How McLaren's pace went to waste at the 1999 Australian Grand Prix

Eddie Irvine won the 1999 Australian Grand Prix at the Albert Park Circuit, the first Grand Prix victory of his career, after both McLaren drivers who had dominated the weekend dropped out. The race opened the 50th World Championship season in Formula One history. A red flag, an aborted start, two safety car periods and a run of mechanical failures shaped the order behind him.

Why did McLaren's speed mean so little at Albert Park?

McLaren's MP4/14 was the quickest car at the 1999 Australian Grand Prix by a clear margin, with Mika Hakkinen on pole and David Coulthard alongside him. Both cars were quick but unproven on reliability, a weakness also seen in several cars designed by Adrian Newey. Hakkinen and Coulthard both retired with technical problems, leaving the race open.

The pace was genuine rather than a qualifying trick. Hakkinen took the Friday lead halfway through the first session and kept the top spot through much of the weekend. On Saturday his best time of 1 minute and 30.324 seconds was six-tenths quicker than Coulthard's, and it put him 2.2 seconds clear of Johnny Herbert, the third-fastest driver.

Coulthard was never far away. He kept pace all through Saturday, and in qualifying he pushed Hakkinen's provisional time so hard that he missed the pole by a single thousandth of a second. Taken together, the two McLarens ran more than a second quicker than anybody else over the weekend, which made the rest of the field look like a separate contest.

Both McLarens were quicker than anyone all weekend, and neither was still running at the flag.

Newcomers and returnees at the back of the field

Frentzen was the first car out on Friday and initially topped the list, before Hakkinen took over halfway through the opening session. Hakkinen's best of 1 minute and 33.213 seconds was followed by Coulthard in second. The Stewart team looked strong, with Barrichello and Herbert finishing sixth and seventh behind Frentzen, Giancarlo Fisichella and Jarno Trulli.

Marc Gene, Pedro de la Rosa and Ricardo Zonta were making their debuts, while Alessandro Zanardi and Luca Badoer were returning to the sport's top class. They were all at the back of the timesheet in that opening session. The final two places went to Olivier Panis and Michael Schumacher, who both had technical problems and managed only a handful of laps before stopping.

Damon Hill, Alexander Wurz and Badoer had small moments off the track but kept going. After the break Zonta's transmission failed, and he finished the session last, just behind de la Rosa, Gene and Badoer. Zonta was the BAR teammate of Villeneuve, and his weekend started badly in a car that rarely got past the early laps.

How did Friday practice end with a red flag?

Friday's first red flag came when Mika Hakkinen crashed into the wall before the main straight during the second session. The McLaren was badly damaged, his practice ended there, and the session was stopped for 15 minutes. Several other drivers ran wide during the day, and the Sauber team had more serious problems than most.

Before the crash Hakkinen had reset the order with a lap of 1 minute and 31.985 seconds, after Coulthard had been fastest for a short while. On his next attempt he spun. Once the track was cleared Coulthard edged Hakkinen's best time by one hundredth of a second in the final minute, which left the session close even with the leading McLaren out.

Michael Schumacher went out first after the break but could only manage seventh, more than 1.5 seconds away from the McLarens. Coulthard, Frentzen, Hill, Ralf Schumacher and Zanardi all went off the track again during the session. Pedro Diniz pulled up on track, cautiously, when warning lights appeared, and Jean Alesi hit the wall.

What did qualifying decide on Saturday?

Mika Hakkinen took pole with 1 minute and 30.462 seconds, about half a second in front of David Coulthard in the other McLaren. Michael Schumacher qualified third and Barrichello fourth, with the two McLarens sharing the front row, which was no surprise after their practice form.

Saturday morning practice had already hinted at the order. Ralf Schumacher set the first quick time, and Coulthard took over with three improvements to 1 minute and 31.140 seconds. Villeneuve, who beat Michael Schumacher, finished ahead of his BAR teammate Zonta, who managed just three laps.

Hakkinen did not get it all his own way.His first run was spoiled by a mistake, and he then found a firm lead with 1 minute and 31.063 seconds before his final attempt. Coulthard was two-tenths slower on his best run and went into the gravel, though he recovered and carried on. Michael Schumacher improved to 1 minute and 31.781 seconds and was the best of the rest.

Herbert was the first driver out and set a time, and Zanardi followed with a marginally quicker lap on his fourth consecutive fast effort. Barrichello then took the lead of the session until the McLarens came out. Villeneuve was briefly third fastest, but Barrichello and Michael Schumacher both beat him. Michael Schumacher also went off the track three times, a habit he shared with several drivers.

Barrichello qualified fourth behind Michael Schumacher, a result that impressed. Zanardi qualified 15th, Alesi 16th and Panis 20th, and many drivers had struggled with the lower grip of the new 4-grooved front tyres during practice. Marc Gene's session ended in the gravel. His time of 1 minute 37.013 seconds left him 0.039 seconds outside the 107 percent limit of 1 minute and 36.974 seconds, set by Hakkinen's very fast final lap. The Minardi team asked for leniency, and the stewards let him start on the strength of his free practice times.

A warm-up with trouble and an aborted start

Coulthard was quickest in the pre-race warm-up with 1 minute and 32.560 seconds, just a tenth of a second up on Hakkinen. Panis beat his qualifying time, but the session was messy. Hill's throttle stuck open and he went straight into the tyre barriers, while Zanardi swapped to the spare car after electrical problems. Alesi and Zonta made contact, with Zonta attempting a move that Alesi shut down.

The grid then fell into disarray. Smoke was seen from both Stewart cars, where an oil leak had set a small fire underneath the bodywork of Barrichello's and Herbert's cars. The start was aborted and the flames were extinguished. Barrichello would start from the pit lane in the spare car, and Herbert was the first car to drop out of the race.

Hakkinen's problems were of a different kind. He had been in the pits when the other drivers went to the dummy grid, and the team gave him the spare car at the last minute. On the new warm-up lap his McLaren was started while still in gear, and Schumacher's engine stalled when his gearbox jumped out of neutral. Hakkinen got under way before the final car had cleared the grid and kept pole, while Schumacher and Takagi had to start at the back.

How did the race unfold after the restart?

Hakkinen led the restart from pole, followed by Coulthard, Irvine, Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher and Fisichella. Coulthard retired after thirteen laps with transmission trouble, and Hakkinen pulled in after a slow lap with a throttle fault. Irvine inherited the lead, and the result came down to which cars survived.

Early on, Trulli made a strong start from twelfth and tried to pass Hill at turn three. The cars touched. Hill ended up in the gravel and was out, while Trulli continued and took seventh from Villeneuve on the following lap. Michael Schumacher had already climbed to eleventh after only nine laps, and Zanardi had dropped back to 21st by lap two.

Villeneuve's rear wing came off along the back straight, and after a series of high-speed spins he brushed the wall gently. That brought out the first safety car, which ran for three laps while his car was removed. Diniz, Zonta and Badoer took the chance to pit under it.

When racing resumed on lap 18, Hakkinen's car would not accelerate cleanly and bunched up the cars behind him. Others steered around the struggling McLaren. Barrichello was later penalised with a stop-and-go for passing Schumacher before the line. He said afterwards that the pass had been accidental, made while avoiding a collision.

On lap 19 Zanardi crashed, which brought out a second safety car period. Racing resumed on lap 25 with Irvine ahead of Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher, Michael Schumacher and Diniz. Schumacher then had a puncture on lap 27 and returned to the pits, where vibration had damaged his front wing. The wing was replaced with one that had been prepared for Irvine's car and was marked with a 4.

Diniz retired from fourth on lap 28 with a transmission failure. Zonta later had his rear wing checked with eleven laps to go, then slowed with gearbox problems. Barrichello passed de la Rosa for fifth on lap 43, and the order behind the leaders settled.

The finishing order at Albert Park

Irvine led from the restart to the flag. Frentzen was only a few seconds behind at the finish, and his second place gave Jordan a strong start with its new driver. Hakkinen and Coulthard, the two fastest men all weekend, were both out of the race before it ended.

Zonta's race added a late twist. After his rear wing was checked he rejoined just ahead of Irvine, held the leader up for two laps, and then slowed with gearbox problems. Irvine stayed in front throughout, and the spell in traffic was the last real obstacle on his way to the flag.

What the 1999 opener meant for the season

The race was a reminder that outright speed does not count for much if the car does not reach the end. The McLaren MP4/14 had led the timing sheets across the weekend, yet neither car was running at the flag. Irvine, who had never won a Grand Prix before, kept his Ferrari running for the full distance.

Schumacher's afternoon was a study in damage limitation. He started from the back after his stall, lost time to the puncture and the front wing change, and then drove through the pit lane without stopping. Frentzen's second place showed that his move to Jordan had begun well, and de la Rosa scored a point on his debut.

The race turned on reliability. The new McLaren and several other cars showed that outright pace was not enough to reach the flag.