Brazil 1999

On April 11, Formula One will be back in business after winter testing. No, wait, that big 5-week break just made it look that way. Round 2 of the 1999 FIA Formula One World Championship takes us to 28th Brazilian Grand Prix. The openings race was exciting in many ways - surely at least Irvine will agree with that, but the season is now really starting and we can expect Formula One racing in top gear.

This year's Brazilian Grand Prix will be driven at Interlagos, Sao Paulo at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace. The circuit is one of the two circuits that run counter-clockwise, the other one being Imola. The dusty conditions of Sao Paulo, the bumps of Interlagos and the occasional tropical downpours are guaranteeing an exciting race.

British America Racing about Interlagos: The 4.292 km/2.657 mile Interlagos circuit is one of the more challenging stops on the Grand Prix calendar and notable for its long, sweeping pit straight (see image below), difficult corners and tight infield section. It is also a very bumpy track, despite the tarmac being frequently re-laid. As a result, it is important to get a car to ride well over the bumps in order for the driver to stand a chance of achieving competitive lap times.

Coulthard agrees with that, "Physically, for the driver, because this is an anti-clockwise circuit, there is extra strain on the left side of the neck, and we have to pay attention to that in our training." and "Interlagos is unusual: it is a long lap with a long straight and a weird combination of corners. You spend a lot of time in the slow infield section, but you also want to run as little wing as possible. Setting up the car is a challenge here."

The race was - as we would see many times in 98 - a 1-2 for McLaren. However, the race was also quite exciting, because of this new phenomenon: Best of the rest. And for that best-of-the rest position, we actually had seems some overtaking. Schumacher made it to the podium starting from 4th on the grid. He didn't have a good start however, because he dropped back to 6th. Irvine had one of his amazing starts, but had to let Schumacher go past in lap 2.

After the pitstops some 20 laps before the end of the race, Wurz made a very nice move into turn one passing Frentzen on the for place 4. McLaren's Mika Hakkinen, who also secured pole position and set the fastest race lap with a 1 min 19.337 secs, won the 1998 race.

1  Mika Häkkinen         Mclaren-Mercedes     1:37:11.747 = 201.101 km/h
2  David Coulthard       McLaren-Mercedes     - 00:01.102
3  Michael Schumacher    Ferrari              - 01:00.550
4  Alexander Wurz        Benetton-Playlife    - 01:07.453
5  Heinz-Harald Frentzen Williams-Mechachrome - 1 lap 
6  Giancarlo Fisichella  Benetton-Playlife    - 1 lap    

Damon Hill's Jordan-Mugen Honda was disqualified after the race, because of the car being underweight.

A McLaren 1-2 last year, but unlikely they will do this again during the 99 race. After the embarrassing display last race at Melbourne it however is clear what McLaren would have been working on, over the last few weeks. The team recently held a test in Spain (Jerez), but - as often with McLaren - the team 'refused to disclose any details' other then the sessions had been hampered by rain and wind.

Although the Melbourne race was embarrassing, the McLaren showed to be competitive. Mika: "Melbourne was very encouraging for the team even though we didn't score any points, but we have completed race distances in recent testing and hopefully we can now do it in the real thing." Ron Dennis: "We have extracted the optimum testing time in the five-week gap between Australia and Brazil in our efforts to marry competitive performance with reliability."

Ferrari had a good race at Melbourne. It started quite lousy, with Schumacher's starting problems which caused him to start in the back. They probably sent a big thank-you card to Stewart GP, but Michael showed he still is Schumacher and drove quite nice indeed, fastest lap of the race even. However, Melbourne was Irvine's race. He went out, he drove fast, he drove well and brought home the victory. Eddie: "Ten points are a great way to start the season and I hope I will be able to build on that start in Brazil". Well done Eddie!

Ferrari has of course been testing as well. Testing quite a lot actually. Schumacher tested his Ferrari F399 at Mugello and Fiorano. Schumacher did break his gearbox, but he said it was his own fault. So, no big problem there. Looking forward to the race though, will his mind be with GrandPrix racing, or perhaps a small bit with Mick? We'll see during the race. Also, I wonder when we'll see Mick racing by the way. Maybe a contract with Jordan soon?

Jordan - smooth transition there - showed off as well at Melbourne, with their podium place. Heinz Harald showed Jordan had the better deal, with the Ralf-Heinz-switch. Jordan showed speed - not during qualifying though - during the race, with a 4th fastest lap by Heinz, and Damon showed it isn't fun being pushed around into the gravel-traps. But Damon is quick at Interlagos, and managed a pole position twice - 1995 and 1996 - and won it in 1996. As they are getting faster and faster, I wouldn't be surprised to also see them top 6 in Brazil. As the JordanGP website served the 98 news, under the 99 headings when I checked, I'll keep it a bit short.

Stewart looks good. They surprised me with the level of competitiveness they showed. Barrichello: "I could have won that race! For the first time I had a car that allowed me to overtake, that allowed me to race and to show everything I know." And that is right. They were top 4, almost all the way during testing. And as Rubens knows the brazilian-track well, I expect a very strong show from him and Herbert again this race. If Rubens can show 'everything he knows', then we are in for a surprise there. When he is enjoying the car, he is very fast and I have to agree, even winning can be possible then.

Gary Anderson, technical director at Stewart has some nice points as well: "In Brazil you run a high downforce setting on the car but because of the high altitude you lose about 10 per cent of the downforce. It's the same for everybody but because we will be running a similar aerodynamic configuration to Melbourne, where we undoubtedly had the edge over a number of the other cars in overall performance, we should expect to be outpacing our closest rivals again.

Williams started nice as well, with a podium finish - they finished 3rd - for the Williams team by Ralf Schumacher. But well, I can imagine Frank not to be all that happy, because his star Zanardi didn't do all that well. Zanardi: "I didn't have quite the start to the season I had hoped for so for me it all starts in Brazil." Ralf being optimistic as always: "If the weather is wonderful and dry and the other teams have no reliability problems it will become difficult for us to be in front but the weather at Interlagos changes very fast with stormy rainfall and under wet conditions I am quite optimistic.".

I am not sure yet, about Williams. They seem to have got some speed back in the car, but seeing last races fast-laps, Ralf was 8th and Zanardi 15th. Also, the rumours go around that Zanardi has to score points soon, or risk being replaced by Salo. Well, that Salo guy seems unlikely, but somehow the rumour got out BMW wants him. Williams and BMW denied rumours of course. But still, after your first race, being rumoured to be replaced by a Salo, is not the best way to start the season. And as we know how Williams work with their drivers (for example: Hill and Frentzen), I wouldn't be surprised if there is some truth about it.

I think BAR has a good chance for the next race. Villeneuve looked strong last race and in testing at Barcelona. Also, during 1997 he had pole, fastest-race-lap and won the race. The BAR-team manager: "In the intervening weeks between the Australian and Brazilian races, we have accumulated a substantial amount of test mileage split between Silverstone and Barcelona. As a result, we've made good progress on reliability issues as well as the overall performance of the car and believe we should be in good shape for Interlagos." So, if the rear-spoiler stays on the car this time, both drivers have a good chance. Yes, both drivers as Ricardo Zonta is Brazilian and knows the track well. But I do expect Villeneuve - who has his birthday on April 9 - to do better then Zonta. Top 6 running for Villeneuve, should be possible.

The Brazilian Grand Prix promises to be once again an exciting race. With three Brazilian-drivers currently in Formula One racing - Ricardo Zonta, Pedro Diniz and Rubens Barrichello, the spectators are in for a great race, with the possibility of Barrichello on podium. But McLaren and Ferrari are both looking for that place in the middle of the podium. Or can Stewart, Williams or Jordan surprise us with a strong show. All we do know for sure, is that we can expect a very exciting race.

Don't take my word for it, just watch the race!

1998 Mika Hakkinen - McLaren
1997 J.Villeneuve - Williams
1996 Damon Hill - Williams
1995 M.Schumacher - Benetton
1994 M.Schumacher - Benetton
1993 Ayrton Senna - McLaren
1992 Nigel Mansell - Williams
1991 Ayrton Senna - McLaren

I'll see you again in the preview for the San Marino Grand Prix.

Thanks for reading.