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1998 Japanese Grand Prix
Race 16 of 16 in the 1998 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Race details
Date	1 November 1998
Official name	XXIV Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix
Location	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Mie, Japan
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.860 km (3.641 miles)
Distance	51 laps, 298.868 km (185.708 miles)
Scheduled distance	53 laps, 310.588 km (192.990 miles)
Weather	Fine
Attendance	318,000
Pole position
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Time	1:36.293
Fastest lap
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Time	1:40.190 on lap 19
Podium
First	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes
Second	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari
Third	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes
Lap leaders

The 1998 Japanese Grand Prix (formally the XXIV Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Suzuka, Mie, Japan on 1 November 1998. It was the sixteenth and final round of the 1998 FIA Formula One World Championship. The 51-lap race was won by Mika Häkkinen driving for the McLaren-Mercedes team. Eddie Irvine, driving for Ferrari, finished second with David Coulthard third in the other McLaren. Häkkinen's win confirmed him as 1998 Drivers' Champion as title-rival Michael Schumacher retired with a punctured tyre on Lap 31.

Schumacher started on pole position but stalled on the formation lap, meaning he was forced to start at the back of the grid. Schumacher managed to climb the field during the course of the race and eventually retired from a punctured tyre sustained from running over debris from an incident that occurred previously. This was the last race for the Tyrrell racing team, as the team was rebranded into British American Racing the next season.

Report

Background

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Heading into the final race of the season, McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen was leading the Drivers' Championship with 90 points; Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher was second with 86 points. A maximum of 10 points were available for the remaining race, which meant that Schumacher could still win the title. Häkkinen only needed a second-place finish to become Drivers' Champion even if Schumacher won—both drivers would be tied on points and number of victories but Häkkinen would claim the title as he would have finished second place three times, compared to Schumacher's two. Behind Häkkinen and Schumacher in the Drivers' Championship, David Coulthard was third on 52 points in a McLaren, with Eddie Irvine fourth on 41 points in a Ferrari. In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren were leading with 142 points and Ferrari were second with 127 points, with a maximum of 16 points available, meaning Ferrari needed a 1–2 finish with both McLaren finishing outside point-scoring positions to claim the championship (if the two teams were level on points, McLaren would have won on countback due to having more wins than Ferrari).

During the four-week break that followed the Luxembourg Grand Prix, Ferrari and McLaren performed private tests that were heavily scheduled. Ferrari concentrated their testing at their private race track at Mugello, while McLaren tested at the Circuit de Catalunya where they were joined by Benetton and Prost, Arrows, and Stewart; new entrants for 1999 BAR and Jordan opted to run at Silverstone. Because of two controversial incidents that decided the 1994 and 1997 World Championships, Schumacher was placed under strict orders from Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo not to repeat such incidents. After having been involved since their debut in 1965, tyre supplier Goodyear bowed out of Formula One, having been the sport's single tyre supplier for several seasons. Competing manufacturer Bridgestone became the sport's single tyre supplier for the 1999 season.

Practice and qualifying

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Two practice sessions were held before the race; the first was held on Friday that was split into two parts and the second on Saturday morning. The first session was held for a total of three hours with the second session lasting two hours. Schumacher set the fastest time in the first practice session with a time of 1:39.823, two-tenths of a second from Jordan driver and brother Ralf Schumacher and Williams driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Schumacher's team-mate Irvine was fourth fastest, Häkkinen was fifth fastest with team-mate Coulthard rounding out the top six.

The qualifying session was run as a one-hour session held on Saturday afternoon. Schumacher clinched his third consecutive pole position in his Ferrari, with a time of 1:36.293. He was joined on the front row by Häkkinen, who was one-tenth of a second behind, after not being able to finish his last flying lap by running off in the gravel at the Degner corner. Coulthard was third in the other McLaren. Irvine took fourth in the second Ferrari, with Frentzen taking fifth despite going off into the gravel late in the session.

Race

The start of the race was aborted with the Prost car of Jarno Trulli stalling from 14th position. Before the second attempt to start the race, Schumacher's Ferrari moved forward from his starting position and stalled as he put his car into gear. This promoted Häkkinen into pole position as Schumacher started from the back of the grid.

At the start, Häkkinen pulled away while Irvine overtook Coulthard for second. The Ferrari driver was unable to attack the leading Finn, while Schumacher moved up the order, reaching twelfth place at the end of the first lap. The first retirement was Pedro Diniz, who spun out on lap 3 in the Arrows. By lap four, Schumacher overtook his brother Ralf for seventh but was then stuck behind the fighting former world champions Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve. Meanwhile, Ralf Schumacher would eventually retire with engine failure by the end of lap 14. He lost thirty seconds in the following laps over race leader Häkkinen, damaging his hopes for victory and the title. After all frontrunners had pitted, Schumacher emerged in third place, having put in some fast laps. On lap 28, Esteban Tuero missed his braking point going into the final corner, crashing into the Tyrrell of Tora Takagi. When Schumacher passed over the debris, he suffered a slow puncture that blew up his right rear tyre three laps later, causing him to retire, an event not shown to UK viewers on ITV due to a poorly timed adbreak, forcing Murray Walker to inform viewers upon the return to the broadcast “And you are now looking at the new World Champion because this is what happened in the break!”. This left Häkkinen to take victory and his first drivers' championship. While Irvine succeeded at keeping Coulthard behind him, McLaren were nevertheless able to retain their lead over Ferrari in the constructors' championship. Behind the top three, Hill overtook his future Jordan teammate Frentzen in the final corner to finish fourth; the extra point elevated Jordan ahead of Benetton in the constructors' championship.

Post-race

After the race, Häkkinen described the situation after the two aborted starts as relieving, saying: "When Michael was forced to start from the back of the grid it raised an enormous amount of pressure from me. The race was not as difficult as others I've had this season. But a lot of that's down to the team who kept letting me know where Eddie and Michael were." Eddie Irvine was quoted saying: "What happened to Michael at the start didn't change our tactics for the race, it destroyed them. When Michael went to the back I knew it was up to me. I made a fantastic start and got close to Mika at some points but just couldn't manage to get in front."

Classification

Qualifying

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	3	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:36.293	—
2	8	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:36.471	+0.178
3	7	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:37.496	+1.203
4	4	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	1:38.197	+1.904
5	2	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Mecachrome	1:38.272	+1.979
6	1	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Mecachrome	1:38.448	+2.155
7	10	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	1:38.461	+2.168
8	9	Damon Hill	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	1:38.603	+2.310
9	6	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Playlife	1:38.959	+2.666
10	5	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Playlife	1:39.080	+2.787
11	15	Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Petronas	1:39.234	+2.941
12	14	Jean Alesi	Sauber-Petronas	1:39.448	+3.155
13	11	Olivier Panis	Prost-Peugeot	1:40.037	+3.744
14	12	Jarno Trulli	Prost-Peugeot	1:40.111	+3.818
15	17	Mika Salo	Arrows	1:40.387	+4.094
16	18	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	1:40.502	+4.209
17	21	Toranosuke Takagi	Tyrrell-Ford	1:40.619	+4.326
18	16	Pedro Diniz	Arrows	1:40.687	+4.394
19	19	Jos Verstappen	Stewart-Ford	1:40.943	+4.650
20	22	Shinji Nakano	Minardi-Ford	1:41.315	+5.022
21	23	Esteban Tuero	Minardi-Ford	1:42.358	+6.065
107% time: 1:43.033
DNQ	20	Ricardo Rosset	Tyrrell-Ford	1:43.259	+6.966
Sources:

Race

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	8	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	B	51	1:27:22.535	2	10
2	4	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	G	51	+6.491	4	6
3	7	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	B	51	+27.662	3	4
4	9	Damon Hill	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	G	51	+1:13.491	8	3
5	2	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Mecachrome	G	51	+1:13.857	5	2
6	1	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Mecachrome	G	51	+1:15.867	6	1
7	14	Jean Alesi	Sauber-Petronas	G	51	+1:36.053	12
8	5	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Playlife	B	51	+1:41.302	10
9	6	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Playlife	B	50	+1 Lap	9
10	15	Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Petronas	G	50	+1 Lap	11
11	11	Olivier Panis	Prost-Peugeot	B	50	+1 Lap	13
12	12	Jarno Trulli	Prost-Peugeot	B	48	Engine	14
Ret	22	Shinji Nakano	Minardi-Ford	B	40	Throttle	20
Ret	3	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	G	31	Tyre	1
Ret	21	Toranosuke Takagi	Tyrrell-Ford	G	28	Collision damage	17
Ret	23	Esteban Tuero	Minardi-Ford	B	28	Collision	21
Ret	18	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	B	25	Hydraulics	16
Ret	19	Jos Verstappen	Stewart-Ford	B	21	Gearbox	19
Ret	17	Mika Salo	Arrows	B	14	Hydraulics	15
Ret	10	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	G	13	Engine	7
Ret	16	Pedro Diniz	Arrows	B	2	Spun off	18
DNQ	20	Ricardo Rosset	Tyrrell-Ford	G		107% Rule
Source:

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mika Häkkinen 100 2 Michael Schumacher 86 3 David Coulthard 56 4 Eddie Irvine 47 5 Jacques Villeneuve 21 Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Mercedes 156 2 Ferrari 133 3 Williams-Mecachrome 38 4 Jordan-Mugen-Honda 34 5 Benetton-Playlife 33 Source:

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
• Bold text indicates 1998 World Champions.

References

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2. "2013 Japanese Grand Prix: Official Media Kit" (PDF). FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. p. 31. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 March 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
3. Derived from race distance (298868) and lap length (5860)
4. "Formula 1 Honda Japanese Grand Prix 2022 – Media Kit" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 5 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
5. ^ "F1 points tables - 1998 driver, constructor standings". crash.net. Crash Media Group. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
6. "Championship permutations". GrandPrix.com. 26 October 1998. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
7. 1998 Formula 1 World Championship - Flying Finn First at Finish. Duke Video. 1998. Archived from the original (VHS) on 27 March 2014.
8. "Testing activity". GrandPrix.com. 19 October 1998. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
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10. "Motor Racing: Goodyear to leave F1 after 30 years". The Independent (Independent Print Limited). 20 November 1997. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
11. "Grand Prix of Japan". Gale Force F1. Archived from the original on 11 August 2006. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
12. "Schu off to sprint start". BBC News (BBC). 31 October 1998. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
13. "1998 – Schumacher, Michael". The Official Formula 1 Website. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
14. "Ferrari on Pole". Gale Force F1. 31 October 1998. Archived from the original on 13 October 2006. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
15. "The reason for Schumacher's engine stalling". Atlas F1. 2 November 1998. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
16. ^ "Mika wins as Schu let down by puncture". BBC News. 2 November 1998. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
17. Tremayne, David (20 October 2019). "Long Read: The easy-going champion remembered, 20 years on | Formula 1". Formula1.com. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
18. ^ "Grand Prix Results: Japanese GP, 1998". grandprix.com. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
19. "Japan 1998 – Qualifications". StatsF1. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
20. "1998 Japanese Grand Prix Classification Qualifying". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
21. "1998 Japanese Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
22. "1998 Japanese Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. November 1998. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
23. ^ "Japan 1998 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.

• 1998 Formula One races
• Japanese Grand Prix
• 1998 in Japanese motorsport
• November 1998 sports events in Asia