1998 British Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 9 of 16 in the 1998 Formula One season | |||
Silverstone Circuit in its 1998 configuration
|
|||
| Date | 12 July 1998 | ||
| Official name | LI RAC British Grand Prix | ||
| Location | Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire, England | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 5.140 km (3.194 mi) | ||
| Distance | 60 laps, 308.400 km (191.631 mi) | ||
| Weather | Rain, Wet Track | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | McLaren-Mercedes | ||
| Time | 1:23.271 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Michael Schumacher
|
Ferrari | |
| Time | 1:35.704 on lap 12 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Ferrari | ||
| Second | McLaren-Mercedes | ||
| Third | Ferrari | ||
|
|
|||
The 1998 British Grand Prix (formally the LI RAC British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at the Silverstone Circuit, England on 12 July 1998. It was the ninth race of the 1998 Formula One season. The 60-lap race was won by Michael Schumacher driving a Ferrari car after starting from second position. Mika Häkkinen, who started from pole position, finished second with Eddie Irvine third in the other Ferrari. Schumacher's victory was his fourth of the season, and his third consecutive victory having won both the preceding Canadian and French Grand Prix, but was under controversial circumstances: he avoided a stop-and-go penalty by entering the pit lane to serve it on the final lap, crossing the finish line in the pit lane to win the race before reaching his pit box, although the controversial penalty was later rescinded.
Mika Häkkinen took pole position by nearly half a second from championship rival Michael Schumacher. Jacques Villeneuve took third position whilst Häkkinen's team-mate David Coulthard qualified in fourth. Ralf Schumacher and Olivier Panis had their qualifying times deleted as they were not able to get out of their cars quick enough during an FIA safety drill, to practice evacuating the cockpit in case of fire. Ralf Schumacher had spun and stalled his engine early in qualifying and qualified in the spare car, which was set up for team-mate Damon Hill.
Heavy rain fell during the morning prior to the race. Although the rain stopped before the start, there was a mixture of wet and dry parts on the circuit and as a result all but two cars started on intermediate compound tyres. The two Stewart-Fords decided to start on dry weather tyres. The first retirement came after 13 laps, when Damon Hill lost control on the damp track whilst battling with Villeneuve for 7th place. After 16 laps, it began to rain again, and many drivers switched to a full wet weather tyre.
...
Wikipedia