The 1990s Overview:

The Tracks of the 1990s:

Notes: The San Marino Grand Prix is not actually held in San Marino as Imola is in Italy and the same applies for the Luxembourg Grand Prix because the Nurburgring is in Germany. Also the European Grand Prix was held at Donnington Park in 1993, at Jerez in 1994 and 1997 and at the Nurburgring in 1995, 1996, and 1999. There was also a Pacific Grand Prix held at Aida in 1994 and 1995. The tracks used for the "regional" races may be found listed under the country they are located in.

1990:

1991:

1992:

1993:

1994:

1995:

1996:

1997:

1998:

There were a lot of questions coming into this season with new rules that put groves into the tires and changed the aerodynamics of the car in an effort to slow them down. This would result in a definite show of what teams had the best ability or luck in adapting to these new rules. The preseason favorites were ofcourse the WIlliams, Ferrari, and McLaren teams.

At the season opener in Australia the question of who had the best car was answered, soundly. Hakkinen and McLaren dominated the race taking the front row by almost a second and then leading ever lap culminating in a sweep of the top two (with the other McLaren of David Coulthard, who caused some controversy by pulling over to let Hakkinen by for the win due to a prior agreement on whoever was first into the first corner would win it, finishing secondand lapping every other car on the circuit. The next race at Brazil was much the same with Hakkinen dominating the field and leading a McLaren top two ahead of Micheal Schumacher in the Ferrari. Ferrari would finally break the McLaren streak in Argentina with Micheal taking first and Irvine thrid in an incident filled race.

The first round of the European leg of the season in Imola saw the first retirement for a McLaren, Couthards first win of the season, and the title chase close up into what would become a three way battle between McLaren and Micheal Schumacher. In Spain Hakkinen again returned to the top spot ahead of his teammate. Also of note however was the consistant points scoring of Alexander Wurz in the underpowered Benneton who had placed fourth in three of the first five races. Monaco saw the first points of the season for Arrows with Mika Salo in fourth place and Pedro Diniz in sith. Giancarlo Fisichella also notched his first podium of the year with a stunning second behind Hakkinen. The Next race at Canada was the most hectic of the season so far with one red flag and three safety cars. A large pileup at the start that involved a massive role by Wurz led to a restart which still caused problems and another crash resulting in the first safety car. Then Diniz spun off and rejoined the track with an extremely large trail of grass under his car leaving large chunks of debris all over the course which led to safety car number two. The third and final safety car was for a crash involving Mika Salo. Micheal Schumacher went on to win the race with Fisichella second again and both Stewarts in the points.

France was the scene of more problems for McLaren with their cars being extremely slow if more than one start is required which allowed for a Ferrari top two finish. The soaked Silverstone race was the scene of some controvery as Micheal Schumacher won the race under a penalty. He was given a ten second stop and go penalty at the end of the race but waited untill the last lap to serve it. When he pulled in to the pits to serve it his stall was past the timing line so he won the race without ever serving the penalty. Jordan also scored their first points of the season with Ralf Schumacher finishing in sixth and Wurz out finished his teammate again by finishing fourth. Strange weather in Austria made for a strange front row with Fisichella on pole alongside Jean Aleas in the Sauber in second but as the race is run dry the normal standing come to the top for the season and it is a Hakkinen win ahead of Couthard and Micheal Schumacher.

Hockenheim is the site of the next race and the scene of Villeneuve's first podium of the season behing Hakkinen and Couthard. The Ferraris have nothing but trouble, qualifying poorly and only managing a fifth place for their leading driver. Micheal Shumacher makes up for last race by winning the next in Hungary and Villeneuve shows some more of last years form with his second strait podium this season. Damon Hill also gives Jordan another stong showing by finishing in fourth place again, even ahead of Hakkinen who finished sixth. Next up on the calender is Spa and it turns out to be one of the wildest races in the past few seasons. David Couthard is responsible for a massive pileup at the start in the rain resulting in a red flag and such destruction that four drivers don't even have cars to restart in. Then at the next start Hakkinen is crashed out and Couthard takes out Wurz, but he himself is able to continue to wreck MORE havock later on. The heavy rain continues and Damon Hill leads much of the race in his Jordan until passed by Micheal Schumacher who then, when passing Couthard to lap him, runs into the back of a near stationary Couthard destroying the Ferrari. As per usual this race however Couthard is able to continue. Hill then retakes the lead and holds it to the end giving Jordan not only their first win but their first top two with Ralf Schumacher coming home in second ahead of Jean Alesi in third and Jarno Trulli gives Prost their first point of the season finishing sixth.

Monza was next and was the scene of a Ferrari sweep and also of both brothers on the podium with Micheal winning and Ralf in thrid. The McLarens start to show a bit more problems nearing the end of the season with Couthards engine blowing up and Hakkinen only able to manage fifth place behind Alesi who had another fine drive for Sauber. Hakkinen and Micheal Schumacher are now tied for the title with only two races left. With a tense race knowing the title is on the line the two leading driver fight it out on the track with Hakkinen beating out Schumacher by only a few seconds to take a four point lead into the last race in Japan. Drama ran high in Japan with Schumacher having to start dead last after stalling on the warmup grid. All eyes follow the Ferrari driver as he climbs up through the field knowing that he must finish first to claim the title but all hopes go out with a right rear tire on the front strait handing the title to Hakkinen who also wins the race ahead of Irvine and Couthard.

McLaren also take the constructors title over Ferrari with Williams a distant thrid ahead of Jordan and Benneton who are sperated by only one point. The next season would see who could continue the development of these new cars and deal with even more changes inlcuding more grooves on the front tires. Next season would also see a new team on the grid in the form of Brittish American Racing (BAR) who were talking of high finishes and points in their first season and who had signed former champion Jaques Villeneuve.

1999:

The final season of the 90's saw Ferrari with its best chance at the titles in years but a mid-season crash that broke both of Schumachers legs would change the shape of the season and would suddenly push Irvine into the spotlite for Ferrari. Jordan would also come close to taking the drivers title and Stewart would take their one and only win. This season also saw the retirement of one champion, Damon Hill, and the return of who people thought would be the next, Alex Zanardi.

The opening race was full of excitement with the new cars proving to be fast but also hard to handle with low grip. Villeneuve in the BAR had a disapointing start with the rear wing failing at high speed resulting in a massive shunt. The major teams had reliability problems allowing Irvine to take his first win in the Ferrari ahead of Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the Jordan and Ralf Schumacher in the Williams. Zanardi ended his day early in his debut on lap 20 when he threw the car into the barrier setting the tone for his season. Brazil was next on the calander and Hakkinen gave McLaren their first win of the season just edging out Micheal Schumacher and Frentzen who was showing strong form in the Mugen-Honda powered Jordan so far this season. In Brazil Ricardo Zonta in the BAR suffered a serious crash which layed him out of action for several races and he was replaced with the Finnish driver Mika Salo. Ferrari then won the next race at Imola with Schumacher at the wheel ahead of Couthard and Rubens Barrichello who gave Stewart their first podium of the season.

The jewel of the season, Monaco, was up next and Schumacher led a Ferrari one-two finish over Irvine with Hakkinen lucky to pull up a thrid place due to suspension problems. Also at Monaco Benneton finally showed some promise with both cars finishing in the points this race. Bracelona followed after Monaco and saw the return of McLaren to top form with a one-two finnish with Hakkinen leading the way ahead of both Ferraris and Trulli in the prost picked up his first point of the season. The North American leg in Canada was next which was won by Hakkinen who took the lead in the title chase due to Schumachers retirement and Fishicella gave Benneton their first, and only, podium of the season. From Canada it was off to the French Grand Prix where qualifying was held in dubious conditions which resulted in Barrichello in a Stewart on pole, Alesi in the Sauber second, and Panis in a Prost in third but Barrichello was the only one of these to turn qualifying into a good finish. Frentzen came through to win his first of the season with Jordan over Hakkinen's McLaren.

The following Grand Prix at Silverstone was the turning point of the season when Micheal Schumacher attempeted to overtake Irvine and Schumacher suffered what appeared to be rear brake failure and he crashed breaking his legs and puting him out for most of the season. Couthard would go on to win the event with Irvine making it a Brittish top two over the other Schumaher in third. Salo would replace Schumacher at Ferrari for most of the rest of the season starting at the next race in Austria. Irvine steped up to his place as team leader at Ferrari by winning in Austria when the McLarens spun eachother around giving him a clear shot at the win. Salo gave an amzing drive at the next race at Hockenheim with a performance that would have given him a win if he had not had to pull over and settle for second place behind Irvine, upon whos shoulder Ferrari's title chances now hung. Frentzen in the Jordan also finishes a close third, keeping his possible bid at the title alive due to McLarens misfortune in the race.

McLaren would hover come back in Hungary with a convincing win with Hakkinen leading every lap and Couthard right behind him. Irvine was able to finish thrid keeping himself and Ferrari in the lead of both championships by only by a scant few points. Spa proved to be less eventful thie year with Couthard leading McLarens third one-two finish of the year ahead of Frentzen who was still showing strong in the Jordan. Also of note is the fact that this was the first race of the year finished by Villeneuve in the tough talking BAR team who were still as of yet even to come close to scoring a point. Monza of this year will forever be remembered not as another Frentzen win but as where Mika Hakkinen broke down, lost control of the car in the lead all alone, and cried behind a hedge at the edge of the track. Frentzens win allowed him to pull into thrid in the title chase with Hakkinene and Irvine tied for first with only three races left. Frentzen continued his form by taking pole at the European Grand Prix but due to extreme weather conditions he would not finnish. Surprisingly it was Johnny Herbert in the Stewart who was able to steal the win with Trulli second for Prost, Barrichello third, and even Minardi was able to score a point with Marc Gene finishing sixth.

Micheal Schumacher made a stunning return to Ferrari in Malaysia by dominating the event and then letting Irivne by for the win like Irvine has done for Schumacher before, thus giving Ferrari another one-two finnish and Irvine a four poin lead going into Japan. Frentzen's poor performance here, a sixth, dropped him from title contention but secured Jordan third in the constructors title chase making them the best of the rest for this season. The title came down to the final race but it was no real contest with Hakkinen running away to the fifth win of the season for him and with it his second drivers title. Ferrari however secured the constructors title, thier first since 1983, for the year with Schumahcer and Irvine taking second and thrid places.

It was annoucned at then end of the year that Zanardi afeter many many poor races would not be back for the second year of his contract, that being given to young driver Jenson Button and Damon Hill also retired from Formula One ending his long and hard fought career. BMW announced that it would be joining Formula One the following year with Williams who were eager to get rid of the old rebadged Renault engine and BAR, after a long and fruitless season announced they were going to take things slow and try to build up to a respectable race team, and maybe score points next season. Also in the team field it was announced that Stewart racing would become the Ford fatory team under the Jaguar badge for the next season and Irvine would be the team leader with Barrichello taking his place at Ferrari. Salo also, after his strong runs this season got a full time ride again with the Sauber team.