1999 San Marino Grand Prix

Championship standings

Irvine leads the championship after scoring in both opening rounds, two points ahead of Häkkinen and Frentzen. Häkkinen has momentum from winning Brazil, but McLaren’s reliability record is still uneven: in Australia both cars failed, and in Brazil Coulthard stalled on the grid and never ran competitively. Häkkinen’s win in Brazil is the team’s only points finish so far.

Previous race

At Interlagos, Häkkinen won after running in a battle with Barrichello and Schumacher through the pit stop sequence. Barrichello led for a time — the first Stewart car ever to lead a Grand Prix — before eventually falling back. Frentzen was classified third despite running out of fuel on the final lap, as the next car was a full lap down.

Between-race developments

Ricardo Zonta, who injured his foot in a crash during practice at Brazil, misses this race. Mika Salo — who was left without a full-time drive for 1999 after Arrows replaced him — steps in at BAR for the second consecutive round.