1999 EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX

Rain interrupted most of the qualifying session at the famous Nurburgring for the European Grand Prix. Still, it eventually dried out and status quo was restored. Almost.....

What an absolute fantastic weekends racing! Firstly on Saturday, we had the most exciting qualifying session ever! With the smart teams playing a waiting game as rain slowly eased up, with team Ferrari making the first move. But did they go out early? Those that waited and waited were able to go out with the circuit in a much better condition, and that's when the times tumbled!

In the last few minutes no fewer that six drivers held provisional pole, if like me you watched in on TV you will have been on the edge of your seat, willing your favourite driver/team on.

The race itself was equally thrilling, now I normally view the GP live on TV, but I had spent the day away from home, and had managed to steer clear of news reports, so when I sat down late Sunday evening I was in for a treat... the race of the year!!

Who would have put money on Johnny Herbert giving the Stewart-Ford team its first win after almost three seasons in the sport, leading home Jarno Trulli's Prost and a second Stewart Rubens Barrichello?

The drama began right at the start of the race as the lights counted down; yellow flags were waved at the back of the grid because it was not formed correctly. Both Frentzen and Hakkinen moved forward, as the starting sequence was halted, so we had a restart!

At the second attempt, the race only lasted a few hundred yards when Damon Hill�s Jordan stopped dramatically in mid corner, with apparently a total ignition failure. Alex Wurz�s Benetton was forced to take evasive action and clipped the Sauber of Pedro Diniz. The Sauber overturned and Diniz was trapped upside down in the car and the safety car was immediately brought out while Diniz was extracted from the stricken Sauber.

One beneficiary of a nasty-looking incident was Irvine, who gained two places and moved up to seventh and then sixth when racing finally began.

Further attempts by Irvine to make up for a poor qualifying performance were being held back by Giancarlo Fisichella's Benetton. Eddie having to wait to get past when the Italian ran wide on the 17th lap.

Seconds later the umbrellas went up in the grandstands, where cheers could be heard as Germany's Ralf Schumacher passed Coulthard for third place with a very precise out-braking move.

McLaren's response to the wet weather was to bring Hakkinen in and change him on to wet tyres. But it was a mistake; he should have stuck with the grooved slicks as the rain stopped almost immediately Frentzen gambled and stayed out, which proved to be the correct decision.

Now If you fancy a job with the Ferrari pit crew there are perhaps some vacancies this week after Eddie Irvine's chances were spoilt by a bizarre 28-second pit stop, in which Ferrari's mechanics forgot to put all four wheels on his car. When the forth wheel was eventually produced, two mechanic appeared to be in dispute as whether it was the correct wheel at all.

Joint championship leaders Hakkinen and Irvine were now both out of the points, the German crowd were going wild, with Frentzen and Schumacher leading the way. The excitement was not over yet!

Frentzen made his pit stop with 35 laps left, but then stopped on his first lap back out, like Hill at the start of the race. The Jordan car lost all power and coasted to a halt. Frentzen's body language conveyed his disappointment.

Coulthard went into the lead after Schumacher made his stop. The Scot was now the only championship challenger in the points, but it all went wrong for him as he locked up and span off in more rain. Johnny Herbert was moving up and into the podium positions behind Schumacher, and new leader Fisichella (yes another leader!!) The Italian was the next to spin out and so we now had Herbert as the comfortable leader.

Hakkinen & Irvine were still in the race but too far back to make an impression or earn any points, but suddenly when Jacques Villeneuve retired, we had a battle that was for sixth and a valuable championship point. Hakkinen's first overtaking attempt saw him run off the track, but the pressure built and Irvine locked up and allowed the Finn past with three laps to go.

But this day belonged to Stewart-Ford and Herbert, who claimed the third Grand Prix win of his career. While other teams made wrong decisions on tyres, Stewart-Ford made the right decision! While other teams had mechanical or electrical failure, Stewart-Ford did not! While other teams drivers made mistakes, neither of the Stewart-Ford drivers did.

Johnny Herbert commented: "I'm absolutely over the moon. It's particularly pleasing for Jackie since this is the last year the team will carry his name. It's also a fantastic result for Ford Motor Company because they showed a big commitment by purchasing the team earlier this year and have now stated their intention to win the World Championship with Jaguar Racing. A big credit also to my crew, Gary Anderson and my engineers - they did a great job."

"I was just hoping and praying towards end that everything would hold together. I was able to relax a little since I had quite a gap down to Trulli. I was able to change the gears earlier and brake earlier and just concentrate on not putting too much strain on the car. After what was not a very good qualifying I had not expected to be top of the podium today. There is always an element of luck in a race and today was our day."

Kelvin Fagan - [email protected]

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