Nurburgring 1999: Possibly One Of The Most Exciting Formula One Races

Going into the race, one of the four drivers could still win the title, the two McLarens of current champion Mika Hakkinen, and team mate David Coulthard. Eddie Irvine in the Ferrari, who was leading the team after Michael Schumachers Leg break at Silverstone. Then there was Heinz Harald Frentzen in his Jordan, a surprise contender.

Frentzen had taken Pole for the race, with rain forecast to cause havoc during the race.

At the start Frentzen, led away from Hakkinen, while behind Frentzens team mate, Damon Hill was suffering with elctrical problems, which led Alex Wurz to swerve into Pedro Diniz causing him to roll over. The safety car came out and thankfully Diniz was ok.

The race restarted then and the rain started to fall, Hakkinen pitted while the other front runners stayed out, but quick as the rain come, the shower had stopped and the track dried.

During the rain Mika Salo who was in for Michael Schumacher, pitted with a damaged front wing, leaveing team mate Irvine waiting behind, Ferrari quickly decided to not put wet tyres on and stick a set of new drys on, but the team could only find three! The team soon found one, but took over half a minute, Irvine rejoined well down the field, with champion rival Hakkinen who had again pitted for dry tyres.

The race carried on, Frentzen, Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher made thier first scheduled pit stops. Frentzen came out in first, but with rotten luck as he came out of the pitlane, his car came to a grinding halt, suffering the same electrical problems that cut short his team mates race on lap one.
Coulthard was now leading from, Ralf.

Then Fisichella, DC was looking good for cutting the 12-point gap to joint champion leaders Hakkinen and Irvine, who both were still well out of the points.

Then around lap 36 the rain came again, DC decided to stay out, but it proved the wrong choice as he went into the tyre wall on lap 38, which lost all hope of winning the title that year. Ralf took the lead then  pitted, letting Fisichella take the lead, just as the rain began to stop.

The in a cruel twist of fate, first on lap 49 Fisichella spun out, losing which could have been his first win in F1, Ralf took the lead once again, and was looking good for his first career win.

Then soon after Fisichella spun out, Ralf had a right rear tyre puncture, causing him to fall well down the field, letting Johnny Herbert take the lead, who made a great choice by having his first scheduled stop just as the rain began to fall heavier.

But the heartbreak for underdog drivers would continue, Luca Badoer in his Minardi was sitting in a fantastic fourth, with laps remaining, his car came to a halt, heartbreak for the little Italian team and leaving him in tears. Then Jacques Villeneuve in the new BAR lost 5th place as his car came to a halt! Robbing the team of thier first ever points in F1.

With laps remaining, the other Minardi of Marc Gene, was lying in 5th, but the charging Mika Hakkinen, overtook him to earn two points for his title charge.

The race ended and Johnny Herbert took Stewart thier first f1 win, with team mate Rubens Barrichello in third. The prost of Jarno Trulli took second. Ralf ended the race in P4, Hakkinen in P5 and taking P6 was the minardi of Marc Gene. Title rival Eddie Irvine finishing P7.

A fantastic race ended with a crazy result, championship wise, Hakkinen now led Irvine by two points with frentzen a further 10 points behind, then Coulthard another two behind Frentzen.