The 1998 Italian Grand Prix
Monza, 11-13th September

Sunday - Race

Johnny' comments:

"Unbeknown to me, some pliers had been left in the footwell of my car before the race began. I made a reasonable start and gained a couple of places, but from the second lap the pliers began to foul the brake pedal and twice I had to adjust the brake balance to compensate. The first time I lost a place to Barrichello, and then I had a couple of other moments.

"I couldn't be exactly sure what was going on, only that the car suddenly felt inconsistent and very difficult to drive. As I went into the second Lesmo on the 13th lap the pedal felt odd as the pliers interfered again, and I spun into the gravel. As you can imagine, I am not at all happy. "

Jean Alesi's comments:

"I made a great start, but going into the first chicane I lost a bit of momentum because I had to avoid Michael (Schumacher), who had not made such a good start. But once I got back into the rhythm I could run strongly.

This morning I had done a back-to-back run with my race car and the spare, and I preferred the spare, which was the chassis I used originally on Friday. I got a nice surprise, because it felt a lot better. I had a car I could race, and it was very, very good. I am happy with fifth place and more championship points for the team. "

Peter Sauber's comments:

"Once again Jean had a fantastic race. He was concentrated and controlled from the first to the last minute. Our pit stop was excellent - we were the fastest of all the teams on a single-stop strategy - and I congratulate and thank the crew for that. In the first part of the race Johnny had a spin into the gravel, and this was entirely the responsibility of the team - sorry Johnny."

Johnny's race

Johnny made a good start and was up to 13th from 15th. He lost a place to his 1999 team-mate, Rubens Barrichello, before spinning into the gravel trap at the second of the Lesmo curves. According to the ITV commentary, the spin happened because one of the Sauber mechanics had left a pair of pliers in the cockpit which were interfering with the pedals...

Race results:

1. M Schumacher (Ferrari) 1hr 17m 09.672s
2. E Irvine (Ferrari ) + 37.977s
3. R Schumacher (Jordan) + 41.152s
4. M Hakkinen (McLaren) + 55.671s
5. J Alesi (Sauber) + 1:01.872
6. D Hill (Jordan) + 1:06.688s

Saturday - Qualifying

Johnny's comments:

"I did a quick initial run on intermediates, which just proved that the track wasn't as damp as it looked. But on my second run I hit a slick patch as I braked for the second chicane, The car got into a bit of a wobble and then slid off to the right, where it grazed the barrier and damaged the front wing.

"I went back out in the spare car for my final run, but I came up with David (Coulthard) and Damon (Hill) at precisely the wrong time, so my improvement wasn't sufficient to pull me up the grid."

Jean Alesi's comments:

"I am very unhappy. I feel I should have been better than eighth."

Peter Sauber's comments:

"Jean once more did a great job and made the best out of the changing circumstances. After his incident Johnny had to switch to the T-car, and was not able to better his position in the rush-hour of the last minute."

Qualifying times:

1. M Schumacher (Ferrari) 1m 25.289s
2. J Villeneuve (Williams) + 0.272s
3. M Hakkinen (McLaren) + 0.390s
4. D Coulthard (McLaren) + 0.698s
5. E Irvine (Ferrari ) + 0.870s
6. R Schumacher (Jordan) + 01.020s
7. A Wurz (Benetton) + 1.278s
8. J Alesi (Sauber) + 1.348s
9. O Panis (Prost) + 1.392s
10. J Trulli (Prost) + 1.505s
11. G Fisichella (Benetton) 1.528s
12. H-H Frentzen (Williams) + 1.547s
13. R Barrichello (Stewart) + 1.958s
14. D Hill (Jordan) + 2.073s
15. J Herbert (Sauber) + 2.221s

Qualifying session

Nobody went out for almost 40 minutes because the track was still damp from heavy morning rain. As the last 20 minutes sped by with all 22 cars out on the track, the circuit began to dry and the times tumbled. Jean Alesi got pole with about five minutes to go and, although no-one bettered his time for a couple of minutes, he finished up eighth. Johnny ended way down in 15th after a spin during his last stint.

ITV interview just before the qualifying session

ITV: Johnny, after the rain this morning, do you think that the circuit will dry out quickly now?

JH: The sun is obviously helping matters. I think the biggest problem we're going to have is at the first Lesmo, maybe second Lesmo, and braking into Ascari. That's where the trees hang over and that's where it's going to be damp., I would think, the whole way through the session. Ascari, Parabolica, first chicane, braking into the second chicane, again because of the trees and the bridge which is on our braking point - it's all going to be tricky.

ITV: This wasn't a good race for you last year when you had a big shunt [caused by Ralf Schumacher]. Will it be better this year?

JH: I think it will be better than that, hopefully - if that doesn't happen again! We should be OK but I think we're going to find it very difficult through here because this is a power circuit and, at the moment, we haven't got the best engine package.

Friday - Practice

Johnny's comments:

"The good news today is that we have improved my car since the test here last week. It absorbs the kerbs better than it did then, although there is still a way to go to make it better still. This morning my principal problem was far too much understeer, so we have to address that, too.

"This afternoon I ran when the rain was at its worst, mainly because it's a long time since anyone has run in such a downpour here. All I can say is that the track was very, very slippery."

Peter Sauber's comments:

"While Johnny did the usual Friday homework, Jean could not run at all due to an intermittent electrical problem which we are still investigating. This prevented him from doing a single timed lap. Fortunately this is not too serious because we tested here for four days last week."

Times from first practice:

1 E.Irvine Ferrari 1m 24.987s (23 laps)
2 M.Schumacher Ferrari 1m 25.246s (12)
3 D.Coulthard McLaren 1m 25.690s (26)
4 J.Villeneuve Williams 1m 26.053s (26)
5 M.Hakkinen McLaren 1m 26.159s (16)
6 H.Frentzen Williams 1m 26.528s (26)
7 J.Trulli Prost 1m 26.748s (25)
8 D.Hill Jordan 1m 26.838s (25)
9 G.Fisichella Benetton 1m 26.885s (17)
10 A.Wurz Benetton 1m 26.886s (18)
11 R.Schumacher Jordan 1m 27.079s (29)
12 J.Herbert Sauber 1m 27.541s (29)

[Jean Alesi did not complete a lap due to electrical problems.]

Every effort is made to ensure factual accuracy but
no responsibility is accepted for this information.
Photos by kind permission of Sauber.
Last updated 14th September1998