1998 Australian Grand Prix

Race summary

The McLarens of Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard made good starts from the front row of the grid. Ferrari's Michael Schumacher, starting third, also had a good start and tried to overtake second place Coulthard. The Ferrari driver stayed with the McLarens but retired on lap 6 when his engine failed. This handed third place to the Williams of Jacques Villeneuve, who was being chased by Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella. After the first round of pitstops, Villeneuve found himself behind teammate Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Ferrari's Eddie Irvine, and Fisichella. Fisichella was able to pass Frentzen for third but then retired with mechanical failure, leaving Frentzen to finish just ahead of Irvine's Ferrari, which had gambled on a one-stop strategy. Villeneuve was lapped soon after this by the McLarens but still managed to finish in fifth place. All cars except the two McLarens were lapped down.

On lap 36, Häkkinen came into the pits unexpectedly, apparently having misheard a call over the radio. He drove straight through the pitlane and rejoined the race without stopping but lost first place to teammate Coulthard. In 2007, McLaren boss Ron Dennis claimed that someone had tapped into the team's radio system: "We do not and have not manipulated Grands Prix, unless there were some exceptional circumstances, which occurred in Australia [1998], when someone had tapped into our radio and instructed Mika Häkkinen to enter the pits." In 2023, Hakkinen recalled: "The team said something on the radio, I was confused, I thought they asked me to come to change tyres and that was not the case. They were just giving me some different information. So I just drove through the pit lane and I of course lost the lead of the race, David got the lead."

With 16 laps to go, Coulthard had a 12-second lead; by lap 55 of 58, Coulthard's lead was reduced to two seconds. A few laps before the end of the race, Coulthard let Häkkinen past on the front straight. From the pre-season test, it was clear that McLaren had the fastest car but was unreliable. Due to those reliability concerns, Hakkinen and Coulthard had made a pre-race agreement that between the two of them, the driver who led at the first corner would go on to win the race, should he be in the position to do so. Coulthard and the McLaren team were criticised heavily, leading to discussion about team orders. The situation surrounding Coulthard allowing Häkkinen through would eventually go to the World Motorsport Council. The verdict was that "any future act prejudicial to the interests of competition should be severely punished in accordance with article 151c of International Sporting Code." Team orders continued to be controversial in Formula One and were banned following the events of the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix but were reallowed following the 2010 German Grand Prix. Frentzen took third place for Williams. The race was the first win for the tyre manufacturer Bridgestone after they entered Formula One a year earlier.

After the race concluded, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation chairman Ron Walker lodged an official complaint to the FIA into how the actions of the McLaren team decided the race for Häkkinen.

Classification

Qualifying

Race

• Pedro Diniz's car caught fire on the way to the grid.

Championship standings after the race

; Drivers' Championship standings

;Constructors' Championship standings

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Notes

References

| Previous_year's_race = 1997 Australian Grand Prix | Next_year's_race = 1999 Australian Grand Prix

References

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5. Gebbie, Mark. (March 1998). "The Team or the Individual".
6. Carluccio, Carlo. (8 March 2014). "On This Day in #F1: 8th March<!--".
7. Ewan, Ewan M.. (August 1998). "Do Champions Need Team Orders?".
8. (18 March 1998). "FIA warns teams; French GP gets go-ahead; Tests: F1 Coverage in Florida".
9. O'Keefe, Thomas. (13 February 2002). "The FIA's International Court of Appeal: Final Answer? (Part III)".
10. Masefield, Fraser. (14 October 2013). "Top 10 Team Orders Controversies in Formula One".
11. (14 March 2020). "A Mysterious Order: Inside the Controversial 1998 Australian GP".
12. (8 March 1998). "Hakkinen wins Grand Prix". Gadsden Times.
13. Tremayne, David. (9 March 1998). "Coulthard's selfless act of honour". The Independent.
14. (9 March 1998). "Protest lodged over Hakkinen win". BBC News.
15. (1998). "Australia 1998 – Qualifications".
16. (1998). "1998 Australian Grand Prix".
17. (1998). "Australia 1998 – Championship".