It’s been some 25 years since a Formula 1 campaign packed with drama that remains etched in the memories of drivers, team members and fans alike. A thrilling battle between giants McLaren and Ferrari, Michael Schumacher being sidelined by a big crash (on this very day), underdogs triumphing and the title being decided at the final race… The 1999 season had many twists and turns. In a special mini-series of reflection, we interview a number of personalities involved in F1’s 50th anniversary for a special trip down memory lane. Here’s the first instalment…
McLaren versus Ferrari: the rematch
F1 fans had been given a sign of things to come in 1998, when McLaren and Ferrari, and Mika Hakkinen and Schumacher, battled it out for title glory, with the Woking operation and its Finnish driver emerging victorious. At McLaren, with a design department headed by the already highly respected Adrian Newey, the team was approaching the latest peak in its illustrious F1 history, but at Ferrari, a rebuilding phase under the leadership of Jean Todt and Ross Brawn had yet to bear full fruit, with the Maranello force having last won the constructors’ title in 1983 and the drivers’ crown in 1979. The 1999 season served as revenge, with Hakkinen and McLaren looking to pick up where they left off, and Schumacher and Ferrari hoping that a fourth campaign together would mark the next step.
Mika Hakkinen, McLaren driver: “When I became world champion, my confidence level increased enormously… I had enormous confidence. I remember I had a very busy winter with marketing work. No sponsors, no races, so we had to work hard. When you won, you had to work almost harder with sponsors than when you lost. But my confidence was high and, at the first round in 1999, I walked into the paddock, looked at the mechanics, they looked at me with a smile on their faces and said: ‘Come on, let’s go for it’. We didn’t have to say anything, it was just the impression on our faces that we had done it and that we could do it again.”
BEYOND THE GRID: Mika Hakkinen talks Schumacher, Senna and his recovery from injury
Mark Arnall, Mika Hakkinen’s performance coach: “In 1998 there was a big fight between Mika and Michael. I think having been in that kind of situation and winning the championship, there is always the expectation that as long as the car is good you are going to keep that momentum going. I think from a preparation point of view we didn’t really do anything different. The car was still great in 1999, Adrian was obviously still working with the team. [as Technical Director]and [the whole performance] “It was simply an evolution of 98.”