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GP summaries available for the first 7 Grands Prix.

1999 18. Olivier Panis 19. Jarno Trulli
Date GP Circuit Fri. Qual. Result Remarks Fri. Qual. Result Remarks
3/7 AUS Melbourne 15 20 R26/57 wheel nut 8 12 R28/57 crash
4/11 BR Interlagos 9 12 6 -1 lap 7 13 R21/72 transmission
5/2 RSM Imola 12 11 R48/62 throttle 10 14 R01/62 spun
5/16 MC Monte Carlo 3 17 R40/80 engine 12 7 7 -1 lap
5/30 ESP Barcelona 14 15 R24/65 gearbox 13 9 6 -1 lap
6/13 CAN Montreal 15 15 9 -1 lap 11 9 R01/69 crash
6/27 F Magny-Cours 16 3 8 +0:57.771 15 8 7 +0:58.531
7/11 GBR Silverstone 22 15 13 +1:20.492 16 13 9 +1:12.045
7/25 AUT Zeltweg 19 18 10 -1 lap 17 13 7 -1 lap
8/1 D Hockenheim 6 7 6 +0:29.873 1 9 R10/45 engine
8/15 H Hungaroring 12 14 10 -1 lap 18 13 8 -1 lap
8/29 B Spa-Francorchamps 13 17 13 1:41.543 20 12 12 +1:36.154
9/12 I Monza 6* 10 11 -1 lap 2 12 R29/53 gearbox
9/26 EUP Nurburgring 3 5 9 -1 lap 9 10 2 +0:22.618
10/17 MAL Kuala Lumpur 13 12 R05/56 engine 15 18 DNS engine
10/31 J Suzuka 6 6 R19/53 alternator 19 7 R03/53
* Panis' best time was disqualified for cutting a chicane and his position dropped from 4th to 6th.
Drivers Championship table
Hakkinen (McLaren)76
Irvine (Ferrari)74
Frentzen (Jordan)54
Coulthard (McLaren)48
M.Schumacher (Ferrari)44
R.Schumacher (Williams)35
Barrichello (Stewart)21
Herbert (Stewart)15
Fisichella (Benetton)13
Salo (Ferrari)10
Hill (Jordan)7
Trulli (Prost)7
Wurz (Benetton)3
Diniz (Sauber)3
Panis (Prost)2
Alesi (Sauber)2
De La Rosa (Arrows)1
Gene (Minardi)1
 Constructors Championship table
Ferrari128
McLaren124
Jordan-Mugen61
Stewart-Ford36
William-Supertec35
Benetton-Playlife16
Prost-Peugeot9
Sauber-Petronas5
Arrows TWR1
Minardi-Ford1

Australian GP Highlights

Friday Practice
Trulli was 5th in the first session and finished as 8th after the second session with 1.33.870. Panis was 15th with 1.34.693. The McLarens were nearly a second ahead of the third with David Coulthard leading with 1.31.971 and Mika Hakkinen second on 1.31.985. Mika span into the tyrewall but walked away unhurt.

Saturday Qualifying
The McLarens are again too strong to beat. Hakkinen took pole with 1.30.462, 0.484 second ahead of Coulthard. Michael Schumacher was third with 1.31.781 followed by Stewart's Barrichello. But Herbert in another Stewart was only 13th. Prost had Trulli at 12th with 1.32.971 and Panis at 20th with 1.35.068. New boy Gene was outside the 107% line.

The Race
Gene was allowed to start and a collision with him ended Trulli's race. Both Stewarts smoked after the formation lap. Barrichello started from the pitlane in Stewart's only spare car and Johnny Herbert was out. Michael Schumacher too could not start and thus started from the back of the grid. Damon Hill tried to pass Trulli on the outside but Trulli was not giving way and sent him out of the race. Villeneuve span and the safety car came out. Hakkinen lost his 17-second lead over Irvine, and when the safety car was gone, he had throttle problem and was out of contention. Trulli was in third place when the safety car appeared the second time. He had a touch with a Benetton but managed to continue. A car lost control in front of Gene and Gene slowed down and Trulli did not manage to avoid hitting him and they were both out.

Panis planned a one-stop stratety aiming at a top 6 position. But a wheel nut seized up on Lap 26 and that's that. Eddie Irvine won his first race followed by Frentzen and Ralf Schumacher and Fisichella. Barrichello and De La Rosa got a great point-finish. Together with Takagi and Michael Schumacher only 8 cars finished the race. Michael went hard from behind and often went over the kerb. He got a puncture eventually but was lucky enough to be near to the pit entrance. Later he had electronic problem. He went into the pit but went straight out. One lap later he did pit and took a new steering wheel. His Ferrari flied again and he pushed again though he was 50 seconds behind Takagi. I don't know but I don't think he had anything to prove. He didn't seem to have control over his emotion...

Brazilian GP Hightlights

Friday Practice
Trulli and Panis were 7th and 9th respectively in Friday's practice. Their times were 1:20.359 and 1:20.562, which was some one and a half second off the pace of Mika Hakkinen. Prost's test driver, Stephane Sarrazin, got a drive for Minardi to replace injured Badoer. He was 20th in the practice.

Saturday Qualifying
Ricardo Zonta had a bad crash in the morning which brought an adrupt end to Saturday's free practice. Prost were thus unable to make improvements on their qualifying setup. Panis qualified 12th with 1:18.623 and Trulli 13th with 1:18.684. Sarrazin was 17th with 1:20.016, almost 0.7 seconds ahead of the other Minardi. Jacques had his best time disqualified due to illegal fuel. Hakkinen and Coulthard were on the front row as expected, but it was Stewart's Barrichello who stole the show by qualifying third in front of Michael Schumacher.

The Race
Despite a 10-second penalty for a jump-start and stalling in his first tyre stop, Olivier Panis managed to finish 6th to give Prost their first championship point in 1999. Jarno Trulli was in a solid 9th place but retired with transmission failure on lap 21. Jarno planned a one-stop strategy and was looking good to finish in the points. Sarrazin had a crash which threw him into a fierce yoyo spin. He walked away unhurt. (Evidence that Minardi had their CG very much in the middle. :)

Coulthard stalled at the start and finally retired. Hakkinen failed to get a gear and dropped behind Barrichello and Schumacher. Barrichello was fourth after his first stop but soon retired. Hakkinen regained the lead when Schumacher pitted, and led all the way to the chequered flag. Schumacher's Ferrari barely kept the 5-second gap with Hakkinen and finished second, followed by another German Frentzen and brother Ralf. Irvine's fifth place keeps him on top of the Drivers' Championship Table.

San Marino GP Hightlights

Friday Practice
Trulli was 10th with 1:29.808 and Panis was 12th with 1:30.408. The McLarens were still dominating, with Hakkinen at top with 1:28.467.

Saturday Qualifying
Panis' engine blew in his first lap but he made a good 11th in the spare car with 1:28.205. Trulli had electrical problem and only completed a few laps, placing himself at 14th with 1:28.403. The McLarens were on the front row again but Michael Schumacher was a close third, followed by Irvine and the outstanding Villeneuve and Barrichello.

The Race
Trulli started well but had a touch with another car. He span and stalled and his race was over. Panis lost some places due to Villeneuve's stalling on the grid, got back the rhythm but had a spin, recovered and made the 5th best lap time, but had a touch with Fisichella and after his 2nd stop he looked good for at least a finish. A throttle problem ended his race. Certainly not a good weekend for Prost. Michael Schumacher took his first win of the season, Ferrari's first Imola win in 16 years, being able to stay in front of David Coulthard after his second pit stop. Coulthard was on one stop. Hakkinen, who was pulling away fast from pole, made a mistake and span out on lap 17. Barrichello, Hill, Fisichella and Alesi were 3rd to 6th in that order.

Monaco GP Highlights

Thursday Practice
The three previous winners clocked the best times. Michael Schumacher got a confident 1:22.718. Defending champion Mika Hakkinen 0.136 second behind. Olivier Panis was a brilliant third with 1:23.318 in front of Eddie Irvine. Trulli was 12th with 1:23.958.

Saturday Qualifying
Panis qualified 17th but had to start on 18th having received a push from the marshalls for safety reason. It reminded me of the 10s stop-go penalty on Alain in Hockenheim'93 for cutting through a chicane. Alain was just trying to avoid a collision with the spinning Martin Brundle. He still won that race, however. Trulli qualified 8th with a good 1:21.769. Ferrari dominated most of the session but the last lap effort of Hakkinen and Coulthard put their McLarens 1st and 3rd on the grid, separating Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine.

The Race
The Prosts were among the very few who planned a 2-pit-stop strategy. Trulli was in a promising 7th but he locked up his rear wheels and lost some good time in the escape area. Wurz took over 7th place and Barrichello's crash put him in the points. Trulli thus finished 7th. Panis had a engine failure and was out on lap 40.

Michael Schumacher led from start to finish. Hakkinen had a lot of wheel spin at the start and gone was the advantage of being on pole. Eddie Irvine took second place after the pitstop and that was Ferrari's 1-2 finish. Hakkinen, Frentzen, Fisichella, Wurz, Trulli and Zanardi were 3rd to 8th. No other cars finished the race.

The win put Michael level with Alain Prost in number of wins in Monte Carlo (4). Only Graham Hill's 5 and Ayrton Senna's 6 lie ahead.

Spanish GP Highlights

Friday Practice
Trulli and Panis were 13th and 14th with 1:24.957 and 1:25.140 respectively. Irvine, Frentzen and M.Schumacher led the practice while the McLarens were testing different setups.

Saturday Qualifying
Trulli got a good 9th position on grid with 1:23.194. Panis was 15th with 1:23.559. Hakkinen got pole very late again in front of Irvine, Coulthard and M.Schumacher. Alesi and Villeneuve were 5th and 6th. Impressive. Almost all drivers complained about the lack of grip.

The Race
Trulli got an excellent 6th place and a championship point in a uneventful race. Panis stalled on the grid at the start and retired on lap 24 with gearbox problem. Jacques Villeneuve jumped to third behind the McLarens at the start. He stayed in front of Michael Schumacher until they pitted together and Michael came out third.

Villeneuve stalled in his second pit and was out, leaving the front six cars well separated. M.Schumacher chased Coulthard hard for second place in vain. The battle for 6th place was fierce. Barrichello was right up behind Trulli and Hill caught Barrichello fast after his pitstop. The trio brought some trouble to the front runners. Hill took the chance to overtake Barrichello, but Trulli defended his sixth place well. Afterall all drivers found it difficult to overtake with the lack of grip.

So Trulli finished 6th behind Hakkinen, Coulthard, M.Schumacher, Irvine and R.Schumacher. Barrichello got disqualified from his 8th position due to a wooden plank not fixed properly to the car.

FIA President, Max Mosley, threatened the drivers to stop complaining about the lack of grip brought by the grooved tyres. I don't know what is in his mind. He thinks it is safer to drive on ice because the driver will drive more slowly??? What stupid logic is this??!!

Canadian GP Highlight

Friday Practice
Despite running 6th in the morning, Panis could not improve much in the afternoon and had to settle for 15th with 1:22.892. Trulli was 11th with 1:22.454. Alesi was an amazing 4th behind Irvine, Coulthard and M.Schuamcher.

Saturday Qualifying
Trulli qualified 9th with 1:20.557. Panis was 15th with 1:21.252. M.Schumacher got pole with 1:19.298 ahead of Hakkinen, Irvine, Coulthard and Barrichello.

The Race
In the first corner, Trulli, in avoiding hitting Frentzen who braked hard in front of him, slid across the grass and rammed Barrichello's Stewart into Alesi's Sauber. Trulli and Alesi were out, while Barrichello retired on lap 14. Panis' luck was not any better. The anti-stall came on at the start and put Panis behind everyone. He worked his way up after that was clear and finished 9th, 1 lap behind. M.Schumacher threw away his lead from pole when he hit the wall on lap 29. He also lost his lead in the championship table as Hakkien inherited the lead and took the chequered flag unchallenged. Frentzen who was in 2nd place had a bad crash 4 laps from finish. The pace car came out and the race ended under yellow flag - the first time in F1 history. Frentzen had a mild concussion, a bruised knee and shoulder but was said to be fit for the French GP.

French GP Highlights

Friday Practice
The testing at Magny-Cours the week before did not run smooth for Prost. In the practice session today they studied the race set-up. Trulli was 15th with 1:20.121. Panis was 16th with 1:20.285. Ferrai did not run in the morning but got 1st and 2nd. M.Schumacher was the only one within 1:18. McLaren's Hakkinen and Coulthard were 3rd and 4th respectively.

Saturday Qualifying
Usual front runners had chosen to wait for better conditions, but it rained heavier and heavier. The result was that we would see Barrichello and Alesi on the front row followed by Panis. Panis' time was 1:40.400. Trulli was 8th with 1:42.096 behind Coulthard, Frentzen, M.Schumacher and Fisichella. Hill, the Minardi drivers and the Arrows drivers did not qualify within the 107% rules. But it is likely that FIA would let them race.