1999 Italian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 13 of 16 in the 1999 Formula One season
Autodromo Nazionale Monza (last modified in 1995)
Date	September 12, 1999
Official name	LXX Gran Premio Campari d'Italia
Location	Monza, Italy
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.770 km (3.585 mi)
Distance	53 laps, 305.810 km (190.022 mi)
Weather	Sunny, hot, dry
Pole position
Driver	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:22.432
Fastest lap
Driver	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-Supertec
Time	1:25.579 on lap 48
Podium
First	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Mugen-Honda
Second	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-Supertec
Third	Mika Salo	Ferrari

The 1999 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on September 12, 1999 at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza near Monza, Italy. It was the thirteenth race of the 1999 Formula One season.

As a close championship moved towards its conclusion, points leader and defending champion Mika Häkkinen cracked under pressure, spinning off on lap 30 after selecting too low a gear while comfortably leading the race. In a rare show of emotion from the Finn, he later burst into tears at the side of the track. Asked about it afterwards he replied: "Real men don't cry".^{[citation needed]} The victory was thus inherited by Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen, in what would prove to be the only race the team ever won in dry conditions, as well as being Frentzen's last win in Formula One. Frentzen held off Ralf Schumacher in the less powerful Williams, with Mika Salo giving the home crowd some cheer with third place in his Ferrari. Häkkinen's closest title challenger Eddie Irvine could only manage sixth, but his lone point allowed him to draw level with Häkkinen in the championship.

Classification[link]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	8	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	53	1:17:02.923	2	10
2	6	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-Supertec	53	+3.272	5	6
3	3	Mika Salo	Ferrari	53	+11.932	6	4
4	16	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	53	+17.630	7	3
5	2	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+18.142	3	2
6	4	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	53	+27.402	8	1
7	5	Alessandro Zanardi	Williams-Supertec	53	+28.047	4
8	22	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Supertec	53	+41.797	11
9	11	Jean Alesi	Sauber-Petronas	53	+42.198	13
10	7	Damon Hill	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	53	+56.259	9
11	18	Olivier Panis	Prost-Peugeot	52	Engine	10
Ret	17	Johnny Herbert	Stewart-Ford	40	Clutch	15
Ret	15	Toranosuke Takagi	Arrows	35	Spun off	22
Ret	14	Pedro de la Rosa	Arrows	35	Withdrew	21
Ret	1	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	30	Spun off	1
Ret	19	Jarno Trulli	Prost-Peugeot	29	Overheating	12
Ret	23	Ricardo Zonta	BAR-Supertec	25	Wheel bearing	18
Ret	20	Luca Badoer	Minardi-Ford	23	Collision	19
Ret	10	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Playlife	11	Electrical	14
Ret	12	Pedro Diniz	Sauber-Petronas	1	Spun off	16
Ret	9	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Playlife	1	Spun off	17
Ret	21	Marc Gené	Minardi-Ford	0	Collision	20

Standings after Grand Prix[link]

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mika Häkkinen 60 2 Eddie Irvine 60 3 Heinz-Harald Frentzen 50 4 David Coulthard 48 5 Michael Schumacher 32

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Mercedes 108 2 Ferrari 102 3 Jordan-Mugen-Honda 57 4 Williams-Supertec 30 5 Stewart-Ford 17

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References[link]

Classification
"1999 Italian Grand Prix". The Official Formula 1 Website. http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1999/80/. Retrieved 2007-07-30. 
"1999 Italian GP: Classification". ChicaneF1.com. http://www.chicanef1.com/race.pl?year=1999&gp=Italian%20GP&type=res. Retrieved 2007-08-02. 

Notes, Race details
"1999 Italian GP: Overview". ChicaneF1.com. http://www.chicanef1.com/racetit.pl?year=1999&gp=Italian%20GP. Retrieved 2007-08-02. 

Italian Grand Prix

Autodromo Nazionale Monza
Race information
Laps	53
Circuit length	5.793 km (3.600 mi)
Race length	306.720 km (190.596 mi)
Number of times held	81
First held	1921
Most wins (drivers)	Michael Schumacher (5)
Most wins (constructors)	Ferrari (19)
Last race (2011):
Pole position	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:22.275
Podium	1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:20:46.172 2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +9.5 secs 3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +16.9 secs
Fastest lap	Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:26.187

An aerial photograph of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.

The Italian Grand Prix (Gran Premio d'Italia) is one of the longest running events on the motor racing calendar. The first Italian Grand Prix motor racing championship took place on 4 September 1921 at Brescia. However, the race is more closely associated with the course at Monza, which was built in 1922 in time for that year's race, and has been the location for most of the races over the years.

The 1923 race included one of Harry A. Miller's rare European appearances with his single seat "American Miller 122" driven by Count Louis Zborowski of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang fame.

The Italian Grand Prix counted toward the European Championship from 1935 to 1938. It was designated the European Grand Prix seven times between 1923 and 1967, when this title was an honorary designation given each year to one grand prix race in Europe. The Italian Grand Prix was also one of the inaugural Formula One championship races in 1950, and has been held every year since then. The only other championship race for which this is true is the British Grand Prix.

After winning the 2006 Italian Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher announced his retirement from Formula 1 racing at the end of the 2006 season. Kimi Räikkönen replaced him at Ferrari from the start of the 2007 season. At the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel became the youngest driver in history to win a Formula One Grand Prix. Aged 21 years and 74 days, Vettel broke the record set by Fernando Alonso at the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix by 317 days as he won in wet conditions at Monza. Vettel led for the majority of the Grand Prix and crossed the finish line 12.5 seconds ahead of McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen. Earlier in the weekend, he had already become the youngest polesitter, after setting the fastest times in both Q2 and Q3 qualifying stages. His win also gave him the record of youngest podium-finisher. Uncertainty grew over the fact that Monza would continue to host the race as Rome had signed a deal to host Formula One from 2012. On 18 March 2010 however, Bernie Ecclestone and the Monza track managers signed a deal which meant that the race will be held there until at least 2016.^[1]

The Italian Grand Prix in recent years has been labelled as a jinx to the winning driver. For 7 straight races from 2004-2010, no driver was able to win the Italian Grand Prix and the championship in the same year. Over the past two decades, only Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel have won the Italian Grand Prix and gone on to win the world championship in the same year. A total of 12 Italian drivers have won the Italian Grand Prix; 10 before World War II and 3 when it was part of the Formula One world championship. Alberto Ascari won the race 3 times (once before Formula One and twice during the Formula One championship). Michael Schumacher has won it 5 times and Nelson Piquet won 4 times. Ferrari have won their home Grand Prix 19 times.

Sponsors[link]

Coca-Cola Gran Premio d'Italia 1988-1991
Pioneer Gran Premio d'Italia 1992-1996
Gran Premio Campari d'Italia 1997-2001
Gran Premio Vodafone d'Italia 2002-2006
Gran Premio Santander d'Italia 2007–present