| 1999 Monaco Grand Prix | |||||
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Race 4 of 16 in the1999 Formula One World Championship
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 Circuit de Monaco(last modified in 1998) | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | 16 May 1999 | ||||
| Official name | LVII Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco | ||||
| Location | Monte Carlo,Monaco | ||||
| Course | Temporary street circuit | ||||
| Course length | 3.367 km (2.092 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 78 laps, 262.626 km (163.188 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Sunny, hot, dry | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| Time | 1:20.547 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Mika Häkkinen | McLaren-Mercedes | |||
| Time | 1:22.259 on lap 67 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Ferrari | ||||
| Second | Ferrari | ||||
| Third | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The1999 Monaco Grand Prix (formally theLVII Grand Prix Automobile de Monaco) was aFormula One motor race held on 16 May 1999 at theCircuit de Monaco inMonte Carlo,Monaco. It was the fourth race of the1999 Formula One season. The 78-lap race was won byFerrari driverMichael Schumacher after starting from second position. It was Schumacher's 16th win with Ferrari, breaking the record held byNiki Lauda. His team-mateEddie Irvine finished second withMika Häkkinen third for theMcLaren team.
The race was Schumacher's second win of the season, his fourth at Monaco, and the result meant that he extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship, to eight points over Irvine and twelve over Häkkinen. Ferrari extended their lead in theConstructors' Championship, twenty-four points ahead of McLaren and twenty-eight ahead ofJordan with 12 races of the season remaining.
The Grand Prix was contested by eleven teams, each of two drivers.[1] The teams, also known asconstructors, wereMcLaren,Ferrari,Williams,Jordan,Benetton,Sauber,Arrows,Stewart,Prost,Minardi andBAR.[1]Tyre supplierBridgestone brought four different tyre types to the race: two dry compounds, the extra soft and the soft, and twowet-weather compounds, the intermediate and full wet.[2]
Going into the race, Ferrari driverMichael Schumacher led theDrivers' Championship with 16 points, ahead ofEddie Irvine on 12 points andMika Häkkinen on 10 points.Heinz-Harald Frentzen was fourth with 10 points whileRalf Schumacher was fifth on 10 points. In theConstructors' Championship Ferrari were leading with 28 points, McLaren and Jordan were second and third with 16 and 13 points respectively, while Williams with 7 and Stewart with 6 points contended for fourth place. Ferrari had so far dominated the championship, winning two out of the three previous races, with Häkkinen winning theBrazilian Grand Prix. Championship contenders Frentzen andDavid Coulthard had each gained one second-place finish, and Ralf Schumacher andRubens Barrichello had achieved third place podium finishes.
Following theSan Marino Grand Prix on 2 May, several teams conducted testing sessions at circuits around the world. Ferrari and Minardi headed forFiorano where testing for the set-up around the Monaco circuit took place. McLaren and Prost tested at theCircuit de Nevers Magny-Cours running over the course of three days, while Prost elected to test for one day. Jordan tested at theLurcy-Lévis test track with driverAndrew Gilbert-Scott performing aerodynamic mapping runs.[3]
Four practice sessions were held before the race; two one-hour sessions on Thursday and two 45 minutes sessions on Saturday.[4] The Friday sessions were held in dry and cloudy conditions. Irvine was the fastest driver in the first session, with a time of 1:18.910 that was less than six-tenths of a second faster than Michael Schumacher. Jordan driverDamon Hill was less than two-tenths of a second off Michael Schumacher's pace, with Barrichello,Alessandro Zanardi andJean Alesi rounding out the top six.[5] In the second practice session, Michael Schumacher was fastest with a time of 1:22.718, ahead of Häkkinen,Olivier Panis, Irvine,Giancarlo Fisichella and Coulthard.
Saturday's afternoon qualifying session lasted for an hour. During this session, the107% rule was in effect, which necessitated each driver set a time within 107% of the quickest lap to qualify for the race. Each driver was limited to twelve laps.[4] Häkkinen achieved his fourth pole position of the season, his second at the Circuit de Monaco, with a time of 1:20.547. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Michael Schumacher, who was less than one-tenth of a second behind.
The conditions for the race were dry with theair temperature 19 °C (66 °F) and the track temperature 34 °C (93 °F).[6] The drivers took to the track at 09:30 (GMT +1) for a 30-minute warm-up session.[4] Both Ferrari drivers maintained their good pace from qualifying; Michael Schumacher set the fastest time, a 1:23.792. Irvine was second in the other Ferrari car. Both McLaren drivers were just off Irvine's pace—Häkkinen ahead of Coulthard—while Hill and Ralf Schumacher rounded out the top six.[7]
Both Ferraris gained a position at the start, withMichael Schumacher taking the lead fromMika Häkkinen,Eddie Irvine andDavid Coulthard. The order remained this way until lap 35 when Coulthard's car began to slow, eventually causing him to retire. Further bad luck befellMcLaren a few laps later when Häkkinen went straight on at Mirabeau from oil left afterToranosuke Takagi's blown engine.Eddie Irvine moved into 2nd place and stayed there.
On the podium, theRepublic of Ireland's flag was flown for Irvine.[8]
The race result left Michael Schumacher extending his lead in the Drivers' Championship with 26 points. Irvine's second place ensured that he maintained second position in the Championship with 18 points, four points ahead of Häkkinen and five ahead of Frentzen. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari extended their lead to 44 points, McLaren maintained second with 20 points, with Jordan maintaining third with 16 points, with 12 races of the season remaining.
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43°44′4.74″N7°25′16.8″E / 43.7346500°N 7.421333°E /43.7346500; 7.421333