Damon Hill was again rumoured to be leaving Formula One when he allegedly retired a healthy car. Hill claimed that his Jordan had brake problems.[2]Eddie Irvine gave his winner's trophy to Mika Salo, who was leading towards the end of the race and moved over on team orders.
At the start, the start, Jacques Villeneuve was touched from behind, dove inside, and touched Pedro Diniz, knocking both out at the first corner. At the front, Frentzen had a bad start and was overtaken by Mika Salo and David Coulthard, while Rubens Barrichello passed Eddie Irvine. In midfield, Olivier Panis tangled with Ralf Schumacher at Senna corner and damaged his car; at the rear, Jean Alesi had to pit at the end of the first lap. So, the order was Mika Hakkinen, Mika Salo, Coulthard, Frentzen, Barrichello, and Irvine.
Barrichello passed Frentzen at Agip corner on lap 2 and started to pressure Coulthard, only to see his engine blow up on lap 6. Coulthard closed in on Mika Salo and dove for a maneuver at Ost Kurve on lap 9, but lost a winglet and had to pit. On lap 11 the order was Hakkinen, Salo, Frentzen, Irvine, Ralf Schumacher, and Alexander Wurz.
The Scotsman, who was on a mission to climb the field after his unscheduled pit stop, overtook Olivier Panis off the track only to be penalized with a Stop & Go. The leaders started their mandatory pits, and the first one to stop was Frentzen, only to be overcut by Irvine one lap later. Mika Salo pitted for good and came back just in front of his teammate, putting both Ferraris in podium positions.
If McLaren's journey wasn't a dream given Coulthard's faults, it became a complete nightmare when Hakkinen pitted for the lead and his fuel pump didn't work. The team had to change it for David's one, costing the Finn 24.3 seconds stopped and his fall to fourth place. On lap 26, Hakkinen passed Frentzen at the first chicane and started to pursue the Ferrari duo. However, on the straight before the Stadium section, his rear left tire exploded, his rear wing broke, and he spun off into the tire barrier, retiring from the race and potentially losing his lead in the championship. On the same lap, Salo and Irvine swapped positions, putting the Ulsterman in first. On lap 27 the order was Irvine, Salo, Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher, Panis, and Coulthard.
After those incidents, the other two casualties were Pedro de la Rosa's accident and Johnny Herbert retiring after a good journey, but suffering from reliability problems once again. In the closing stages, Coulthard passed Panis for fifth place and the order remained the same until the chequered flag.[4]
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
^"German". Formula1.com. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
^"Hill in crisis meeting on future". Birmingham Evening Mail. England. 2 August 1999. Retrieved 14 May 2010. DAMON Hill faces a crisis meeting with team chief Eddie Jordan this week with his grand prix future again clouded in doubt. The 38-year-old former world champion will have to explain why he quit yesterday's race in Germany even though the team insist there was nothing wrong with the car. Hill took the decision to retire after 14 laps at Hockenheim complaining of the braking system on the Jordan to again raise the prospect that he will not see out the season.
