Menagerie F1 : 1998 Brazilian Grand Prix

Mika Hakkinen	McLaren-Mercedes BS	1m 17.092s
David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes BS	1m 17.757s
Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Mecachrome GY	1m 18.109s
Michael Schumacher	Ferrari GY	1m 18.250s
Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Playlife BS	1m 18.261s
Eddie Irvine	Ferrari GY	1m 18.449s
Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Playlife BS	1m 18.652s
Ralf Schumacher	Jordan-Mugen Honda GY	1m 18.735s
Olivier Panis	Prost-Peugeot BS	1m 18.753s
Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Mecachrome GY	1m 18.761s
Damon Hill	Jordan-Mugen Honda GY	1m 18.988s
Jarno Trulli	Prost-Peugeot BS	1m 19.069s
Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford BS	1m 19.344s
Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Petronas GY	1m 19.375s
Jean Alesi	Sauber-Petronas BS	1m 19.449s
Jan Magnussen	Stewart-Ford BS	1m 19.644s
Tora Takagi	Tyrrell-Ford GY	1m 20.203s
Shinji Nakano	Minardi-Ford BS	1m 20.390s
Esteban Tuero	Minardi-Ford BS	1m 20.459s
Mika Salo	TWR Arrows BS	1m 20.481s
Ricardo Rosset	Tyrrell-Ford GY	1m 20.748s
Pedro Diniz	TWR Arrows BS	1m 20.847s

Analysis :
After having two wins handed to him, Mika Hakinnen finally showed he can win on his own merit, easily pacing McLaren teammate David Coulthard.
Although not quite as dominating as the previous race, the "Silver Arrows" were over a minute in front of Michael Schumacher and lapped up to 4th place. Of the rest of the finishers, particularly strong was the Benetton of Alexander Wurz, who drove a very maturely on his first visit to the track.
The Williams' once again struggled, with Heinz-Harald Frentzen only just holding off Giancarlo Fisichella in the second Benetton, while Jacques Villeneuve (having qualified a lowly 10th) had to fight to finish 7th.
During practice there were a couple of nasty crashes. Olivier Panis was lucky to walk away unscathed, while Johnny Herbert sprained his neck muscles enough that he was unable to finish the race.
As for the rest of the field, the engine and gearbox failures were prevelant, while Ralf Schumacher and Damon Hill gave Eddie Jordan an unwelcome 50th birthday presents. Hill by being disqualified from 10th for being 9kg underweight and the German by spinning off on the first lap. In the first two Grand Prix he has yet to complete a lap!

So the Hakkinen can truthfully say he is a Grand Prix winner. If he keeps this up he will overtake original "Flying Finn" Keke Rosberg in the winners standings before the midpoint of the season...

	1998 Brazilian Grand Prix
Interlagos Sao Paulo 2.69 miles March 29th 1998

Mika Hakkinen	McLaren-Mercedes BS	1h 37m 11.747s
David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes BS	1h 37m 12.849s
Michael Schumacher	Ferrari GY	1h 38m 12.297s
Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Playlife BS	1h 38m 19.200s
Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Mecachrome GY	1 lap down
Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Playlife BS	1 lap down