1998Having chosen to stay at McLaren for another year hopes are high at repeating 1997's success.
Round One : Australia - MelbourneThe Season starts as always at Albert Park, Melbourne, home of the Australian Grand Prix.
QualifyingIn Qualifying it was clear from the off that Michael Schumacher was the man to beat, and he took pole position with his first time of the session. Mika Hakkinen joined him on the front row albeit half a second behind the German.
Meanwhile I was struggling. Despite finding the Melbourne circuit a pleasure to drive it has never been one i was particularly fast at, qualifying 9th last season and 4th in 1996. I could match Schumacher in the 1st sector, but was hemoridging time in the 2nd sector, even though it only had 2 corners in it. After being 12th for most of the session, in the last seconds i managed to take 3rd, nearly a second behind Schumacher.
Race Starting Grid
Australia - Melbourne 1998
(58 Laps)
Pole 1
Michael Schumacher
1m 31.864s 2
Mika Hakkinen
Row 2 3 1m 32.418s
Andrew Jones
1m 32.757s 4
Jacques Villeneuve
Row 3 5 1m 32.799s
David Coulthard
1m 33.076s 6
Eddie Irvine
Row 4 7 1m 33.708s
Alexander Wurz
1m 33.910s 8
Giancarlo Fisichella
Row 5 9 1m 34.021s
Heinz-Harald Frentzen
1m 34.043s 10
Johnny Herbert
Row 6 11 1m 34.085s
Ralf Schumacher
1m 34.254s 12
Damon Hill
Row 7 13 1m 34.324s
Jean Alesi
1m 34.696s 14
Rubens Barrichello
Row 8 15 1m 34.786s
Pedro Diniz
1m 35.116s 16
Toranasuke Takagi
Row 9 17 1m 35.500s
Mika Salo
1m 35.585s 18
Jarno Trulli
Row 10 19 1m 35.668s
Ricardo Rosset
1m 35.825s 20
Olivier Panis
Row 11 21 1m 36.910s
Shinji Nakano
1m 37.182s 22
Esteban Tuero
1m 37.771s
RaceI got past Hakkinen at the first corner, but a quick starting Jacques Villeneuve got past both of us. Schumacher started to pull away at an alarming rate whilst i busied myself with getting past Jacques. Just as i got past him his engine blew and he was out of the race. But try as i might i couldnt get anywhere near Michaels pace.
As the first round of pitstops came close, Hakkinen was only a couple of seconds behind me as i struggled with understeer. When i pitted Hakkinen continued on a one stopper along with Irvine. Worse still Schumacher despite his pace was also on a one stopper. Leaving my pace questionable. When i made my 2nd stop i came out 30 seconds behind Irvine, and in pushing to catch him went off which allowed Schumacher to lap me and put Wurz on my tail. I was able to pick up my pace again and pull away from Wurz to secure 4th, but after the highs of 97, the first race of 98 had brought me right back down to earth.
Thankfully its Interlagos next, where i lapped the field last season so hopefully things will be better.
Race Results Australia - Melbourne
(58 Laps)
Pos Driver Time/Speed
1st Michael Schumacher 1h 31m 23.633s
Ferrari-Ferrari
2nd Mika Hakkinen +32.871s
McLaren-Mercedes
3rd Eddie Irvine +1m 09.022s
Ferrari-Ferrari
4th Andrew Jones -1 Lap
McLaren-Mercedes
5th Alexander Wurz -1 Lap
Benetton-Playlife
6th Giancarlo Fisichella -1 Lap
Round Two : Brazil - Interlagos
QualifyingBack on form, easily took pole position on my first lap.
Race Starting Grid
Brazil - Interlagos 1998
(72 Laps)
1 Pole
Andrew Jones
2 1m 17.696s
Mika Hakkinen
1m 18.325s 3 Row 2
Michael Schumacher
4 1m 18.797s
Eddie Irvine
1m 18.933s 5 Row 3
Heinz-Harald Frentzen
6 1m 19.284s
Alexander Wurz
1m 19.823s 7 Row 4
Damon Hill
8 1m 19.824s
Ralf Schumacher
1m 19.831s 9 Row 5
David Coulthard
10 1m 19.844s
Jacques Villeneuve
1m 20.129s 11 Row 6
Johnny Herbert
12 1m 20.173s
Jean Alesi
1m 20.437s 13 Row 7
Giancarlo Fisichella
14 1m 20.639s
Olivier Panis
1m 20.684s 15 Row 8
Pedro Diniz
16 1m 20.690s
Mika Salo
1m 20.776s 17 Row 9
Jarno Trulli
18 1m 20.891s
Ricardo Rosset
1m 21.553s 19 Row 10
Rubens Barrichello
20 1m 21.595s
Esteban Tuero
1m 22.756s 21 Row 11
Toranasuke Takagi
22 1m 23.038s
Shinji Nakano
1m 23.413s
RaceGot a good start, as did Ralf Schumacher and the two Ferrari's who all passed Hakkinen. I was able to pull away whilst Ralf and Mika passed the one stopping Ferrari's and had a 15 second lead going into the first round of pitstops. The same pattern followed to my 2nd stop. I came out behind Mika who made his 2nd stop 10 laps later. When he came out he was 35 seconds behind.
Then as usual i lost concentration and spun, which cut my lead down to just 15 seconds. Mika on much fresher tyres was set the fastest lap of the race and began to close at the rate of a second a lap. I tried to counter but the car was starting to slide on worn tyres and Mika caught me with 2 laps to go...
ResultBrazil - Interlagos 1998
(72 Laps)
Pos Driver Time/Speed
1st Mika Hakkinen 1h 38m 02.733s
McLaren-Mercedes
2nd Andrew Jones +0.035s
McLaren-Mercedes
3rd Ralf Schumacher +25.158s
Jordan-Mugen
4th Michael Schumacher +51.846s
Ferrari-Ferrari
5th Eddie Irvine +53.018s
Ferrari-Ferrari
6th Damon Hill -1 Lap
Jordan-Mugen
Championships