Overview[]
The 1998 Singapore Grand Prix was the sixteenth race of the 1998 FF1M Season.
Report[]
This was a very important race as Michael Schumacher had the opportunity to become a three-time FF1M champion having previously won it in 1992 and 1996 with Pedersen and AquinoPlus. He made the most of his pole position as he stayed in the lead ahead of Juan Pablo Montoya and Jean Alesi. Eddie Irvine made a cracking start from 7th on the grid to be 4th by the end of the first lap.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen was 5th but under pressure from Mika Hakkinen at the beginning of lap 2. Hakkinen got past at Sheares, even if there was a bit of contact. Ralf Schumacher nearly took advantage of the contact but Frentzen held on to 6th, although Ralf moved ahead on the next lap.
On lap 9, Michael held a nine second lead over Montoya and was looking good for the championship with his brother down in 6th. Meanwhile, the two AquinoPlus drivers battled going into Memorial with Fisichella emerging ahead.
During the pitstops, Ralf pressured Irvine for 7th place with both drivers having already made their first stops. The VTR driver ran wide at turn one, giving away the place to Ralf in the process.
Further back, Kenny Brack and Jacques Villeneuve got into an altercation resulting in Brack slamming into the barrier and losing his front wing and Villeneuve spinning in the middle of the track. David Coulthard was the next driver to appear and he couldn’t react quickly enough and hit the Canadian, losing his own front wing.
Irvine was coming under more pressure from Hakkinen. Both drivers ran wide at Sheares and the Pedersen of Barrichello took advantage of both drivers, moving up to 6th. Irvine and Barrichello continued their battle until the Ulsterman pulled off with a transmission failure.
Ralf was running in 5th on lap 46, but he needed to finish ahead of his older brother if he was to stand any chance of remaining in the championship fight, but then coming out of the final corner, he lost it completely when he appeared to veer right into the wall and lost his front right wheel after a heavy impact. Initially, it looked like driver error, but it was confirmed to be a transmission seizure that pitched him into the wall. No matter the cause, it seemed more than likely that Michael would be world champion.
Coulthard and Villeneuve were recovering from their incident and within a lap of each other, they overtook Marc Gene. Shortly after, they would both overtake Bruno Junqueira when the Brazilian driver ran wide at Sheares. Villeneuve would retire later on. Meanwhile, Hakkinen seemed to disappear after his incident with Irvine and made a pitstop from 19th place.
9th-placed Johnny Herbert was closing in on Mika Salo for the final point and the Brit dummied the Finn into turn 7 and took the position. Both drivers then moved up a position when Barrichello lost 4th place with a transmission problem. Alesi inherited that 4th place until Damon Hill barged his way past at Stamford.
Michael only needed to score three more points than Ralf to become the champion but he did it in the best possible way by taking an emphatic win, and Dodgem’s first drivers and teams titles. Frentzen utilised a one-stop strategy to finish a superb 2nd ahead of Montoya. Hill finished 4th ahead of Alesi, who couldn’t capitalise on his 3rd place in qualifying. Jos Verstappen was 6th ahead of Herbert and Salo.
Qualifying[]
Conditions: Dry
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Tyre | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 |  Michael Schumacher
|
 Dodgem-Ferrari (W)
|
|
1:38.222 | |
| 2 | 21 |  Juan Pablo Montoya
|
Mason-Mercedes
|
|
1:38.282 | +0.060 |
| 3 | 4 |  Jean Alesi
|
 Gui Racing-Ford (W)
|
|
1:38.388 | +0.166 |
| 4 | 17 |  Mika Hakkinen
|
Dodgem-Ferrari (W)
|
|
1:38.554 | +0.332 |
| 5 | 6 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen
|
FJR-Mecachrome
|
|
1:38.611 | +0.389 |
| 6 | 15 | Rubens Barrichello
|
 Pedersen-Mercedes (W)
|
|
1:38.723 | +0.501 |
| 7 | 3 | Ralf Schumacher
|
Gui Racing-Ford (W)
|
|
1:38.764 | +0.542 |
| 8 | 7 | Eddie Irvine
|
VTR-Mecachrome
|
|
1:38.840 | +0.618 |
| 9 | 5 |  Jos Verstappen
|
FJR-Mecachrome
|
|
1:38.863 | +0.641 |
| 10 | 12 | Mika Salo
|
AquinoPlus-Peugeot (W)
|
|
1:39.128 | +0.906 |
| 11 | 14 |  Jacques Villeneuve
|
Pedersen-Mercedes (W)
|
|
1:39.148 | +0.926 |
| 12 | 20 | David Coulthard
|
Mason-Mercedes
|
|
1:39.469 | +1.247 |
| 13 | 1 | Damon Hill
|
Willow Images-Ferrari
|
|
1:39.558 | +1.336 |
| 14 | 18 |  Alexander Wurz
|
J Racing-Ford
|
|
1:39.758 | +1.536 |
| 15 | 8 | Johnny Herbert
|
VTR-Mecachrome
|
|
1:40.186 | +1.964 |
| 16 | 22 | Jan Magnussen
|
Dark Wolf-Mugen Honda
|
|
1:40.452 | +2.230 |
| 17 | 2 |  Kenny Brack
|
Willow Images-Ferrari
|
|
1:40.499 | +2.277 |
| 18 | 23 | Mark Blundell
|
Dark Wolf-Mugen Honda
|
|
1:49.690 | +2.468 |
| 19 | 11 |  Giancarlo Fisichella
|
AquinoPlus-Peugeot (W)
|
|
1:40.879 | +2.657 |
| 20 | 10 |  Marc Gene
|
Maestro-Peugeot
|
|
1:41.232 | +3.010 |
| 21 | 19 | Olivier Panis
|
J Racing-Ford
|
|
1:41.590 | +3.368 |
| 22 | 9 | Bruno Junqueira
|
Maestro-Peugeot
|
|
1:41.741 | +3.519 |
Race[]
Conditions: Dry
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Tyre | Time/Retired | Grid | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | Michael Schumacher
|
Dodgem-Ferrari (W)
|
|
1:43:11.174 | 1 | 12 |
| 2 | 6 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen
|
FJR-Mecachrome
|
|
+12.129 | 5 | 8 |
| 3 | 21 | Juan Pablo Montoya
|
Mason-Mercedes
|
|
+56.113 | 2 | 6 |
| 4 | 1 | Damon Hill
|
Willow Images-Ferrari
|
|
+1:17.255 | 13 | 5 |
| 5 | 4 | Jean Alesi
|
Gui Racing-Ford (W)
|
|
+1:23.529 | 3 | 4 |
| 6 | 5 | Jos Verstappen
|
FJR-Mecachrome
|
|
+1:29.387 | 9 | 3 |
| 7 | 8 | Johnny Herbert
|
VTR-Mecachrome
|
|
+1 Lap | 15 | 2 |
| 8 | 12 | Mika Salo
|
AquinoPlus-Peugeot (W)
|
|
+1 Lap | 10 | 1 |
| 9 | 18 | Alexander Wurz
|
J Racing-Ford
|
|
+1 Lap | 14 | |
| 10 | 11 | Giancarlo Fisichella
|
AquinoPlus-Peugeot (W)
|
|
+1 Lap | 19 | |
| 11 | 23 | Mark Blundell
|
Dark Wolf-Mugen Honda
|
|
+1 Lap | 18 | |
| 12 | 20 | David Coulthard
|
Mason-Mercedes
|
|
+1 Lap | 12 | |
| 13 | 22 | Jan Magnussen
|
Dark Wolf-Mugen Honda
|
|
+1 Lap | 16 | |
| 14 | 9 | Bruno Junqueira
|
Maestro-Peugeot
|
|
+1 Lap | 22 | |
| 15 | 10 | Marc Gene
|
Maestro-Peugeot
|
|
+1 Lap | 20 | |
| 16 | 17 | Mika Hakkinen
|
Dodgem-Ferrari (W)
|
|
+1 Lap | 4 | |
| 17 | 2 | Kenny Brack
|
Willow Images-Ferrari
|
|
+2 Laps | 17 | |
| 18 | 14 | Jacques Villeneuve
|
Pedersen-Mercedes (W)
|
|
+7 Laps/Retired | 11 | |
| Ret | 15 | Rubens Barrichello
|
Pedersen-Mercedes (W)
|
|
Transmission | 6 | |
| Ret | 3 | Ralf Schumacher
|
Gui Racing-Ford (W)
|
|
Transmission | 7 | |
| Ret | 7 | Eddie Irvine
|
VTR-Mecachrome
|
|
Transmission | 8 | |
| Ret | 19 | Olivier Panis
|
J Racing-Ford
|
|
Accident | 21 |
Driver of the Day: Michael Schumacher
Fastest Laps[]
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Tyre | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 | Michael Schumacher
|
Dodgem-Ferrari (W)
|
|
1:39.345 | |
| 2 | 3 | Ralf Schumacher
|
Gui Racing-Ford (W)
|
|
1:39.943 | +0.592 |
| 3 | 1 | Damon Hill
|
Willow Images-Ferrari
|
|
1:40.001 | +0.656 |
| 4 | 6 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen
|
FJR-Mecachrome
|
|
1:40.002 | +0.657 |
| 5 | 14 | Jacques Villeneuve
|
Pedersen-Mercedes (W)
|
|
1:40.135 | +0.790 |
| 6 | 17 | Mika Hakkinen
|
Dodgem-Ferrari (W)
|
|
1:40.201 | +0.856 |
| 7 | 21 | Juan Pablo Montoya
|
Mason-Mercedes
|
|
1:40.245 | +0.900 |
| 8 | 4 | Jean Alesi
|
Gui Racing-Ford (W)
|
|
1:40.419 | +1.074 |
| 9 | 7 | Eddie Irvine
|
VTR-Mecachrome
|
|
1:40.495 | +1.150 |
| 10 | 20 | David Coulthard
|
Mason-Mercedes
|
|
1:40.502 | +1.157 |
| 11 | 15 | Rubens Barrichello
|
Pedersen-Mercedes (W)
|
|
1:40.564 | +1.219 |
| 12 | 5 | Jos Verstappen
|
FJR-Mecachrome
|
|
1:40.571 | +1.226 |
| 13 | 18 | Alexander Wurz
|
J Racing-Ford
|
|
1:40.609 | +1.264 |
| 14 | 8 | Johnny Herbert
|
VTR-Mecachrome
|
|
1:41.079 | +1.734 |
| 15 | 11 | Giancarlo Fisichella
|
AquinoPlus-Peugeot (W)
|
|
1:41.130 | +1.785 |
| 16 | 10 | Marc Gene
|
Maestro-Peugeot
|
|
1:41.680 | +2.335 |
| 17 | 12 | Mika Salo
|
AquinoPlus-Peugeot (W)
|
|
1:41.721 | +2.376 |
| 18 | 9 | Bruno Junqueira
|
Maestro-Peugeot
|
|
1:42.076 | +2.731 |
| 19 | 23 | Mark Blundell
|
Dark Wolf-Mugen Honda
|
|
1:42.336 | +2.991 |
| 20 | 2 | Kenny Brack
|
Willow Images-Ferrari
|
|
1:42.448 | +3.103 |
| 21 | 22 | Jan Magnussen
|
Dark Wolf-Mugen Honda
|
|
1:42.562 | +3.217 |
| 22 | 19 | Olivier Panis
|
J Racing-Ford
|
|
1:46.910 | +7.565 |
Championship Standings[]
| Drivers Championship | Teams Championship | Engine Trophy | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Driver | Pts. | Wins | -/+ | Pos. | Team | Pts. | Wins | -/+ | Pos. | Engine | Pts. | Wins | -/+ |
| 1 | Michael Schumacher
|
124 | 7 | = | 1 | Dodgem-Ferrari (W)
|
167 | 8 | = | 1 | Ferrari
|
223 | 10 | = |
| 2 | Ralf Schumacher
|
102 | 5 | = | 2 | Gui Racing-Ford (W)
|
124 | 5 | = | 2 |  Ford
|
142 | 5 | = |
| 3 | Damon Hill
|
58 | 2 | = | 3 | Pedersen-Mercedes (W)
|
82 | = | 3 | Mercedes
|
121 | 1 | = | |
| 4 | Mika Hakkinen
|
43 | 1 | = | 4 | VTR-Mecachrome
|
66 | = | 4 | Mecachrome
|
115 | = | ||
| 5 | Eddie Irvine
|
42 | = | 5 | FJR-Mecachrome
|
63 |  1
|
5 | Peugeot
|
18 | = | |||
| 6 | Jacques Villeneuve
|
41 | = | 6 | Willow Images-Ferrari
|
58 | 2 |  1
|
6 |  Mugen Honda
|
3 | = | ||