Formula 1

About the season

Schumacher suffered a serious crash at Stowe corner during the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and broke his leg, sidelining him for months. Ferrari brought in Mika Salo to replace the injured Schumacher; Salo helped hand victory to Eddie Irvine in Germany and finished third himself at Monza. At the Malaysian Grand Prix, Ferrari applied team orders: four laps from the finish, Schumacher (who had returned only for the season's final two races to support his teammate) slowed to let Irvine retake the lead and win the race - both Ferraris were then disqualified after the race over a bargeboard infringement, before being reinstated on appeal. Ferrari won the constructors' championship for the first time in 16 years, since 1983, beginning the team's most dominant era, which would bring six consecutive constructors' titles through 2004. Mika Häkkinen won the 1999 Drivers' Championship with 76 points (McLaren), 2 points ahead of the runner-up. Ferrari won the Constructors' Championship with 128 points, 4 points ahead of the runner-up. Across 16 completed races this season, there were 171 retirements. 6 different drivers won a race this season. Mika Häkkinen took the most race wins, 5 in total. Irvine won the season-opening race, the Australian Grand Prix. The Australian Grand Prix saw the most retirements of the season, with 14 drivers failing to finish. Badoer made the biggest gain of the season at the San Marino Grand Prix, from grid position 22 to finishing 8 (up 14 places). The most dominant win of the season came at the Monaco Grand Prix, with a margin of 30.5 seconds. The closest finish of the season came at the Austrian Grand Prix, with a gap of just 0.313 seconds. The season's biggest upset win came from Herbert at the European Grand Prix, starting from grid position 14. Häkkinen won the Japanese Grand Prix, the final race of the season.