Formula 1
British GP Sunday Race Facts
Sunday 12 July 1998 Sunday race RACE FACTS At the start of the race Mika Hakkinen makes the fastest start with Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard on his tail and Jean Alesi fourth after a sensational start from eighth on the grid. The ...
Edited: May 8, 2001, 12:19 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Sunday 12 July 1998
Sunday race
RACE FACTS
At the start of the race Mika Hakkinen makes the fastest start with Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard on his tail and Jean Alesi fourth after a sensational start from eighth on the grid. The two Williams completed the top six with Jacques Villeneuve ahead of Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Eddie Irvine makes a very bad start and drops to 10th place. He begins to charge back and in the early laps passes Alexander Wurz and Johnny Herbert.
On lap five Coulthard passes Schumacher at Abbey Corner to take second place. On the same lap Frentzen passes Villeneuve to take fifth place. Irvine continues his charge through the field and passes Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve on lap 8. He then chases after Frentzen and passes the German on lap 12. Up at the front the two McLarens are able to stay ahead of Schumacher while Alesi runs a steady race in fourth.
On lap 14 the rain intensifies and Frentzen spins off and Hill makes a mistake and also retires. Most of the field pits for new tyres but this changes little except that Irvine is able to get past Alesi during his stop. The only runner not to pit is Johnny Herbert who moves up to fourth but is passed by Irvine and then comes under pressure from Alesi.
The conditions continue to deteriorate and on lap 26 Herbert spins out. Mika Salo also retires and in the laps which follow Ricardo Rosset and Esteban Tuero also spin off. Up at the front Hakkinen and Coulthard move around 10secs ahead of Schumacher with Irvine a distant fourth. Alesi continues in fifth while Ralf Schumacher has completed a remarkable drive through the field to take sixth. Ralf has to pit again on lap 35 and drops behind the two Benettons.
Hakkinen continues to pull away and he and Coulthard have a lead of over half a minute to Schumacher's Ferrari. Conditions deteriorate just before the second pit stops and the first victim is Coulthard who spins out on lap 38. Also spinning out were Jos Verstappen and Jarno Trulli, followed by Rubens Barrichello and Olivier Panis. On lap 42 Hakkinen goes off at high-speed at Bridge Corner and damages the front wings of the car.
Two laps later the Safety Car is sent out. Schumacher is able to catch back the 40 seconds he has lost to Hakkinen. The race restarts at the end of lap 49 and Schumacher is right behind Hakkinen. The Finn tries to defend his position but goes off at Becketts and loses the lead. Schumacher pulls away at the front but in the final laps is given a time penalty (overtaking under a stationary yellow flag) by the stewards and pits on the very last lap, winning the race in the pitlane.
Hakkinen struggles home second with Irvine third, while Wurz and Fisichella give Benetton fourth and fifth places a lap down and Ralf Schumacher scores Jordan's first point of the year in sixth position.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article British GP Qualifying Stewart-Ford Notes
Next article Benetton British GP Review
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Rubens Barrichello
Which modern Formula 1 driver raced for the most teams?
Formula 1
Formula 1
Which modern Formula 1 driver raced for the most teams?
How ex-F1 racer Rubens Barrichello is still winning races at 52
Formula 1
Formula 1
Emilia Romagna GP
How ex-F1 racer Rubens Barrichello is still winning races at 52
Why illustrious racing dads aren't always an advantage for F1 hopefuls
FIA F3
FIA F3
Why illustrious racing dads aren't always an advantage for F1 hopefuls
More from
Ferrari
Ferrari promotes F2 racer to F1 reserve driver role
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Ferrari promotes F2 racer to F1 reserve driver role
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
WEC
WEC
Barcelona
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
Latest news
Toprak Razgatlioglu to miss the rest MotoGP season due to shoulder injury
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Australian GP
52 min
Toprak Razgatlioglu to miss the rest MotoGP season due to shoulder injury
MotoGP teams told Qatar Grand Prix expected to go ahead
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
1 h
MotoGP teams told Qatar Grand Prix expected to go ahead
Honda confirms Diogo Moreira for factory team in 2027; David Alonso heads to LCR
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP 2 h
Honda confirms Diogo Moreira for factory team in 2027; David Alonso heads to LCR
Vincent Biard: “The Maserati GT2 was thrilling in 2026; next year we want continuity and progress”
Sponsored
Sponsored
Portimão
2 h
Vincent Biard: “The Maserati GT2 was thrilling in 2026; next year we want continuity and progress”
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe