The British Grand Prix 1998 will be ...

Published on 12 July 1998 by Verstappen Info Page

The British Grand Prix 1998 will be remembered for some time. The race started out on a soaking wet track, thought it didn't rain at that moment. Most drivers started out on intermediate tyres. Jos Verstappen and Rubens Barrichello were one of the few drivers that started on normal grooved tyres. After some time it started to rain and most drivers changed to rain tyres.

Until lap 27 only Frentzen and Hill dropped out of the race, but then the party started. Herbert, Salo, Tuero, Rosset, Trulli, Coulthard and, unfortunately, Jos and Rubens all went out of the race. Jos had to stop his car besides the track due to an engine problem after having driven a good race, being in front of teammate Rubens Barrichello constantly. One lap later Rubens spinned and also went out of the race.

The end of the race was bizarre. Until lap 43 Mika Hakkinen led the race. Due to two spins and the enormous amount of rain it was then decided to let a safety-car go on the track. The advantage of Hakkinen on Schumacher and Irvine melted away. After the safety-car went off the track again Hakkinen was quickly overtaken by Schumacher because Hakkinen went off the track for a short moment having lost a piece of his front wing earlier on.

Three laps before the end of the race Michael Schumacher was summoned in for a stop-and-go penalty. Toranosuke Takagi also received a time penalty from the stewards. Michael only did this in his final lap so it was unclear for some time who had won the race. In the end Michael Schumacher was declared the winner. Mika Hakkinen thus became second and Eddy Irvine third. The advantage of Hakkinen over Schumacher in the overall ranking has now shrunk to a meagre two points. For a complete overview of all times you can take a look at our season page.