[Race] The GROAT - Round 2 - 1999 Nürburgring vs 1976 Fuji

[crmalcolm]

1999 Nürburgring
On race day the track was dry but the start was delayed when Zanardi and Gené lined up out of sequence on the grid, necessitating another formation lap. As the start was aborted during the start lights' sequence the top five qualifiers and another car actually jumped the start but were not penalised due to the aborting of the start. When the race finally got under way, Frentzen led from Häkkinen, but further back there was trouble at the first corner. Hill's Jordan suffered an electrical failure in the middle of the pack which caused Wurz to swerve into Diniz, sending the Sauber into a barrel roll. The safety car was deployed while Diniz was helped uninjured from his car; a fortunate end result as it was revealed that the Sauber's rollbar had failed when it hit the ground.

The race settled down with the top six Frentzen, Häkkinen, Coulthard, Ralf Schumacher, Fisichella and Irvine. A few laps into the race rain began to fall, and Häkkinen pitted for wet tyres. The rest of the frontrunners stayed out on dry tyres, which proved to be the correct decision as the rain quickly blew over and the track dried. Ralf Schumacher took advantage of the damp track to pass Coulthard, and Irvine passed Fisichella. However, things would quickly turn sour for the Ferrari driver, as he had a disastrous pitstop. Team mate Salo had damaged his wing the previous lap leaving the Ferrari pitcrew unprepared for Irvine. Added to this, the team made a late decision to stay on dry tyres and the pitcrew could only find three of them. Almost half a minute passed before the fourth was put on the car and Irvine was able to rejoin. Soon afterwards, Häkkinen pitted again to change back to dry tyres.

At the front Frentzen and Coulthard continued on dry tyres until their scheduled pit stops which they made together (Schumacher had pitted several laps earlier). Frentzen rejoined ahead of Coulthard, with both comfortably ahead of Schumacher. At this point in the race both Irvine and Häkkinen were well out of the points, meaning that if the order stayed the same Frentzen, Irvine, and Häkkinen would have all been tied for the points lead with two races to go, with Coulthard six points behind them.

What followed was a series of heartbreaking retirements. The first to fall was Frentzen, who ground to a halt at the first corner after his pitstop with the same electrical problem that had befallen his teammate. Coulthard inherited the lead and stayed out front until the rain came back with a vengeance. The Scot chose to stay out on dry tyres while most pitted for wets, which ultimately proved to be a costly mistake, as he slid off the road and out of the race on the 38th lap as the conditions worsened. Within a handful of laps two Championship contenders had seen their hopes of winning the title fall by the wayside. Ralf (still on dry tyres) then inherited the lead which he held until his pitstop six laps later. This allowed Fisichella (also on dries) to take the lead with Ralf in second, as the rain stopped. Meanwhile, Herbert had quietly moved up the order after changing to wet tyres just at the right time.

The heartbreak then reached new levels. On lap 49, Fisichella spun out of the lead like Coulthard before him, giving the lead back to Ralf. But then he too lost the lead (and probable first win) when his right rear tyre punctured, allowing Herbert to take the lead which he would not lose. Further back the Minardis were taking full advantage of the unpredictable nature of the race with Badoer in fourth and Gené in seventh. But with just 13 laps to go, Badoer's gearbox failed, denying the Ferrari test driver his first ever Formula 1 points and leaving him in tears. Gené was promoted to 6th, which became 5th when Jacques Villeneuve's car failed, robbing the BAR team of their first-ever point. Behind him, Irvine and Häkkinen had fought their way back into contention for points, with Irvine holding 6th ahead of Häkkinen. After cruising for most of the race, Häkkinen turned up the pressure, eventually forcing Irvine into a mistake and taking 6th place. At the front Barrichello tried everything to pass Trulli for 2nd and make it a Stewart 1-2, but ultimately had to settle for 3rd. Meanwhile, Häkkinen caught and passed Gené for 5th to earn 2 invaluable points, but the Spaniard held onto 6th ahead of Irvine to give Minardi their first point for four seasons.


1976 Fuji
Unlike the two practice days, raceday dawned dark, foggy and incredibly wet, with pools of water forming all around the Fuji Speedway. The half-hour warm-up session provided evidence that the conditions were poor at best, prompting several meetings between the drivers that would last well beyond the original start time. Another warm-up was staged, after which the majority of the drivers voted against starting, only to be told by the organisers and teams that they were to head to the grid anyway.

It was still very dark, very damp, and incredibly foggy when the starter's lights flashed to green, with the entire field struggling to get off the line amid the spray. A few drivers seemed to hook up their starts well, James Hunt immediately slithering past pole sitter Mario Andretti, while John Watson slipped his Penske up to second. However, their starts paled in comparison to that of Kazuyoshi Hoshino, who shot into the top ten in the old Tyrrell having started down in twenty-first.

Come the end of the opening tour it was Hunt leading with a huge gap back to Watson in second, with Andretti just visible in the Penske's spray. Jody Scheckter was next in the queue with Vittorio Brambilla, Clay Regazzoni and Patrick Depailler, while the remarkable Hoshino had made even more ground to settle himself into eighth. Hans-Joachim Stuck was next ahead of a rather miserable Niki Lauda, who could see his crown draining away, while Larry Perkins crawled into the pits at the back of the field to retire, citing the weather and a lack of control.

The second lap followed much the same pattern as the first, Hunt pulling further and further ahead, while Watson slipped back behind Andretti. Lauda, meanwhile, would continue to slide down the order, and, having been relegated out of the top ten, the Austrian decided it was not worth the risk of continuing. The defending World Champion duly brought his perfectly healthy car into the pits at the end of the second lap, declaring that the conditions were unsafe to continue.

On track, meanwhile, the Austrian's arch-rival Hunt continued to pound around at unabated speed, while Andretti slithered on in second. Watson continued on in third for another lap before being elbowed back by Brambilla, while Ronnie Peterson dropped out with an electrical short, caused by water getting into the system. However, Brambilla's moment in the (vacant) sun would be short lived, the Italian pitting a couple of laps later to have a disintegrated front left tyre replaced.

Further early retirements would include Carlos Pace and Emerson Fittipaldi, both citing the conditions, although the huge home crowd were all focused on the circuit. This was because local racer Hoshino was picking his way up the order, passing both Regazzoni and Scheckter to climb into the top three. He would remain there for a couple of laps before a barnstorming Brambilla reclaimed the position, the Italian having rejoined from the pits in eighth.

Indeed, Brambilla now became the centre of attention for the crowd, with the Italian soon seen sweeping past Andretti a couple of laps later before charging off after Hunt. By lap twenty the #9 March was within striking distance, with Brambilla duly sending his car slithering up the inside of the McLaren at the hairpin. Unfortunately the move was for too optimistic, with Brambilla missing the nose of Hunt's McLaren by millimetres, before spinning to a stop on the outside of the circuit.

Jochen Mass, whom had quietly picked his way up the order as others hit trouble, and Depailler moved past the Italian before he rejoined, with Brambilla citing an engine issue as the cause of the spin. By this stage several drivers had had to stop for fresh tyres, as the circuit was beginning to dry in certain places as the rain stopped shortly after the start. McLaren team boss Teddy Mayer spotted this and began to signal to his drivers to stay off the "racing line", with the Goodyear wets known to overheat quickly on even damp tarmac.

Mass, however, would ignore the advice of his team boss, sticking to the racing line as he reeled in teammate Hunt out front. Yet, just as the German seemed set to stab his British teammate in the back, Mass ran into one of the large puddles lying on the outside of the final corner, aquaplaning straight into the barriers. Mass climbed out of the now noseless McLaren, leaving Hunt with a comfortable lead over Tom Pryce, who was another silently picking his way up the order.

Indeed, Pryce would continue to close onto the back of Hunt as half-distance came and went, before the Shadow expired in a cloud of oil smoke. Depailler was duly promoted back into second ahead of the chasing Andretti, while Brambilla's second comeback came to an end with electrical issues. He joined a steadily growing list of retirements, with both of the Wolf-Williamss on the sidelines which had suffered unrelated failures.

With thirteen laps to go Hunt was seriously beginning to struggle with his heavily worn front left tyre, awaiting a call from his pit crew. They, however, were waiting for Hunt to come in on his own before leaping to action, meaning that the Brit was steadily losing both time and grip as the race wore on. That allowed Depailler to close right onto the back of the McLaren, while Andretti decided to cruise and conserve his wets.

Fate, ultimately, dictated the end of the race, as first Depailler, then Hunt, suffered tyre failures in the final stages, relegating them down the order. Depailler dropped first, sprinting past Hunt to take the lead, only for his left rear tyre to disintegrate with ten laps to go. Quick work by the Tyrrell crew got the Frenchman back out on a fresh set of wets, the circuit too dangerous for slicks, with Depailler rejoining in fifth.

Two laps later and Hunt's front left tyre fell apart in the final corner, moments after the Brit had fallen behind the cruising Andretti. Fortunately the McLaren pitcrew had been ready to receive their lead driver for some time, and were quick to get the rear wheels changed, before manually lifting the front of the car to allow the fronts to be changed. Hunt was soon back in the fray but had dropped to fifth behind Regazzoni, Alan Jones and Depailler, a disaster in terms of his title bid as the Brit needed to finish fourth at worst to overhaul Lauda.

The final few laps were nothing short of spectacular, with both Depailler and Hunt scything towards the Ferrari and Surtees as the laps ticked away. The Tyrrell caught them first and blasted through without issue, his fresh wets meaning it was impossible for either Regazzoni or Jones to defend. Hunt would catch them at the start of the penultimate lap, passing both en-route to third place to send the McLaren pitcrew into the atmosphere.

All that was left was for Andretti to cruise through the final lap, the American duly crossing the line a lap clear of the field to claim victory for Lotus. Depailler was next across the line in second, while Hunt flashed through in third, believing he had failed to win the title. Jones overcame Regazzoni's late pressure to claim fourth, while Gunnar Nilsson complete the points in the second of the Loti.

With that the 1976 season was over, Hunt arriving in the pits despondent, only to be told by team boss Mayer that he was the World Champion. As the McLaren celebrations got underway, Lauda was seen climbing into a plane at a nearby airport, en-route to Italy for a post-race briefing with Enzo Ferrari. The Italian team would have to be satisfied with just the International Cup for Manufacturers for their work, knowing that Lauda would likely have won the title without his fiery accident at the Nürburgring.

[S griffin]

1999 Nurburgring was certainly dramatic, but Fuji 1976 was quite a nailbiter and certainly was the catalyst that helped F1 become more popular as a result. Definitely worthy of a Hollywood script that...