1998 Luxembourg Grand Prix
Race 15 of 16 in the 1998 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
The Nürburgring in its 1998 configuration
Race details
Date	27 September 1998
Official name	Grosser Warsteiner Preis von Luxemburg 1998
Location	Nürburg, Germany
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.556 km (2.831 miles)
Distance	67 laps, 305.235[1] km (189.664 miles)
Weather	Cloudy, cold, dry
Pole position
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Time	1:18.561
Fastest lap
Driver	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes
Time	1:20.450 on lap 25
Podium
First	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes
Second	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Third	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes
Lap leaders

The 1998 Luxembourg Grand Prix (formally the Grosser Warsteiner Preis von Luxemburg 1998)^[2] was a Formula One motor race held at the Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany on 27 September 1998. It was the fifteenth and penultimate race of the 1998 FIA Formula One World Championship. The 67-lap race was won by Mika Häkkinen driving for the McLaren team. Michael Schumacher finished second driving a Ferrari car, with David Coulthard third in the other McLaren.

Report

With two races remaining of the season, McLaren's Mika Häkkinen and Ferrari's Michael Schumacher were battling for the drivers title; they were level on 80 points with Häkkinen ahead on countback. However the momentum was with Schumacher who had won the previous race at Monza, whereas Häkkinen had not won a race since the German Grand Prix four races earlier.

Ferrari locked out the front row with Schumacher on pole ahead of Eddie Irvine. Häkkinen qualified third. At the start Irvine passed Schumacher to take the lead, however he allowed his team leader past at the end of the first lap and then proceeded to hold up Häkkinen. The Finn passed the Ulsterman at the Veedol Chicane on lap 14 and began to close on Schumacher. The German pitted on lap 24, while Häkkinen stayed out until lap 28, emerging from his stop ahead of Schumacher albeit by less than a second. Häkkinen resisted pressure from Schumacher during the second stint and narrowly held on to his lead during the second round of pit stops. In the final stint Häkkinen pulled away from Schumacher, extending his lead to five seconds before easing off in the closing laps to take victory by 2.2 seconds from Schumacher, with the other McLaren of David Coulthard completing the podium having leapfrogged Irvine during the first round of pitstops. The win gave Häkkinen a four-point lead in the championship heading into the final race in Suzuka, meaning he would only need second place there to clinch his first title.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	3	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:18.561	—
2	4	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	1:18.907	+0.346
3	8	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:18.940	+0.379
4	5	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Playlife	1:19.048	+0.487
5	7	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:19.169	+0.608
6	10	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	1:19.455	+0.894
7	2	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Mecachrome	1:19.522	+0.961
8	6	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Playlife	1:19.569	+1.008
9	1	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Mecachrome	1:19.631	+1.070
10	9	Damon Hill	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	1:19.807	+1.246
11	14	Jean Alesi	Sauber-Petronas	1:20.493	+1.932
12	18	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	1:20.530	+1.969
13	15	Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Petronas	1:20.650	+2.089
14	12	Jarno Trulli	Prost-Peugeot	1:20.709	+2.148
15	11	Olivier Panis	Prost-Peugeot	1:21.048	+2.487
16	17	Mika Salo	Arrows	1:21.120	+2.559
17	16	Pedro Diniz	Arrows	1:21.258	+2.697
18	19	Jos Verstappen	Stewart-Ford	1:21.501	+2.940
19	21	Toranosuke Takagi	Tyrrell-Ford	1:21.525	+2.964
20	22	Shinji Nakano	Minardi-Ford	1:22.078	+3.517
21	23	Esteban Tuero	Minardi-Ford	1:22.146	+3.585
22	20	Ricardo Rosset	Tyrrell-Ford	1:22.822	+4.261
107% time: 1:24.060
Source:[3]

Race

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	8	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	67	1:32:14.789	3	10
2	3	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	67	+2.212	1	6
3	7	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	67	+34.164	5	4
4	4	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari	67	+58.183	2	3
5	2	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Williams-Mecachrome	67	+1:00.248	7	2
6	5	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Playlife	67	+1:01.360	4	1
7	6	Alexander Wurz	Benetton-Playlife	67	+1:04.790	8
8	1	Jacques Villeneuve	Williams-Mecachrome	66	+1 lap	9
9	9	Damon Hill	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	66	+1 lap	10
10	14	Jean Alesi	Sauber-Petronas	66	+1 lap	11
11	18	Rubens Barrichello	Stewart-Ford	65	+2 laps	12
12	11	Olivier Panis	Prost-Peugeot	65	+2 laps	15
13	19	Jos Verstappen	Stewart-Ford	65	+2 laps	18
14	17	Mika Salo	Arrows	65	+2 laps	16
15	22	Shinji Nakano	Minardi-Ford	65	+2 laps	20
16	21	Toranosuke Takagi	Tyrrell-Ford	65	+2 laps	19
NC	23	Esteban Tuero	Minardi-Ford	56	+11 laps	21
Ret	10	Ralf Schumacher	Jordan-Mugen-Honda	53	Brakes	6
Ret	15	Johnny Herbert	Sauber-Petronas	37	Engine	13
Ret	20	Ricardo Rosset	Tyrrell-Ford	36	Engine	22
Ret	12	Jarno Trulli	Prost-Peugeot	6	Transmission	14
Ret	16	Pedro Diniz	Arrows	6	Hydraulics	17
Source:[4]

Championship standings after the race

• Bold text indicates who still has a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mika Häkkinen 90 2 Michael Schumacher 86 3 David Coulthard 52 4 Eddie Irvine 41 5 Jacques Villeneuve 20 Source:[5]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Mercedes 142 2 Ferrari 127 3 Williams-Mecachrome 35 4 Benetton-Playlife 33 5 Jordan-Mugen-Honda 31 Source:[5]

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