO 110G V10 3.0 B
9 United Kingdom Damon Hill Ireland Benson and Hedges Jordan Jordan 198 Mugen-Honda MF-301 HC V10 3.0 G
10 Germany Ralf Schumacher Ireland Benson and Hedges Jordan Jordan 198 Mugen-Honda MF-301 HC V10 3.0 G
11 France Olivier Panis France Gauloises Prost Peugeot Prost AP01 Peugeot A16 V10 3.0 B
12 Italy Jarno Trulli France Gauloises Prost Peugeot Prost AP01 Peugeot A16 V10 3.0 B
14 France Jean Alesi Switzerland Red Bull Sauber Petronas Sauber C17 Petronas SPE-01D V10 3.0 G
15 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Switzerland Red Bull Sauber Petronas Sauber C17 Petronas SPE-01D V10 3.0 G
16 Brazil Pedro Diniz United Kingdom Danka Zepter Arrows Arrows A19 Arrows T2-F1 V10 3.0 B
17 Finland Mika Salo United Kingdom Danka Zepter Arrows Arrows A19 Arrows T2-F1 V10 3.0 B
18 Brazil Rubens Barrichello United Kingdom HSBC Stewart Ford Stewart SF02 Ford Cosworth VJ Zetec-R V10 3.0 B
19 Denmark Jan Magnussen United Kingdom HSBC Stewart Ford Stewart SF02 Ford Cosworth VJ Zetec-R V10 3.0 B
20 Brazil Ricardo Rosset United Kingdom PIAA Tyrrell Ford Tyrrell 026 Ford Cosworth JD Zetec-R V10 3.0 G
21 Japan Toranosuke Takagi United Kingdom PIAA Tyrrell Ford Tyrrell 026 Ford Cosworth JD Zetec-R V10 3.0 G
22 Japan Shinji Nakano Italy Fondmetal Minardi Team Minardi M198 Ford Cosworth JD Zetec-R V10 3.0 B
23 Argentina Esteban Tuero Italy Fondmetal Minardi Team Minardi M198 Ford Cosworth JD Zetec-R V10 3.0 B


Practice Overview

Practice Results

No.       Driver       Constructor       FP1 FP2 Warm-Up
Time Pos Time Pos Time Pos
1 Canada  Jacques Villeneuve United KingdomWilliams-Mecachrome 1:24.081 9 1:23.579 10 1:26.654 15
2 Germany  Heinz-Harald Frentzen 1:23.656 4 1:22.223 4 1:25.920 11
3 Germany  Michael Schumacher ItalyFerrari 1:23.685 5 no time - 1:24.107 2
4 United Kingdom  Eddie Irvine 1:23.765  6 1:22.314 5 1:24.611 5
5 Italy  Giancarlo Fisichella ItalyBenetton-Playlife 1:22.205 2 1:21.145 1 1:25.151 7
6 Austria  Alexander Wurz 1:23.946 8 1:22.683 6 1:24.493 4
7 United Kingdom  David Coulthard United KingdomMcLaren-Mercedes 1:22.757 3 1:22.091 2 1:24.199 3
8 Finland  Mika Häkkinen 1:21.937 1 1:22.702 7 1:23.878 1
9 United Kingdom  Damon Hill IrelandJordan-Mugen-Honda 1:25.947 17 1:24.698 16 1:27.602 19
10 Germany  Ralf Schumacher 1:27.160 20 1:24.312 14 1:26.348 12
11 France  Olivier Panis FranceProst-Peugeot 1:25.119  13 1:25.010 21 1:27.786 20
12 Italy  Jarno Trulli 1:24.191 10 1:22.830 8 1:27.173 18
14 France  Jean Alesi SwitzerlandSauber-Petronas 1:24.901 12 1:23.777 11 1:25.887 10
15 United Kingdom  Johnny Herbert 1:23.914 7 1:25.110 18 1:27.118 17
16 Brazil  Pedro Diniz United KingdomArrows 1:24.735  11 1:24.759 17 1:26.650 14
17 Finland  Mika Salo 1:25.400 14 1:22.171 3 1:24.896 6
18 Brazil  Rubens Barrichello United KingdomStewart-Ford 1:25.863 16 1:23.100 9 1:25.688 8
19 Denmark  Jan Magnussen 1:25.836 15 1:23.823 12 1:27.012 16
20 Brazil  Ricardo Rosset United KingdomTyrrell-Ford 1:26.625 18 1:25.615 20 1:28.287 21
21 Japan  Toranosuke Takagi 1:26.761 19 1:24.456 15 1:25.861 9
22 Japan  Shinji Nakano ItalyMinardi-Ford 1:28.652  22 1:25.112 19 1:26.433 13
23 Argentina  Esteban Tuero 1:27.844 21 1:24.250 13 no time -

 

Qualifying

Mika Häkkinen was the first of the front runners to come out of the pits for his timed lap, setting the initial provisional pole time of 1:21.375. There was a brief time of inactivity as the Tyrrell's and Arrows's were the only cars on track. Mika Salo in the Arrrows had looked competitive all weekend and was set for a strong qualifying. 

Heinz-Harald Frentzen was the next of the front runners to go out setting provisional second in his Williams before it was immediately taken away by the feisty of Benetton of Giancarlo Fisichella who had set the fastest time in the morning practice. Ferrari were having a nightmare weekend, Michael Schumacher only set one lap in morning practice due to a fuel pump issue forcing him to use the spare car in qualifying. Nevertheless despite the mishaps Schumacher was immediately on the pace stealing third place from Fisichella, with the two McLaren's of Häkkinen and David Coulthard

Twenty minutes into the session Coulthard took pole from Häkkinen with a 1:20.137 as Fisichella reclaimed third from Schumacher. Shortly afterwards Eddie Irvine suffered an accident whilst heading into rascasse, forcing him to temporarily abandon the session. With Schumacher in the spare car, Irvine was forced to compete in Schumacher's hastily repaired race car for the rest of the session. He finished qualifying in a lackluster seventh.

Häkkinen and Coulthard traded fastest times each stealing pole from one another until Häkkinen finally set a time of 1:19.798 which secured the final pole position time. Coulthard finished the session ahead of Fisichella and Schumacher. 

Frentzen appeared reasonably competitive in his Williams taking fifth on the grid, teammate Jacques Villeneuve had a torrid session enroute to thirteenth on the grid. Villeneuve was on course to be higher, however the remarkably slow Tyrrell of Ricardo Rosset spun towards the end of the session, bringing out the red flags forcing not only Villeneuve but Schumacher and Coulthard to abandon their final quick laps. Rosset for the second race in a row would not qualify for the race. 

Alexander Wurz was sixth ahead of Irvine and the impressive Mika Salo whose Arrows appeared to unfulfill its potential as Salo battled with a gearbox issue throughout qualifying. 

Qualifying Results

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Time
8 Finland Mika Häkkinen United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 1:19.798
2 7 United Kingdom David Coulthard United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 1:20.137
5 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Benetton-Playlife 1:20.368
4 3 Germany Michael Schumacher Italy Ferrari 1:20.702
5 2 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen United Kingdom Williams-Mecachrome 1:20.729
6 6 Austria Alexander Wurz Italy Benetton-Playlife 1:20.955
7 4 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Italy Ferrari 1:21.712
8 17 Finland Mika Salo United Kingdom Arrows 1:22.144
9 15 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Switzerland Sauber-Petronas 1:22.157
10 12 Italy Jarno Trulli France Prost-Peugeot 1:22.238
11 14 France Jean Alesi Switzerland Sauber-Petronas 1:22.257
12 16 Brazil Pedro Diniz United Kingdom Arrows 1:22.355
13 1 Canada Jacques Villeneuve United Kingdom Williams-Mecachrome 1:22.468
14 18 Brazil Rubens Barrichello United Kingdom Stewart-Ford 1:22.540
15 9 United Kingdom Damon Hill Ireland Jordan-Mugen-Honda 1:23.151
16 10 Germany Ralf Schumacher Ireland Jordan-Mugen-Honda 1:23.263
17 19 Denmark Jan Magnussen United Kingdom Stewart-Ford 1:23.411
18 11 France Olivier Panis France Prost-Peugeot 1:23.536
19 22 Japan Shinji Nakano Italy Minardi-Ford 1:23.957
20 21 Japan Toranosuke Takagi United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford 1:24.024
21 23 Argentina Esteban Tuero Italy Minardi-Ford 1:24.031
DNQ 20 Brazil Ricardo Rosset United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford 1:25.737

Race

Report

As the lights went out, there was little change at the front of the field as the cars made their way through the first corner. Only Alexander Wurz in the Benetton made any progress, managing to pass Heinz-Harald Frentzen for fifth. The first retirement occured as the cars came up the hill into turn 3, Esteban Tuero's Minardi from last place ran wide and collided with the barriers bringing his day to an early end. Jean Alesi made a strong start climbing to ninth from eleventh at the end of the first lap, past teammate Johnny Herbert and Jarno Trulli. Herbert losing position to Trulli as well. 

As the McLaren's seemed to customarily pull away from the rest of the field, Schumacher was seemingly being held up in fourth position by Giancarlo Fisichella's Benetton. However Häkkinen was unable to pull out as great an advantage over Coulthard as he had done in the past, Coulthard managing to set the fastest lap on lap 5 with a 1:25.118. Lap 6 saw Wurz who was baring down on Fisichella and Schumacher run wide coming out of the tunnel losing a little bit of time. 

On lap 8 Coulthard set another fastest lap with a 1:24.888 quickly catching up to race leader Häkkinen. Meanwhile a battle for sixth commenced with the slow Williams of Heinz-Harald Frentzen holding up Eddie Irvine's Ferrari. Irvine stuck behind the Williams for a number of laps had allowed Mika Salo's Arrows to catch up to the pair. On lap 9, the frustrated Irvine made a dive up Frentzen's inside at the loewes hairpin, the overambitious move forced Frentzen off the circuit and into the barriers causing the Williams to retire. 

Lap 11 saw Rubens Barrichello pull into the pits to retire due to a suspension failure. Coulthard on lap 12 set another fastest time of 1:23.489 followed two lap later by another fastest lap of 1:23.311. The two leaders by this time had caught up to the first set of backmarkers of Olivier Panis's Prost and Shinji Nakano's Minardi. On lap 16, Häkkinen responded to Coulthard's fastest time with a 1:22.996. The following lap Coulthard suffered a major engine failure coming out of the tunnel forcing him out of the race. 

This meant that Häkkinen was left unchallenged at the front with a 19 second lead over Fisichella in second. Jarno Trulli led a battle for eighth place as Johnny Herbert and Pedro Diniz climbed over his rear. Further down the field Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher duelled for fourteenth. Schumacher performed an illegal overtake on Hill cutting the corner after the tunnel, forcing to re-concede the position to Hill. 

Lap 29 saw Häkkinen set another fastest lap of 1:22.948 as he further consolidated his lead. On lap 30, Michael Schumacher came into the pits for his first pit-stop losing a single position to Alexander Wurz. The same lap Jan Magnussen retired with suspension problem, a similar failure to teammate Barrichello. The following lap Fisichella came into the pits, however Schumacher with the undercut was able to overtake Fisichella in the pit-stop phase. 

On lap 37 Häkkinen came in for his pit-stop, exiting the pits comfortably in the lead. By this time Schumacher had caught up to Wurz in second and began to apply the pressure. On lap 38 Schumacher dived up Wurz's insider at the loewes hairpin, Wurz refused to yield and the two touched. Schumacher however managed to force his way past in the following corner. However Schumacher in his manoeuvere, damaged his rear track rod forcing him into the pits. Schumacher exited the car as if to retire before immediately being told to re-enter the car by Ross Brawn. The Ferrari cars managed to repair the car and released Schumacher back onto the track albeit three laps down and well out of the points. 

On lap 41 Wurz finally came into the pits for his first pit-stop, releasing teammate Fisichella back into second as Wurz exited in third position. As Wurz entered the tunnel on his out-lap, he lost control of his Benetton crashing into the barriers, as his car exited the tunnel it was already a wreck losing both his front wheels and flying uncontrollably into the barriers a big way at the nouvelle chicane. The cause of incident linked to a failure on a component of the car following his shunt with Schumacher.

Three laps later Ralf Schumacher retired from the race with rear suspension failure. By lap 45, Häkkinen had extended his lead to 27 seconds over Fisichella in second. Lap 49 saw Olivier Panis retire with a wheel issue. Seven laps later Jarno Trulli retired with gearbox failure. The same lap, Fisichella whilst racing in second place clipped the side of the inside barrier at rascasse forcing him to spin around. Luckily for him the car did not receive damage and his lead over Eddie Irvine in second was sufficient enough for him to retain his second position.

After suffering with a gearbox issue for a number of laps, Jean Alesi's Sauber retired on lap 72 from fifth position. The distraught Alesi fell to his knees beside the race track. This promoted Jacques Villeneuve into fifth position and Pedro Diniz into sixth. 

On the final lap Michael Schumacher attempted to unlap himself from Pedro Diniz's Arrows on the final lap, Schumacher however botched the overtake and clipped the inside barrier losing his front wing.

Häkkinen after 78 laps took his fourth victory of the season, 11 seconds ahead of Fisichella in second. Irvine was the sole Ferrari to claim points in third. Villeneuve split the two Arrows cars of Mika Salo and Pedro Diniz who took a strong three points for the Arrows team. 

Results

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 8 FinlandMika Häkkinen United KingdomMcLaren-Mercedes 78 1:51.23.595 1 10
2 5 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Benetton-Playlife 78 +11.475 3 6
3 4 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine ItalyFerrari 78 +41.378 7 4
4 17 Finland Mika Salo United Kingdom Arrows 78 +1:00.363 8 3
5 1 Canada Jacques Villeneuve United Kingdom Williams-Mecachrome 77 +1 lap 13 2
6 16 Brazil Pedro Diniz United Kingdom Arrows 77 +1 lap 12 1
7 15 United KingdomJohnny Herbert SwitzerlandSauber-Petronas 77 +1 lap 9
8 9 United Kingdom Damon Hill Ireland Jordan-Mugen-Honda 76 +2 laps 15
9 22 Japan Shinji Nakano Italy Minardi-Ford 76 +2 laps 19
10 3 Germany Michael Schumacher Italy Ferrari 76 +2 laps 4
11 21 Japan Toranosuke Takagi United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford 76 +2 laps 20
12 14 France Jean Alesi Switzerland Sauber-Petronas 72 Gearbox 11
Ret 12 Italy Jarno Trulli France Prost-Peugeot 56 Gearbox 10
Ret 11 France Olivier Panis France Prost-Peugeot 49 Wheel 18
Ret 10 Germany Ralf Schumacher Ireland Jordan-Mugen-Honda 44 Suspension 16
Ret 6 Austria Alexander Wurz Italy Benetton-Playlife 42 Spun off 6
Ret 19 Denmark Jan Magnussen United Kingdom Stewart-Ford 30 Suspension 17
Ret 7 United Kingdom David Coulthard United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 17 Engine 2
Ret 18 Brazil Rubens Barrichello United Kingdom Stewart-Ford 11 Suspension 14
Ret 2 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen United Kingdom Williams-Mecachrome 9 Collision 5
Ret 23 Argentina Esteban Tuero Italy Minardi-Ford 0 Spun off 21
DNQ 20 BrazilRicardo Rosset United KingdomTyrrell-Ford

Milestones

Standings after race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 Finland Mika Häkkinen 46
2 United Kingdom David Coulthard 29
3 Germany Michael Schumacher 24
4 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine 15
5 Austria Alexander Wurz 9
6 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen 8
7 Canada Jacques Villeneuve 8
8 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella 7
9 Finland Mika Salo 3
10 France Jean Alesi 3
11 Brazil Rubens Barrichello 2
12 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert 1
13 Brazil Pedro Diniz 1
14 Germany Ralf Schumacher 0
15 United Kingdom Damon Hill 0
16 Argentina Esteban Tuero 0
17 Japan Shinji Nakano 0
18 Italy Jarno Trulli 0
19 France Olivier Panis 0
20 Denmark Jan Magnussen 0
21 Japan Toranosuke Takagi 0
22 Brazil Ricardo Rosset 0
Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 75
2 Italy Ferrari 39
3 United Kingdom Williams-Mecachrome 16
4 Italy Benetton-Playlife 16
5 Switzerland Sauber-Petronas 4
6 United Kingdom Arrows 4
7 United Kingdom Stewart-Ford 2
8 Ireland Jordan-Mugen-Honda 0
9 Italy Minardi-Ford 0
10 France Prost-Peugeot 0
11 United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford 0
V T E 1998 Formula One Season
Teams Williams • Ferrari • Benetton • McLaren • Jordan • Prost • Sauber • Arrows • Stewart • Tyrrell • Minardi
Engines Arrows • Ferrari • Ford • Mecachrome • Mercedes • Mugen-Honda • Petronas • Peugeot • Playlife
Drivers Villeneuve • 2 Frentzen • 3 M. Schumacher • 4 Irvine • 5 Fisichella • 6 Wurz • 7 Coulthard • 8 Häkkinen • 9 Hill • 10 R. Schumacher • 11 Panis • 12 Trulli • 14 Alesi • 15 Herbert • 16 Diniz • 17 Salo • 18 Barrichello • 19 Magnussen • 19 Verstappen • 20 Rosset • 21 Takagi • 22 Nakano • 23 Tuero
Other Drivers Badoer • De la Rosa • Heidfeld • Kristensen • Montoya • Zonta
Cars Williams FW20 • Ferrari F300 • Benetton B198 • McLaren MP4/13 • Jordan 198 • Prost AP01 • Sauber C17 • Arrows A19 • Stewart SF02 • Tyrrell 026 • Minardi M198
Tyres Goodyear • Bridgestone
Races Australia • Brazil • Argentina • San Marino • Spain • Monaco • Canada • France • Britain • Austria • Germany • Hungary • Belgium • Italy • Luxembourg • Japan
See also 1997 Formula One Season • 1999 Formula One Season • Category
V T E Monaco Monaco Grand Prix
Circuits Circuit de Monaco (1929–present)
Circuit Monaco 2007
Races 19501951–1954195519561957195819591960196119621963196419651966196719681969197019711972197319741975197619771978197919801981198219831984198519861987198819891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023
Non-F1 races 1929193019311932193319341935193619371948
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