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Formula One: Hakkinen wins race, World Championship after Ferrari 1-2 finish disqualified

18 October 1999

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- The outcome of the World Championship is in limbo following Ferraris victory, disqualification and subsequent appeal of the results of the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Ferrari teammates Eddie Irvine and Michael Schumacher drove a brilliantly tactical race that gave Irvine the victory, pushed him into the lead of the World Drivers Championship and give Ferrari the lead in the Constructors Championship. All this came at the expense of Mika Hakkinen, who finished third in his West McLaren-Mercedes.

Three hours after the race was over, however, race officials disqualified both Ferraris -- Irvine the winner and the second-placed Schumacher -- because the bodywork on both cars did not meet regulations.

According to the official report, parts of the deflector panels do not lie on either reference or step planes in accordance with Article 3.12.1 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations.

The result was that Hakkinen was elevated to first place and, as of now, he is the new World Champion and McLaren-Mercedes has won the Constructors Championship. Hakkinen now has 72 points, Irvine 60. McLaren has 120 points in the Constructors standings, Ferrari 102.

Ferrari, however, has appealed. It has not yet been determined when the appeal will be heard, but an outcome will likely be determined before the Grand Prix season finale Oct. 31 at Suzuka, Japan.

Pending the appeal, Hakkinen won the 56-lap, 192.843-mile (310.352-km) race at an average speed of 119.526 mph (192.359 kph) in a time of one hour, 36 minutes and 48.237 seconds. His margin of victory over Johnny Herberts Stewart-Ford was 7.795 seconds. Herberts teammate, Rubens Barrichello, finished third.

Jordans Heinz-Harald Frentzen was fourth, Saubers Jean Alesi fifth and Benettons Alexander Wurz took the final point in sixth.

Regardless of the outcome of the appeal, Stewart-Ford has moved ahead of Winfield Williams-Supertec to take fourth place in the Constructors Championship.

Pole sitter Michael Schumacher took the lead at the start of the race and then dropped back to let his teammate Irvine take over first place while he, Schumacher, held off Irvines main title challenger Hakkinen, who was in third place.

David Coulthard, one of the four championship contenders -- along with Irvine, Hakkinen and Frentzen -- going into the race, dropped out with fuel-pump failure on his McLaren-Mercedes. Frentzen fought his way from 14th to sixth in his B&H Jordan Mugen-Honda and was then moved up to fourth when the two Ferraris were disqualified. Either way, however, Frentzen and Coulthard are eliminated from the championship battle.

Schumacher led in the late stages of the race with Hakkinen second and Irvine third, but when Hakkinen made a second planned pit stop late in the race, Irvine moved into second. With four laps to go, Schumacher let Irvine into the lead so that Irvine could score maximum points. Irvine went on to score his fourth victory of the season only to lose it because of a technical infringement.

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