Formula 1‘s Belgian Grand Prix has always been a race that seems to heighten the likelihood of the unexpected happening, and 1998‘s instalment had it all.
Mika Hakkinen arrived in the Ardennes forest top of the Drivers’ Championship with a seven-point lead over Michael Schumacher, who had cut the advantage after a stellar performance in Hungary, but the McLaren MP4/13 was still the out-and-out class of the field, and would be expected to hold a significant edge at Spa-Francorchamps.
And in qualifying, that expectation was fulfilled with Hakkinen taking pole, with teammate David Coulthard just a tenth behind, with the third-placed car a whole second further back. But the surprise was which car that was.
Schumacher was fourth, almost one-and-a-half seconds off Hakkinen, and three tenths behind Damon Hill in the Jordan, a car which was beginning to find its feet after a difficult first half of the campaign.
Come race day, the overcast conditions went one further and a typical Ardennes deluge descended onto the circuit, but this was Formula 1 in the 1990s – the race would be going ahead.
At lights out, Hakkinen got away cleanly. Coulthard, Hill and Schumacher did not, and the Williams of Jacques Villeneuve, sixth on the grid, moved into second, and on the exit of La Source, was challenging for the lead, but behind them, chaos ensued.
Coulthard put a wheel onto a metal grille on the circuit, and the subsequent skid led to perhaps F1’s biggest-ever pile-up.
Virtually all of the field behind was caught up in the carnage, as carbon fibre matched the rain for the substance that began to shower over the track the most. With cars, mostly in bits, littered on the approach to Eau Rouge, the red flag was brought out.
Hill takes the lead as Hakkinen punted out
The restart was, although understated by comparison, also chaotic. This time, it was Hill who made the best start and swept around the outside of Hakkinen into La Source for the lead, and with Schumacher bearing down on him too, the McLaren spun on the exit and was punted by a helpless Johnny Herbert. The title leader was out.
With Coulthard also caught up in a collision with Alexander Wurz’s Benetton, the Safety Car was deployed, but racing soon resumed, with Hill first, ahead of the two Ferraris of Schumaher and Eddie Irvine.
On the approach to the Bus Stop Chicane on Lap 8, Schumacher slung his car up the inside of Hill and took the lead, opening up a commanding lead, with Hill comfortably second after Irvine lost his front wing after taking to the grass.
Just past the halfway mark, Schumacher held a lead of around 40 seconds, when he came up to lap Coulthard, who managed to get going after his first lap incident.
Schumacher and Coulthard make contact
On the approach to Pouhon, the McLaren slowed, but did not move off the racing line, and as Schumacher neared, the spray proved too conspicuous a buffer between the McLaren and Schumacher’s vision, and the Ferrari careened into the back of it.
The front wing and front right tyre of the Ferrari was ripped cleanly away, as was Coulthard’s rear wing, with both limping back to the pits. Hakkinen was reprieved – the title race would stay the same regardless come the chequered flag.
As soon as Schumacher parked his wrecked Ferrari in the pit garage, he leapt out of it, and took of his helmet and set off on foot towards the McLaren garage, snarling and angry, in search of Coulthard.
A heat-of-the-moment exchange saw Schumacher accuse Coulthard of trying to kill him, and the pair had to be separated by a wall of people, before Schumacher eventually stormed off in a huff, knowing his chance of taking the lead in the championship was gone.
But crucially, Hill was now in the lead of the Grand Prix, and not only that, but teammate – and Michael’s brother – Ralf Schumacher was in second place – a dream scenario for the Jordan team, which had never finished higher than second before.
With the Jordans out on their own, Schumacher began to close on Hill, setting up a grandstand finish, but sensing the impending possibility of one or both Jordans crashing out in the process, Hill took to the radio to make a pointed suggestion.
“I’m going to put something to you here, and I think you’d better listen to this,” he told the Jordan pit wall. “If we race, if we two race, we could end up with nothing, so it’s up to Eddie [Jordan, Team Principal].
“If we don’t race each other, we’ve got an opportunity to get a first and second, it’s your choice.”
After a brief period of deliberation, Jordan implemented the team order: hold position.
A gutted Schumacher remained silent when the order was communicated, but dutifully held station as the laps ticked down.
As both cars negotiated the final lap, the Jordan crew made for the pit wall, armed with a British Union Flag and Irish Tricolour, which greeted Hill, who triumphantly stuck out his right arm as he crossed the line to take the 22nd and final victory of his career.
Jean Alesi brought his Sauber home third, with the second Williams of Heinz-Harald Frentzen fourth, Pedro Deniz’s Arrows fifth and Jarno Trulli sixth in his Prost.
Schumacher Sr’s day of incredulity was not done there, as it was later alleged that he angrily confronted Jordan for ordering his brother to stay behind Hill, which set the blue touch paper for his eventual move to Williams for 1999, seeing Frentzen go the other way.
But the day belonged to Hill, and Eddie Jordan, whose plucky underdog story had just seen its finest chapter written.
Discussion about this post