1999 Season

The 1999 FIA Formula One World Championship is the 53rd season of Formula One motor racing. Sixteen races are scheduled, beginning in Australia in March and concluding in Japan in October. Mika Häkkinen defends his Drivers’ title; McLaren defend the Constructors’ title.

Driver changes

Williams enter the season with an entirely new driver pairing. Ralf Schumacher moves from Jordan, where he spent the previous two seasons, alongside Alessandro Zanardi — a returning name after five years away from the sport. Zanardi last drove in F1 for Lotus in 1994 before winning back-to-back CART championships for Chip Ganassi Racing in 1997 and 1998.

The move creates a chain of changes. Heinz-Harald Frentzen leaves Williams to join Jordan, forming a partnership with 1996 world champion Damon Hill. Frentzen’s former teammate Jacques Villeneuve moves to the newly formed British American Racing team alongside McLaren test driver and FIA GT1 champion Ricardo Zonta — one of three rookies entering the grid. Pedro de la Rosa, Jordan’s test driver, makes his Grand Prix debut at Arrows; Marc Gené, the reigning Open Fortuna by Nissan champion, joins Minardi.

At Arrows, Toranosuke Takagi moves across from the defunct Tyrrell entry, partnering de la Rosa. Pedro Diniz switches from Arrows to Sauber, taking the seat vacated by Johnny Herbert. Herbert joins Stewart alongside Rubens Barrichello, filling the seats left by Jan Magnussen (who moves to the American Le Mans Series) and Jos Verstappen (who becomes test driver for Honda’s F1 project). Minardi field an entirely new pairing: Badoer — Ferrari test driver and absent from the grid since Forti in 1996 — alongside Gené, replacing Nakano and Tuero.

It is the final season for 1996 world champion Damon Hill.

Team changes

After three decades in the sport, the Tyrrell team is sold to British American Tobacco. Its entry forms the basis of the new British American Racing (BAR) team, which uses Renault-based Supertec engines in place of the Ford-Cosworth units run by Tyrrell in 1998.

Goodyear withdraws from Formula One after 34 years of involvement, leaving Bridgestone as the sole tyre supplier. All eleven teams will run Bridgestone rubber.

Williams retain the same basic engine arrangement from 1998 but under a new name: the Mecachrome units are rebadged as Supertec.

Calendar

The season runs to 16 races. The most significant addition is the Malaysian Grand Prix, making its world championship debut at the newly built Sepang International Circuit outside Kuala Lumpur.

The calendar had a turbulent construction process. A Chinese Grand Prix at Zhuhai was included on the provisional schedule but removed on 20 December 1998 due to unspecified problems. An Argentine Grand Prix was added the same day as replacement, only to be cancelled as well due to disputes between the organiser and the commercial rights holder. The result is a five-week gap between the opening race in Australia and the second round in Brazil.

The race at the Nürburgring returns to its European Grand Prix title, having been held under the Luxembourg Grand Prix name in 1997 and 1998.

Regulation changes

The grooved tyre rules introduced in 1998 are tightened. Front tyres must now carry four grooves rather than three, and their maximum width is reduced from 380 mm to 355 mm. Rear tyre width remains at 380 mm.

Wheels are required to be tethered to the chassis to prevent them detaching in a crash. Frontal crash tests are upgraded to 13 m/s, up from 12 m/s.