The year is 1998. It’s the height of “Britpop”, Tony Blair has just become Prime Minister and Jacques Villeneuve is the new Formula 1 World Champion.
Williams driver Villeneuve, triumphed in 1997, following the infamous showdown with Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher, where the German attempted to take the French-Canadian out of the final race in Jerez.
The move failed, Martin Brundle on commentary exclaiming, “You hit the wrong part of him, my friend!"
Villeneuve crossed the line third, behind the silver McLaren’s as Mika Häkkinen took his maiden win, in his 96th race.
This would be a significant moment in F1 history, as Williams have not won a championship since 1997.
Modern-Day Resonance
The 1997 season shares some parallels with 2021, in that an epic title battle went down to the wire and included a conclusion which, at the time of each, was arguably the most controversial in F1 history.
They also were the final year of a technical regulation cycle, with wide-spread changes to car design and tyre philosophy between each season.
1998 saw the cars adapted to reduce downforce and cornering speeds with the lessons from Imola 1994 being implemented.
The cars track was reduced from a width of 2000mm to 1800mm, a further reduction from the 1993 change where 2150mm came down to 2000mm.
The other significant change was the introduction of grooved tyres.
Tyre suppliers Bridgestone and Goodyear were now required to produce tyres with three “cuts” in the tyre, to reduce the amount of rubber contacting the tarmac to produce grip.
These tyres would prove universally unpopular.
Further on the tyre front, McLaren and Benneton opted to partner with Bridgestone, after the Japanese company had enjoyed success at tracks like Barcelona and Budapest, where their rubber was able to withstand the higher temperatures and punishing corners much more effectively than the Goodyear product.
1997 protagonists Williams and Ferrari remained on the Goodyear rubber.
Quiet Driver Market
There were a few interesting driver movements for 1998.
Benneton’s Gerhard Berger had called time on his long F1 career, with young Italian Giancarlo Fisichella joining from Jordan.
Jean Alesi also left the 1995 world champions, heading to Sauber, with Alexander Wurz taking a full-time seat after deputising for Berger in 1997.
Jordan replaced Fisichella with 1996 world champion Damon Hill, who was removed from his Arrows nightmare.
Another driver who had deputised in 1997 was Jarno Trulli, who joined the Prost team, which had performed so well with Olivier Panis at the wheel, before his accident in Canada.
1998 was also the first year of British American Tobacco’s ownership of a Formula 1 team. They had bought Tyrrell, which would become British American Racing in 1999.
I wonder what has happened to that team in the quarter of a century since?
Story of the Season
McLaren set the pace, but Ferrari chase hard
McLaren leapt to the front of the pack with the Adrian Newey designed MP4-13, as Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard locked out the front row in Australia, with the Finnish driver on pole position.
Defending champion Villeneuve was almost one second behind in fourth, having scored pole himself in 1997 by a huge margin.
They disappeared into the distance, and were set to come home with Häkkinen in front, until he unexpectedly pitted on lap 36, despite no pit crew ready for him.
McLaren boss Ron Dennis put the mishap down to someone “tapping into our radio”, but it left Coulthard in the lead.
Unbeknown to those watching, the Scotsman and the Finn had an agreement that the driver first to the first corner would be unchallenged.
DC, a total professional and gentleman, slowed to allow his teammate pass a handful of laps from the chequered flag, which caused uproar and allegations of a staged result.
Here is how it unfolded on TV at the time, with Murray & Martin reacting to the switch:
Häkkinen said after the race: “What David did, was just remarkable” as he described his relationship with the former Williams driver as “special”.
Häkkinen would win again in Brazil, from pole position, setting the fastest lap and leading every lap of the race, his first “Grand Slam”. Häkkinen would repeat that performance at Monaco a few months later.
McLaren would continue their run of poles in Argentina, but Michael Schumacher would muscle his way past pole sitter Coulthard on his way to victory in Buenos Aries.
It was another moment of debate about Schumacher’s conduct in wheel-to-wheel battle and it would prove to be the less talked about flashpoint between Schumacher and Coulthard.
Coulthard would get the better of the Ferrari at the San Marino Grand Prix, held at Imola, in what would be his only victory of 1998, while championship leader Häkkinen retired with a gearbox problem on lap 17.
Despite McLaren’s clear superiority, Häkkinen only held a six-point lead over Schumacher after Imola, with Coulthard in between them.
The Finn bounced back with wins in Spain and Monaco to extend his advantage over his old karting adversary Schumacher to 22-points, in an era where the points were awarded from first to sixth as such: ten-six-four-three-two-one.
Double world champion Schumacher responded to not scoring points in Monaco by reeling off three wins in a row.
In Canada, a multi-car collision involving a barrel rolling Alexander Wurz, saw the race restarted, where Schumacher pounced on McLaren’s reliability woes as both silver cars retired before the 20-lap mark.
Schumacher was again in the eye of controversy as he squeezed fellow German Heinz-Harald Frentzen so much, as he exited the pit lane, that the Williams driver spun off at turn one.
Schumacher scored an emphatic win in France as Häkkinen was frustrated by the second Ferrari of Eddie Irvine.
The win in France was the German’s 30th career victory.
Controversy in the rain
The third of the German’s hattrick came on a wet afternoon in Silverstone. Häkkinen, who had been in total control from the start, ran wide as the heavens opened and soaked the circuit, causing damage to his front wing, which prove crucial.
The safety car brought the cars under control as many drivers slid off, most notably David Coulthard, which effectively ended his challenge for the world championship that year.
Schumacher, now in second, passed his rival who ran wide at Becketts. It was not plain-sailing to the flag though for Ferrari, as he was served with a 10-second penalty for passing Wurz’s Benneton under yellow flags on with 17 laps remaining.
Schumacher served the penalty in the pit lane, on the final lap, already having passed the finish line on the computer. Was this legal?
Amid the confusion, the stewards added ten seconds to Schmacher’s race time, but that could only be applied for an incident in the final 12 laps of a race.
McLaren protested the result, which was dismissed, and the International Court of Appeal ruled that the stewards had in fact made several mistakes.
The penalty, given via a hand-written note, was unclear as to which penalty was being applied, was it 10 seconds added or a 10-second stop-and-go penalty?
Penalties also had to be issued within 25 minutes of the offence, the stewards were later than that time frame.
In all, the result stood and Schumacher had cut the championship difference to only two points.
Häkkinen won in Austria, after Schumacher made an error chasing the McLaren, the Finn winning again on Schumacher territory in Germany.
Michael masterclass
McLaren locked out the front row in Budapest and seemed set for a one-two finish, but Schumacher, Ferrari and Ross Brawn had other ideas.
Opting for a three-stop strategy, Schumacher reeled off qualifying lap after qualifying lap in the race, to first jump ahead of the McLaren’s following his second stop, extending his lead so much that he rejoined the track after his final pit-stop, still in first place.
A mesmerising display, despite a mistake at the final corner, which trimmed the Finn’s lead to seven championship points in the drivers’ standings.
Spa '98 & Jordan's day in the sun (despite the rain)
The F1 circus now headed to Spa, where Schumacher had already won three times.
Race day dawned dark, miserable and soaking wet. McLaren had again secured exclusivity to the front row.
The lights went out and Villeneuve jumped from sixth to second and looked set to challenge Häkkinen for the win, but then Coulthard spun across the track and what ensued has become synonymous with Spa for enternal history.
A 13-car pile-up, with shards of carbon fibre scattered everywhere, wheels flying into the air and dangerously close to spectators, leaving many cars stranded and the track completely blocked.
Murray Walker's reaction was quite simply: "This is quite appalling, this is the worst start to a Grand Prix that I have ever seen, in the whole of my life!"
It took more than an hour to clear the track and prepare a restart.
The restart saw another driver make a lightning start, this time it was Damon Hill in the Jordan, who muscled his way past Häkkinen for the lead.
Schumacher also chanced his arm on the outside of the McLaren, causing Häkkinen to spin and subsequently hit by Johnny Herbert’s Sauber, leaving the Finn out on the spot.
Schumacher soon caught the Jordan and took the lead, leaving his former title rival well behind in the spray.
Schumacher had a commanding position and was marching to another win in Belgium as he approached the second McLaren of David Coulthard, who was struggling significantly and nearly a lap down.
Coulthard lifted to allow the Ferrari past, but due to the spray, Schumacher was unsighted and smashed into the rear of the McLaren, with the right front wheel vanishing into orbit.
A win would have put Schumacher into the lead of the drivers’ championship, but now he would leave with nothing.
A furious Schumacher confronted Coulthard in the pit lane but it was all over, leaving Hill in first again, with Ralf Schumacher in second.
Jordan used team orders to retain their status at the head of the race, with Hill leading home his younger team mate to claim Jordan’s first ever grand prix win, Hill’s first since Suzuka 1996, also his last in F1.
The images of Eddie Jordan leaping with joy amid the rain in Spa will always a reminder that if you keep trying, you can eventually succeed.
Schumacher responded to his massive disappointment in Spa by winning in front of the Tifosi at Monza, having taken the first Ferrari pole of 1998.
Häkkinen’s form seemed to be unravelling as he could only finish fourth, after being wrong-footed by Coulthard’s engine blow up and Schumacher pouncing, as well as a couple of hefty spins.
The pair entered the final two races, locked together on 80 points, both with six wins apiece.
Häkkinen and McLaren returned the favour from Hungary, despite Irvine’s best efforts to hold the Finn back, after Ferrari had again been fastest in qualifying.
Häkkinen passed Irvine on lap 14, and then set about catching Schumacher. Häkkinen ran four laps longer in his first stint to snatch the lead from the Ferrari, before retaining it through the second stops and winning by 2.2 seconds.
It was a double win for McLaren as they also got Coulthard ahead of Irvine, crucial for the constructors’ championship.
Suzuka Showdown
The final round would be held in Suzuka, Japan, where several championships had been decided, such as 1988, 1989 and 1990.
Häkkinen’s task was simple, with a four-point lead, he needed only a second place, even if Schumacher won, as Häkkinen had three second places to Schumacher’s two.
Schumacher won the battle for pole position, but Häkkinen took second, which would be enough if he stayed there.
Jarno Trulli stalled his Prost at the end of the formation lap, causing a delay as he was sent to the rear of the grid.
More drama was to come before the start as none other than pole sitter Michael Schumacher stalled his Ferrari on pole position. He too, was sent to the back.
Eventually the race got under way, Häkkinen streaking into a comfortable lead while Schumacher sliced his way through the lower order.
The title would be decided, for certain, on lap 31.
Toranouse Takagi in the Tyrrell and Esteban Tuero’s Minardi collided at the final chicane, littering the track with small debris.
Schumacher came by shortly after, and suffered a race ending tyre blowout heading down to the first corner.
Häkkinen, already secured of his first world championship, won the race to clinch it in fine style.
McLaren took their first constructors’ title since 1991, and it is still the last time McLaren won that championship.
Häkkinen, a year on from his maiden win, having survived a near-fatal accident at Adelaide in 1995, was now the world champion.
What made 1998, a Great Season?
It might make it seem silly that I am writing about the 1998 season, when I reveal that I only started watching F1 midway through the year.
In fact, my first F1 memory is the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix. Some introduction!
Many fans of F1 will possibly look back on 1997 more favourably, with good reason, as that year had such a strong element of competition that even relative minnows such as Jordan, Prost and Arrows were able to fight for victory on their day.
I think what makes 1998 special is that it was the first showdown between Häkkinen and Schumacher in F1.
They had come across each other as teenagers and had an infamous collision in the 1990 Macau F3 race.
It is arguable that Häkkinen was the only driver to unsettle Schumacher, until perhaps Fernando Alonso.
The “Flying Finn” had a pure speed that, at times, even the great Michael Schumacher simply could not match.
And seeing the driver who most regarded as the best at the time, challenged in such a fashion, was mightily intriguing.
Häkkinen did unsettle Schumacher but their rivalry, unlike some that the German became embroiled in, retained a healthy and competitive respect until the point that Häkkinen called it quits in F1, in 2001.
Häkkinen has been quoted in his retirement saying that “hard racing does not mean damaging the other guy,” and he has a point.
Not once, did Schumacher and Häkkinen touch wheels in 1998.
Admittedly, one usually had a nice lead over the other but even in later years, they pushed the limits and brought the best from each other, think Spa 2000 and that overtake.
After the controversial conclusion to the 1997 season, Häkkinen was probably the rival the sport needed Schumacher to have in 1998.
The unflappable Finn did his talking on the track, like so many from his country.
There was plenty of controversy in 1998, mind you. Schumacher’s win at Silverstone one of the biggest, while we will never forget Murray Walker’s instant reaction to the German hitting David Coulthard in Spa.
At least this championship was decided on the track, even if it was somewhat anti-climactic.
The old rivalry between McLaren and Ferrari was again rekindled, with the heat between them burning as hotly as ever.
McLaren’s third brake pedal was outlawed at Ferrari’s protest, while McLaren boasted the fastest car at most race tracks.
What also makes 1998 special is that it was one of a pair, rather than a trilogy, as it should have been.
In 1999, Schumacher and Häkkinen were again in a class of their own, but Schumacher broke his leg at the British Grand Prix, meaning Eddie Irivine carried the baton for Ferrari that year.
Häkkinen would go on to retain his crown, again at the final round in Suzuka.
The German returned before the end of 1999 and ended Ferrari’s title drought in 2000, which stretched back to Jody Scheckter’s 1979 glory, although Häkkinen turned his season around to make Schumacher fight for it.
Häkkinen’s form and luck again deserted him in 2001, at the end of which, Häkkinen retired having won 20 grand prix for McLaren.
