The 1998 Brazilian Grand Prix was the second round of the 1998 FF1M Season. It was posted on August 5th 2009. The race was the maiden victory for Ralf Schumacher, driving for Gui Racing - Ford.
Qualifying[]
Results[]
Race Starting Grid Brazil - Interlagos 1998 (72 Laps) 1 Pole Michael Schumacher 2 1m 15.506s Mika Hakkinen 1m 15.642s 3 Row 2 Ralf Schumacher 4 1m 15.778s Jacques Villeneuve 1m 15.948s 5 Row 3 Rubens Barrichello 6 1m 15.957s Allan McNish 1m 16.086s 7 Row 4 Juan-Pablo Montoya 8 1m 16.179s Jean Alesi 1m 16.330s 9 Row 5 Giancarlo Fisichella 10 1m 16.551s Alexander Wurz 1m 16.737s 11 Row 6 Jos Verstappen 12 1m 16.989s Jan Magnussen 1m 17.039s 13 Row 7 Eddie Irvine 14 1m 17.066s Damon Hill 1m 17.084s 15 Row 8 David Coulthard 16 1m 17.088s Mika Salo 1m 17.204s 17 Row 9 Johnny Herbert 18 1m 17.295s Olivier Panis 1m 17.380s 19 Row 10 Marc Gene 20 1m 17.387s Bruno Junqueira 1m 17.588s 21 Row 11 Mark Blundell 22 1m 17.688s Kenny Brack 1m 18.147s
Race[]
thumb|right|300pxReport[]
Pole-sitter Michael Schumacher got off to a flying start and led into the first corner. But as in Australia, Mika Hakkinen got a poor start and dropped to 5th place behind a quick starting Villeneuve, Ralf Schumacher and Allan McNish. Villeneuve’s 2nd place lasted until turn 4 when Ralf Schumacher outbraked the Canadian.
Michael was immediately under pressure at the end of the first lap from his brother. Villeneuve wasn’t too far behind either. The gap between the three drivers was only half a second. Ralf tried to take the lead off Michael at the end of the back straight on the second lap, but the Dodgem driver held on around the outside.
The other Dodgem driver was struggling as first Juan Pablo Montoya overtook Hakkinen for 5th place at the start of lap 2, and then Barrichello slipstreamed past the Finn on the back straight. Then unseen by the cameras, the Brazilian mysteriously dropped down to 8th behind Alex Wurz.
After many unsuccessful attempts to overtake his brother, Ralf finally took the lead going into the Ferra Dura. As Ralf immediately pulled away from Michael, rumours circulated around that Michael was on a much heavier fuel load than Ralf and Villeneuve. On the next lap at the same corner, Villeneuve powered past the Dodgem driver.
Further down the field, Oliver Panis outbraked Giancarlo Fisichella for 13th place. Giancarlo was lucky not to lose any more places as the battling VTR’s were not too far behind. The battle for 4th was also heating up as Montoya passed McNish going into the Ferra Dura.
It wasn’t all brilliant for Gui Racing as Jean Alesi parked his car with a transmission failure on lap 20. Also in trouble was Alex Wurz who spun out of 9th place and into retirement.
Michael Schumacher retook the lead from Ralf when the Gui Racing car came in for its first stop, but on lap 32, Michael spun at the first corner after suffering a puncture and retired on the spot. The final retirement was on lap 60 in the form of a suspension problem for Jos Verstappen.
After benefiting from his brother’s retirement, Ralf Schumacher was clear to take his first career victory in FF1M ahead of Jacques Villeneuve in the Pedersen. Hakkinen salvaged some consolation for Dodgem as he came in 3rd place. Allan McNish drove steadily to finish 4th ahead of Montoya, who scored Mason’s first career points. Barrichello, Hill and Irvine completed the points scorers.
Results[]
Race Results Brazil - Interlagos 1998 (72 Laps) Pos Driver Time/Speed 1st Ralf Schumacher 1h 34m 10.656s Gui Racing-Ford 2nd Jacques Villeneuve +14.540s Pedersen-Mercedes 3rd Mika Hakkinen +28.874s Dodgem-Ferrari 4th Allan McNish +44.664s FJR-Mecachrome 5th Juan-Pablo Montoya +49.279s Mason Mspt-Mercedes 6th Rubens Barrichello +58.752s Pedersen-Mercedes 7th Damon Hill +59.637s Willow Image-Ferrari 8th Eddie Irvine +1m 01.423s VTR-Mecachrome 9th Giancarlo Fisichella -1 Lap AquinoPlus-Peugeot 10th Jan Magnussen -1 Lap Dark Wolf-Mugen 11th David Coulthard -1 Lap Mason Mspt-Mercedes 12th Johnny Herbert -1 Lap VTR-Mecachrome 13th Mika Salo -1 Lap AquinoPlus-Peugeot 14th Olivier Panis -1 Lap J Racing-Ford 15th Mark Blundell -1 Lap Dark Wolf-Mugen 16th Bruno Junqueira -1 Lap Maestro Mspt-Peugeot 17th Kenny Brack -1 Lap Willow Image-Ferrari 18th Jos Verstappen Suspension FJR-Mecachrome 19th Michael Schumacher Puncture Dodgem-Ferrari 20th Alexander Wurz Didn't Finish J Racing-Ford 21st Jean Alesi Transmission Gui Racing-Ford 22nd Marc Gene Oil Leak Maestro Mspt-Peugeot
Fastest Laps[]
Driver Best Laps Brazil - Interlagos 1998 (72 Laps) Pos Driver Best Lap 1st Ralf Schumacher 1m 16.632s Gui Racing-Ford 2nd Jacques Villeneuve +0.026s Pedersen-Mercedes 3rd Mika Hakkinen +0.383s Dodgem-Ferrari 4th Juan-Pablo Montoya +0.461s Mason Mspt-Mercedes 5th Michael Schumacher +0.834s Dodgem-Ferrari 6th Damon Hill +0.987s Willow Image-Ferrari 7th Eddie Irvine +0.995s VTR-Mecachrome 8th Allan McNish +1.040s FJR-Mecachrome 9th Giancarlo Fisichella +1.159s AquinoPlus-Peugeot 10th Johnny Herbert +1.189s VTR-Mecachrome 11th Jos Verstappen +1.229s FJR-Mecachrome 12th Rubens Barrichello +1.291s Pedersen-Mercedes 13th Olivier Panis +1.323s J Racing-Ford 14th David Coulthard +1.488s Mason Mspt-Mercedes 15th Alexander Wurz +1.513s J Racing-Ford 16th Bruno Junqueira +1.534s Maestro Mspt-Peugeot 17th Mark Blundell +1.665s Dark Wolf-Mugen 18th Jan Magnussen +1.675s Dark Wolf-Mugen 19th Mika Salo +1.722s AquinoPlus-Peugeot 20th Kenny Brack +1.811s Willow Image-Ferrari 21st Jean Alesi +1.816s Gui Racing-Ford 22nd Marc Gene +2.207s Maestro Mspt-Peugeot