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Hakkinen hangs on Finn repeats as F1 champion with Japan GP victory
Posted: Sunday October 31, 1999 08:46 AM
SUZUKA, Japan (AP) - McLaren's Mika Hakkinen outraced Michael Schumacher of Ferrari in the season-ending Japanese Grand Prix Sunday, retaining the Formula One drivers' world championship he won at the same race a year ago. Hakkinen, starting second, overtook polesitter Schumacher at the start and never trailed throughout the duel that continued like a two-horse race. After leading Schumacher by 11 seconds at one point in the latter half of the 53-lap contest, Hakkinen finished in 1 hour, 31 minutes, 18.75 seconds at the 5.864-kilometer (3.665-mile) Suzuka Circuit. The 31-year-old Finn had an emotional incentive to win at Suzuka. He would have already been the champion had an appeals court not overruled race officials who disqualified the 1-2 Ferrari finish by Irvine and Schumacher two weeks ago in the Malaysian Grand Prix. Schumacher, a two-time world champion, clocked 1:31:23.800, 5.015 seconds behind Hakkinen. Ferrari's Eddie Irvine, also in contention for his fifth victory for the season and his first world championship, placed a distant third in 1:32:54.473, or 95.688 seconds behind the winner. Ferrari's hopes for its first driver's title in 20 years were shattered, but the 2-3 finish gave the Italian automaker its first constructor's title since 1983. Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frenzen, winner of the French Grand Prix and the Italian Grand Prix, was fourth in 1:32:57.420. "It's a different feeling [to have done it again]," Hakkinen said. "This has been a very difficult year, all the way through from the start of the season when we weren't able to finish races and we lost a lot of points." In the first race of the season in March in Australia, Hakkinen and Coulthard, dominant in practice and qualifying, had mechanical problems and dropped out. Irvine then wound up winning for the first time in his Formula One career. "To have won the championship in the last GP is nerve-cracking. It's an experience that I can't recommend to anyone," he said. "I have now experienced it with Michael last year and again with Eddie this year." Last year, Hakkinen claimed the world championship and his eighth win of the season after Schumacher dropped out of the race with a blown tire. Schumacher would have needed to win the race with Hakkinen finishing third or worse to claim his third world title. The key to his latest success was the start, Hakkinen said. "The start is always difficult here at Suzuka because it's downhill. I knew I could do well, and I was very confident. "When the lights changed I immediately realized I had an advantage over Michael, and at the moment when we shifted into second gear I was already one car's length in the lead. At that point I knew that all I had to do was to keep that position." Schumacher said he was glad that he helped Ferrari win a title. "I think the two championships ended in a fair way today, with Ferrari winning the constructor's title and Mika the driver's crown after he drove a fantastic race." "Third place was a good result for me, given the problems I had in qualifying," said Irvine, who started fifth and had to have his car repaired overnight. It was Irvine's last race with Ferrari. He joins Stewart Ford, to be renamed Jaguar Racing, next season.
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