| 1999 Italian Grand Prix | |||||
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Race 13 of 16 in the1999 Formula One World Championship
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 Autodromo Nazionale di Monza(last modified in 1995) | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | 12 September 1999 | ||||
| Official name | 70º Gran PremioCampari d'Italia | ||||
| Location | Autodromo Nazionale di Monza Monza,Lombardy,Italy | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 5.770 km (3.585 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 53 laps, 305.810 km (190.022 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Hot and dry with temperatures reaching up to 30 °C (86 °F)[1] | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| Time | 1:22.432 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Ralf Schumacher | Williams-Supertec | |||
| Time | 1:25.579 on lap 48 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Jordan-Mugen-Honda | ||||
| Second | Williams-Supertec | ||||
| Third | Ferrari | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The1999 Italian Grand Prix (formally the70º Gran Premio Campari d'Italia[2]) was aFormula One motor race held on 12 September 1999 at theAutodromo Nazionale di Monza nearMonza,Italy. It was the thirteenth race of the1999 Formula One World Championship, and the last held on this layout.
The 53-lap race was won byHeinz-Harald Frentzen, driving aJordan-Mugen-Honda, afterMcLaren'sMika Häkkinen, seeking to defend his Drivers' Championship title, spun off while leading comfortably.Ralf Schumacher was second in aWilliams-Supertec, withMika Salo third in aFerrari. Häkkinen's rivalEddie Irvine finished sixth in the other Ferrari, thus moving level on points with the Finn at the top of the Drivers' Championship. This was the first one-two finish between twoGerman Formula One drivers since the1997 Japanese Grand Prix.
Though the victory moved Frentzen to within ten points of Häkkinen and Irvine, it would turn out to be his third and last victory in Formula One, as well as the last for engine suppliersMugen. It was also the Jordan team's only victory in dry conditions, their others coming in the rain.
This wasDamon Hill's final classified Formula One race finish. He failed to finish each of his subsequent three races.
Going into the race,McLaren'sMika Häkkinen led the Drivers' Championship by a single point fromFerrari'sEddie Irvine, withJordan'sHeinz-Harald Frentzen and Häkkinen's team-mateDavid Coulthard also still in contention. Häkkinen was expected to do well on the fast Monza circuit, and duly claimed pole position by half a second from Frentzen. Coulthard was third, whileAlessandro Zanardi, who had been having a poor year withWilliams, was fourth, just ahead of teammateRalf Schumacher. On Ferrari's home soil, Irvine had a poor qualifying session and could only manage eighth, behind teammateMika Salo in sixth andStewart'sRubens Barrichello – who had just signed with Ferrari to replace Irvine in2000 – in seventh. Completing the top ten wereDamon Hill in the second Jordan andOlivier Panis in theProst.
At the start, Häkkinen led away while Zanardi shot past Coulthard and Frentzen into second. Frentzen quickly re-passed Zanardi, but Coulthard fell further back, behind Schumacher and Salo. Meanwhile, at the back of the field,Minardi'sMarc Gené tangled withArrows'Pedro de la Rosa at the Roggia chicane and became the first retirement, while on the second lapBenetton'sGiancarlo Fisichella andSauber'sPedro Diniz both spun off at the Rettifilo chicane.
On lap 3, Zanardi ran over a kerb and damaged the underside of his car. He managed to hold on to third place for another 15 laps, while Häkkinen and Frentzen pulled away. Barrichello passed Coulthard on lap 11 and then Salo on lap 19, while Zanardi waved Schumacher past on lap 18. On lap 24, there was more drama at the back asToranosuke Takagi in the second Arrows tried to overtakeLuca Badoer in the second Minardi at the Rettifilo, only to run into the back of Badoer and end his race.
Barrichello overtook Zanardi on lap 26; Salo did the same at the start of lap 28. At this point, Häkkinen led Frentzen by eight seconds, with Schumacher a further two-and-a-half seconds back. But on lap 30, going into the Rettifilo, Häkkinen made a mistake changing gear – selecting first instead of second[3] – and spun off, in a virtual repeat of his unforced error atSan Marino earlier in the year. In a rare show of emotion, the Finn burst into tears at the side of the track.
Frentzen thus inherited the lead as the front-runners began to make their pit stops. When these had been completed, Salo had moved back ahead of Barrichello and into third, while Coulthard and Irvine had both leapfrogged Zanardi and were now fifth and sixth.
Over the closing laps, Frentzen retained a comfortable lead over Schumacher – despite the Williams driver setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 48 – while Coulthard tried unsuccessfully to find a way past Barrichello, allowing Salo to pull away from both of them. Frentzen's eventual margin of victory was 3.2 seconds, with a further eight seconds back to Salo and another six back to Barrichello. Coulthard finished half a second behind the Stewart driver, but nine ahead of Irvine, who himself held off Zanardi for the final point.
This point moved Irvine level with Häkkinen in the Drivers' Championship on 60 points apiece, while the win put Frentzen just ten points behind on 50, with Coulthard on 48. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari cut McLaren's lead to six points, 108 to 102.
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| Previous race: 1999 Belgian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1999 season | Next race: 1999 European Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1998 Italian Grand Prix | Italian Grand Prix | Next race: 2000 Italian Grand Prix |
