1999 Monaco Grand Prix

Championship standings

Michael Schumacher leads with 16 points, four ahead of Irvine on 12. Häkkinen and Frentzen are next on 10, with Ralf Schumacher fifth on 7. Ferrari lead the Constructors’ with 28 points; McLaren are second with 16; Jordan third with 13.

Previous race

At Imola, Schumacher won for Ferrari amid a jubilant tifosi crowd. Häkkinen had led comfortably until an unforced error at the chicane on lap 17 put him into the barrier. Irvine retired with an engine failure, while Coulthard finished second and Barrichello took third. Frentzen spun off on the oil left by Irvine’s blown engine.

Between-race developments

In the fortnight since Imola, several teams ran pre-race testing. Ferrari and Minardi worked at Fiorano on Monaco-specific set-up. McLaren tested at Magny-Cours over three days; Prost joined them for one day. Jordan ran aerodynamic mapping work at Lurcy-Lévis with test driver Andrew Gilbert-Scott.

Practice

Four practice sessions are scheduled: two one-hour sessions on Thursday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday. In Thursday’s first session, Irvine set the fastest time (1:18.910), less than six-tenths ahead of Michael Schumacher. Damon Hill was within two-tenths of Schumacher. Barrichello, Zanardi and Alesi rounded out the top six. In the second Thursday session, Schumacher was fastest at 1:22.718, ahead of Häkkinen, Panis, Irvine, Fisichella and Coulthard.

Tyre choices

Bridgestone brings four compounds to Monaco: extra soft and soft dry-weather tyres, plus intermediates and full wets.