The start of the Grand Prix of ...

Published on 30 August 1998 by Verstappen Info Page

The start of the Grand Prix of Belgium was a complete chaos. After the first turn David Coulthard slided diagonally over the track, crashed against a concrete wall and slided back over the track again. Parts of his car flew through the air and Johnny Herbert was hit by one of his tyres. Jos Verstappen was lucky to have a good start and to have already passed Rubens Barrichello, who spinned on the center of the track and was hit by numerous cars. Parts flew high threw the air and at least 14 cars were involved in the collision, by which Mika Salo (who already wrote off a car this week-end) and Eddie Irvine were also his by their colleagues. Ricardo Rosset increased the fun by running in the crashed drivers very hard.

Jos also suffered from the collisions; with a flat right rear tyre and some damage to the bodywork he arrived in the pits to take place in the T-car, that was set up for him. Jos said : "After the first turn ... you saw something was happening, but you couldn't really because of the spray of water. When I arrived there, I saw a gap. I just drove threw the gap ... an only at the end they hit me, that why I had that flat tyre. Further the car wasn't damaged, but the flat rear tyre smashed the bodywork a little, so now I am in the T-car, which is supposed to filled up too (with fuel)."

Damon Hill had a super restart and takes the lead already before the first turn. Mika Hakkinen tries to force Michael Schumacher to the outside, but hits the Ferrari and spins. Next he was hit by Johnny Herberts Sauber and could Jos Verstappen - who had also a good start - just avoid a collision.

After two laps behind the safety-car Damon Hill passes the finish line first, followed by Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine. Jos passes in a good 10th position, followed by Toranosuke Takagi.

In the ninth lap Jos has to park his car with again a blown engine. It's a shame that his race, in which championship points could be possible, was ended this way. Ofcourse dis doesn't benefit in the battle for a place in Formula One next year.

Back in the pits Jos said : "It's a pity, certainly because we filled the car completely with fuel. I think we could have continued until the 30th, so that is a shame. I wasn't able to keep up in the beginning, but I also think a lot of people were driving with soft rain tyres. We choose the hard one with lots of fuel and you could see that we were decrease the gap to the two people in front of me, but unfortunately. I think we could have come far if we were able to finish the race."

In the 25th lap Michael Schumacher (who passed Damon Hill in the 8th lap) wants to lap David Coulthard and something incredible happens. In a turn Coulthard drives at the right. Schumacher drives in his spray, doesn't see the McLaren and bounces hard into the rear of the Scott ! Schumacher loses his right front wheel and drives to the pits on three wheels, followed by Coulthard without a rear wing. In the pits Schumacher gets out his car and goes to McLaren furiously.

A few moments later Giancarlo Fisichella bounces into Shinji Nakano in a simular way, loses a lot of his car, which catches fire. TIme for the safety-car ! On that moment only 6 drivers are on the track ! David Coulthard and Shinji Nakano come back on the track later with a new rear wing.

Eventually Eddie Jordan was very happy with a one-two for Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher, followed by Jean Alesi.

For a complete overview you can take a look at our season page.