After two consecutive seasons in which the event was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Australian Grand Prix is finally ready to make its return to the calendar for the 2022 Formula 1 world championship, once again on the track in Melbourne. The latter, chosen as heir to the Adelaide track from 1996 onwards, will not however be the venue for the first round of the next championship, contrary to what has happened in many other editions. Certainly, the baptismal role of a world championship was retained in 1999the year in which one of the most positive and exciting results in the recent history of Ferrari in the ‘land of kangaroos’: on 7 March 1999, the Albert Park circuit rewarded the Northern Irishman’s performance Eddie Irvinewho right here took his first of four career successes in Formula 1, unconsciously giving life to a world champion dream never realized.
To understand what exactly happened that day it is necessary to do a step back 23 years, thus returning to the last part of the 20th century. The reigning world champion at the time was the Finn Mika Hakkinenbehind the wheel of a McLaren also ready to face the world championship with the constructors world title in her pocket, the first after obtaining an almost total domination of the Williams in the 90’s. The British team, after a disappointing 1998 to say the least, tried to get up again in 1999 by implementing numerous innovations: while maintaining the Mecachrome engines – renamed Supertec in that year – the Grove house realized a real revolution in terms of the line- up of their pilots. The couple made up of Jacques Villeneuve and Heinz-Harald Frentzen – with the Canadian who won the last driver title in Williams’ history in 1997 – left the team to head to two different destinations: while the German went to Jordan, swapping seats with Ralf Schumacher, the move more curious, it reported the signature of Villeneuve himself, who struck an agreement with the newborn CAFE, heir of the Tyrrell. In his place, Sir Frank Williams called the Bolognese into F1 Alessandro Zanardi.
By contrast, in a season characterized by the one-time supply of Bridgestone tires, the other top teams did not change, including McLaren and Ferrari. The British team, from the first free practice, confirmed itself as the team to beat, as confirmed in the sensational outcome of qualifying: Hakkinenauthor of the pole position, in fact, he distanced Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari, 3rd, by almost a second and a half, with Coulthard completing the entire front row for the Woking house. He did no better on the second Red Of Irvine, 6th behind Barrichello’s Stewart and Frentzen’s Jordan.
However, Sunday 7 March 1999, the race was characterized by continuous twists, the first of which saw the Stewarts of Barrichello and Herbert as protagonists: both cars, just before the green light, were in fact betrayed by their Ford engines, which they went up in flames on the grill. In the subsequent reconnaissance lap, moreover, the Race Direction penalized Michael Schumacher, with the then two-time world champion guilty of having started late in the same formation lap. In all this, Irvine took the opportunity to gain a few positions on the grid, later doing the same also during the race: the two McLaren – shot undisturbed in the head – were in fact forced to withdraw for technical reasons, opening the doors to Irvine for leadership and, above all, for his first victory in Formula 1. Behind him, the debuts in the new teams made the most of Frentzen and Ralf Schumacherrespectively 2nd and 3rd.
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