1999 Belgian GP

OSRN 1

Round 12 of the 1999 F1 season at Spa.

Transcript

00:00:00One year ago, the Belton Grand Prix more resembled a demolition derby than a world championship Formula One race.

00:00:10No team and seemingly no driver was immune to the mechanical carnage.

00:00:20Today, Ferrari's Eddie Irvine brings a narrow two-point lead over defending world champion Mika Hakkinen to Belgium.

00:00:30♪♪

00:00:40♪♪

00:00:52Fox Sportsnet presents FIA Formula One World Championship Racing.

00:00:57We're outside the village of Spa in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium.

00:01:02A beautiful scenic area and you could easily gain ten pounds on a trip like this.

00:01:08The food is wonderful, the atmosphere is delightful.

00:01:12And alongside the villages of Spa and Frankerschap, we expect a tremendous race today in the Grand Prix of Belgium.

00:01:20Round 12 of the FIA Formula One World Championship.

00:01:23Hi everybody, I'm Mike Joy alongside five-time Le Mans winner, former Ferrari F1 driver Derek Bell.

00:01:29And for the London Sunday Times and F1 Racing Magazine, Peter Windsor will join us from the pit lane.

00:01:35Wow, what a weekend it's been so far as the drivers are out on their recon laps.

00:01:39It's been a very dramatic weekend so far and I'm sure we haven't seen the end of it yet.

00:01:43But it is dry and that's what all the drivers hope for here.

00:01:46Point standings coming here. Eddie Irvine's lead has all but evaporated.

00:01:50It's just two points over Mika Hakkinen.

00:01:52Frentzen and Coulthard tied at 36.

00:01:54Then Michael Schumacher and his younger brother, Ralph, are the top half dozen.

00:01:58Ferrari had a big lead going into Hungary, but there McLaren Mercedes scored the maximum 16 points.

00:02:04So Ferrari's lead in the Constructors' Championship is just four, with Jordan a solid third.

00:02:10Let's have a look back at the Grand Prix of Hungary, Derek.

00:02:13Yes, well Hungary was not the most exciting race of the year, but it never really is.

00:02:18Nonetheless, the drivers do like the circuit and the demands.

00:02:20And it was Eddie Irvine that was in the lead of the World Championship quite comfortably going into this race.

00:02:25But it wasn't very long before the McLarens showed their dominance yet again.

00:02:29And here's Mik Hakkinen leading off pole position.

00:02:31Eddie didn't have such a good start, great start from Fizzi Keller.

00:02:34Eddie has to tuck in behind.

00:02:36David Coulthard has a good run as well.

00:02:38Zanardi goes off very early on in the act, goes in the pits to sort the car out.

00:02:42But they had problems with the car, Damon Hill.

00:02:44He finds himself sliding off the road into the kitty litter too.

00:02:47But it was Ralf Schumacher who had a really very very fine race.

00:02:51Unbeknownst to most of us, let's just hear what he has to tell us about his race.

00:02:57We started 16th and I finished 9th.

00:02:59And we got a lot of people on the circuit, in the pits.

00:03:01And for me it was a reasonably exciting race, because I had to push the whole race long.

00:03:06Even when I didn't get any points from it.

00:03:08But I think we performed a lot better in the race than we did in qualifying.

00:03:13Fizzi Keller's fine effort is thwarted by some engine problems.

00:03:16He couldn't get out of the pits, the engine let rip and that was it.

00:03:19Mika Hakkinen, well his pit crew, they had got their act together this weekend.

00:03:23And my goodness, they did an excellent job.

00:03:25And he went on to do a fine effort at the end of the race.

00:03:28Eddie Irvine meanwhile is being pushed very heavily by David Coulthard.

00:03:31And Eddie makes one of his rare mistakes, letting David Coulthard go through and get into the fine second place.

00:03:37And that's where he stayed.

00:03:38Mika Hakkinen gets his fourth win of the year.

00:03:41What a fine winning was.

00:03:42The first win for eight years for McLaren at this racetrack.

00:03:46Very, very fine event.

00:03:50Reconnaissance laps continue.

00:03:51The McLarens are both out.

00:03:53Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard are both out on course.

00:03:57Damon Hill just going around.

00:03:58What a great weekend he has had in his final Belgian Grand Prix.

00:04:02Well, Damon Hill is one of the few drivers we know where he'll be next year.

00:04:06He'll be in front of the television watching Formula 1.

00:04:08What of the rest?

00:04:09Peter?

00:04:12Thanks, Mike.

00:04:13Yes, well, Michael Schumacher not racing today in the Belgian Grand Prix.

00:04:16More on that in a minute.

00:04:17Of course, last week he did test at Mugello, and he's scheduled to test again next week at Monza.

00:04:22And he's set to make his return to Formula 1 in the Italian Grand Prix.

00:04:26Well, how does Eddie Irvine feel about that?

00:04:28According to the Ferrari people, they have said very clearly that so long as Michael has a mathematical chance of winning the championship,

00:04:34he will retain his number one status.

00:04:36Should that chance disappear, however, he will race to help Ferrari win the Drivers and Constructors Championship.

00:04:42Whatever that means.

00:04:43In the paddock, lots of news.

00:04:45Jarno Trulli confirmed as Heinz-Harald Prentzen's teammate in the Jordan team next year.

00:04:50Back to that old routine at Sauber, Mika Salo and Pedro Diniz.

00:04:53And at Prost, an all-new line-up.

00:04:55John Alesi and the new Formula 3000 champion, Nick Heidfeld.

00:04:59Formula 1's worst-kept secret, Eddie Irvine to Jaguar, Rubens Barrichello to Ferrari as Michael Schumacher's teammate,

00:05:05is not confirmed, but I can tell you it's going to happen.

00:05:08And behind the scenes now, everybody's wondering how Irvine is going to get on with Jackie,

00:05:12and indeed how Rubens is going to get on with Michael Schumacher.

00:05:15In the meantime, Frank Williams is vehemently denying in public that there is no possibility of a swap deal

00:05:21between Alex Zanardi and Juan Pablo Montoya.

00:05:24They are confirmed to stay in their respective seats for next year,

00:05:27which probably means they're going to do a swap deal.

00:05:29Back to you.

00:05:30Well, it seems a silly season comes early this year.

00:05:33Early and earlier, unfortunately, for the drivers.

00:05:35They're always worrying about next year when they've only just signed for this.

00:05:38Mika Salo, replacement for Michael Schumacher.

00:05:40This is final race for Ferrari.

00:05:42Schumacher is due back in two weeks from this horrifying crash at the British Grand Prix,

00:05:48where he went off-track, a little bit of brake lock up there,

00:05:51and went straight on into the barrier, breaking his leg and also causing some damage to his right heel.

00:05:57And that's the main reason he is not racing here at Belgium.

00:06:01So Peter caught up with Claudia Barrow, the press officer for Ferrari.

00:06:06We need Michael at 100 percent.

00:06:09And then Spy is not very simple circuit.

00:06:12It's a very strong circuit.

00:06:13It's very strong.

00:06:15We can race.

00:06:16And we need to have Michael 100 percent.

00:06:18That is the reason why we decided Ferrari and Michael together don't race here.

00:06:24How do you think he will be mentally when he comes back,

00:06:27if perhaps he has to start racing to help Eddie?

00:06:30When we decide if Michael is ready for the race,

00:06:34it's clear that first of all he helped Ferrari.

00:06:37While Ferrari now is leader in championship for the drivers.

00:06:44With Eddie, it's clear he helped Ferrari.

00:06:46It's the leg that he broke.

00:06:48So what is the problem with the heel?

00:06:49After one day test, when he moved the throat, this is just short.

00:06:55But it's not a very big problem.

00:06:58Well, Ferrari is certainly missing that star quality of Schumacher.

00:07:01Yes, and McLaren took 16 points last race in Hungary.

00:07:06And they certainly could use Michael to put some points on the board.

00:07:09And he will be back in two weeks' time.

00:07:11Well, what of those silly season rumors?

00:07:14Peter mentioned Juan Pablo Montoya.

00:07:16And we spoke with him at the recent kart race about next season.

00:07:24I think I'm really pleased here.

00:07:25And I think I'm going to stay for minimum one more year here.

00:07:28You know, at the moment I've got to deal with Chip.

00:07:31And I respect that.

00:07:37Welcome back to our Toyota Pre-Race coverage for the Grand Prix of Belgium.

00:07:40Mike Joy with Derek Bell and Peter Windsor.

00:07:42We're watching action here at the bus stop Chicane,

00:07:44where Damon Hill, David Coulthard are among four or five drivers

00:07:48that have been off into the grass, which is very wet.

00:07:51The grass is there this morning as we watch Damon Hill,

00:07:54who's had a great weekend.

00:07:55Wish he could win it.

00:07:56Of all the races in this final season of his,

00:07:59this is the one where he's most likely to do well.

00:08:01And, Derek, what a beautiful circuit it is.

00:08:03Yeah, the most favorite circuit of all the drivers, I think.

00:08:054.3 miles in the Ardennes Forest, one that we all would love to win on.

00:08:09Let's ride with, um, who hides our friends.

00:08:14We're going past the Formula One pits, which leads into La Source hairpin.

00:08:18It's a second-gear hairpin.

00:08:19Get it in nice and tight.

00:08:20There's a lot of exit road to use.

00:08:22You need it with all this power.

00:08:23It's vital to get down the hill,

00:08:24past the old pits, which are on your right,

00:08:26where the Grand Prixs used to be held.

00:08:27We go right down here to this dip at the bottom called Eau Rouge.

00:08:30It's a real heart-stopper of a corner.

00:08:32He backs off a little bit as he goes into there

00:08:34and flies over the top of the Braille.

00:08:36Up to 205 miles an hour at the top

00:08:39as we come up towards the L'Écomme hairpin.

00:08:41The circuit is very smooth, and in fact,

00:08:43it's Formula One's only remaining open-road circuit

00:08:46in the whole of the season.

00:08:48And then we flick into the right and left at L'Écomme.

00:08:50We don't use all the road on the exit.

00:08:52We keep it to the left

00:08:53and then get it into the right-hand corner.

00:08:55Obviously, speeding the power on

00:08:56as he goes through third, fourth gear

00:08:58through L'Écomme

00:08:59and works his way down to Rivage.

00:09:01This corner sort of falls away a bit,

00:09:03and you don't want to get into the apex too early.

00:09:05If not, you push out too wide,

00:09:06do a bit of oversteer, come on there at the end.

00:09:08And then he goes down into the last part of L'Écomme.

00:09:10Again, a corner that pushes a lot,

00:09:12understeers as you go through it.

00:09:14Feeding the power as he works his way down

00:09:16185 miles an hour

00:09:17into what I think the most demanding corner,

00:09:19Pouhon,

00:09:20as he goes through here.

00:09:21Double left-hander, not flat,

00:09:23but a vital corner nonetheless.

00:09:25And then braking again

00:09:27as he comes into Feyn.

00:09:30Through the left-hander now,

00:09:32keeps the power on.

00:09:33It's not that important a corner

00:09:34because it leads into a right-hander,

00:09:35which again he has to slow down for

00:09:37as he gets to Stavelot.

00:09:38Third gear, get the power on,

00:09:40work his way all the way up

00:09:42from now on it's flat

00:09:43for something like a kilometre

00:09:45all the way up to the bus stop.

00:09:46He's now on the old part of the circuit,

00:09:48the famous old circuit.

00:09:49Remember this road is used daily by traffic

00:09:52and at night during the Grand Prix.

00:09:54The famous Blanchimont corner,

00:09:56that was it.

00:09:57200 miles an hour through there,

00:09:58braking now right down to

00:10:00something like 45 miles an hour

00:10:02for the bus stop,

00:10:03this awful bus stop

00:10:04for him to slow the cars down.

00:10:05What an awful corner it really is.

00:10:07Works his way up,

00:10:08past the pits, here we go.

00:10:10That was a lap with Heinz Our Friends.

00:10:14Well, last year here,

00:10:16as we saw in the tees,

00:10:17there was just plenty of mechanical carnage

00:10:19and this weekend has been much the same.

00:10:21Jack Villeneuve had a bad crash Friday

00:10:24when the carbon fibre

00:10:26on his lower wishbone collapsed

00:10:28and the front suspension,

00:10:29heavy damage, he was OK

00:10:31and in qualifying,

00:10:32two very bad crashes

00:10:34brought out the red flag

00:10:35on two occasions.

00:10:37Derek, quite a session.

00:10:38It's quite a session.

00:10:39Heading up the left-hand top end there

00:10:41is the hairpin at La Source

00:10:42then down the hill.

00:10:43Early on in qualifying

00:10:44it was Alex Linardi

00:10:46that got going very well.

00:10:47He's gone well all weekend as Alex.

00:10:49Then Ralf Schumacher.

00:10:50He has really shone this weekend.

00:10:52He was second quickest this morning in warm-up.

00:10:54He was fifth overall.

00:10:55Eddie Owein was trying very hard

00:10:56but somehow without Schumacher there

00:10:58they do seem to be losing out somewhat.

00:11:00Look at Jack Villeneuve

00:11:02at the top of Eau Rouge.

00:11:03185 miles an hour.

00:11:05He runs away.

00:11:06Same place he crashed last year.

00:11:07My neck's alright.

00:11:08Just need to shake it backwards and forwards a bit.

00:11:10Then Ricciardo Zonta.

00:11:11Minutes later,

00:11:12in the other BAR,

00:11:13he somersaults into the other side.

00:11:15Rolls across the road.

00:11:16No wheels left on his car.

00:11:18Awful for the poor guy.

00:11:20But nonetheless,

00:11:21when he gets out of the Amateurs

00:11:22time to sign autographs.

00:11:23Damon Hilmer,

00:11:24nonetheless,

00:11:25he won here last year in the rain

00:11:26from Ralf Schumacher

00:11:27in identical cars.

00:11:28It was him who gets fourth quickest.

00:11:29David Coulthard,

00:11:30today suffering from a cold.

00:11:32He manages to get a fine second place.

00:11:34Heinz Hauer-Frenzen

00:11:35not doing that well this weekend.

00:11:37He struggled away

00:11:38but he gets a fine third position.

00:11:41So anyway,

00:11:42let's go to Rick Gaughan

00:11:43to hear from BAR.

00:11:45Both accidents were very similar.

00:11:46Both drivers just lost it

00:11:48in the middle of going up the hill at Eau Rouge.

00:11:51Jacques' car went to the right,

00:11:55hit the barriers,

00:11:56overturned.

00:11:57Ricciardo's car went to the left,

00:11:59rolled,

00:12:00hit the barriers

00:12:01and then went across the track to the other side.

00:12:07Both drivers just lost it

00:12:08as far as we know.

00:12:11Let's hear from an elated Damon Hill.

00:12:14He's won three times

00:12:15and he delivered again yesterday in qualifying.

00:12:17Damon Hill, great performance.

00:12:18You must be very happy.

00:12:19I'm very happy.

00:12:20I'm a little bit disappointed

00:12:22but it's very close between me and Heinz

00:12:24but he's a damn good driver

00:12:26and to come that close to him

00:12:28is pretty good too.

00:12:29Did you get a perfect lap

00:12:30from your point of view?

00:12:31No, that's the problem.

00:12:32You get out,

00:12:33there was a little slide here

00:12:34and a little slip there

00:12:35and that's enough

00:12:36in a couple of hundreds to go on

00:12:37and that's all you need.

00:12:38What's your favourite corner here?

00:12:39I think...

00:12:41Actually, Eau Rouge is fantastic

00:12:43but there's a couple of other really good corners

00:12:45like Pouhon which is awesome.

00:12:47It's really, really long

00:12:48and very, very steep

00:12:49and Blanchimont as well is fantastic.

00:12:51It's a great track.

00:12:53Damon Hill, very fired up

00:12:54and looking every inch a winner.

00:12:55Back to you.

00:12:56Well, that he is

00:12:57but for the McLarens

00:12:58which are a second ahead

00:12:59of the rest of the field.

00:13:01Now, both the BARs will race today.

00:13:04They've taken cars

00:13:05that were headed for next week's test

00:13:07and brought them back.

00:13:08This looks like the spare car

00:13:09being rushed out for Takagi.

00:13:10Yes, it certainly does.

00:13:11Let's just get into race strategy, Mike

00:13:13while we're in this second.

00:13:14Tire wear doesn't seem to be such a problem.

00:13:16They're all running the soft tires.

00:13:18Two pit stops probably

00:13:20but the computers say

00:13:21they could get away with one.

00:13:22We know that Ralph is pretty sure

00:13:23Ralph Schumacher is going to make a two-stop

00:13:26and of course, around this circuit

00:13:27well, precision is paramount

00:13:29and that's what we're going to be looking for.

00:13:31Great drivers do well here

00:13:33but McLarens haven't won here for eight years.

00:13:35No, and Hocken has not done that well here historically.

00:13:38Perhaps today is his day.

00:13:40The manufacturers build these cars

00:13:42from the ground up.

00:13:43They are each custom built

00:13:45and customized to each individual driver.

00:13:48Peter?

00:13:49Yeah, thanks guys.

00:13:50We've had a lot of emails

00:13:51about the whole question of two pedals

00:13:53and left foot braking.

00:13:54Something very characteristic of Formula 1.

00:13:56First thing to see is the position

00:13:57of the feet in the chassis.

00:13:58This is a FIA regulation.

00:14:00The pedals have to be on about this line

00:14:02not about, exactly on this line

00:14:04to the front bulkhead.

00:14:05If we look inside the cars now

00:14:07very standard gas pedal for Alexander Birk

00:14:09on the right, of course

00:14:10in the football area of the Benetton

00:14:12and he probably brakes sometimes with his right foot

00:14:14so he can slide his right foot over to the brake pedal

00:14:17but you don't need to blip the throttle these days.

00:14:19So Giancarlo Fisichella has a foot-sized gas pedal.

00:14:23This flange on the left prevents his right foot

00:14:25going anywhere near the brake pedal.

00:14:27Very tough under braking.

00:14:28The feet move around a lot when the car is braking

00:14:30and sometimes, of course, the right foot

00:14:32could move over and touch the brake.

00:14:33No chance of that with Fisichella.

00:14:35Other drivers, different variations again.

00:14:37Heinz-Harald Frentzen has an enormous brake pedal.

00:14:39He sometimes brakes with both feet on that pedal

00:14:42to get maximum retardation, maximum lift.

00:14:44Derek, a bit different from your day.

00:14:46Back to you.

00:14:47Well, we used to throw an anchor out.

00:14:50They parade the drivers around the circuit here.

00:14:52Kind of nice for the fans to get a look at them

00:14:54before they go to work.

00:14:56In the Ferrari garage each week

00:14:58is brand new artwork commissioned for the event

00:15:01this week.

00:15:02A sunny Mika Salo and Eddie Irvine

00:15:05looking ahead perhaps to his future.

00:15:07We'll be right back.

00:15:10Welcome back to Spa

00:15:11and our Toyota pre-race coverage

00:15:13of the Grand Prix of Belgium.

00:15:14There's defending world champion Mika Hakkinen

00:15:16set to climb on board

00:15:17after a quick look at his watch today.

00:15:1971 degrees, track temperature 82,

00:15:22so it is rather cool.

00:15:23Humidity moderate.

00:15:24There's David Coulthard nursing the flu.

00:15:26About a 25% chance of rain,

00:15:28which is very low for this circuit.

00:15:33Coming up, drop us a line

00:15:36at formula1 at foxsports.net.

00:15:39We'd like to hear your comments.

00:15:40Derek, Peter and I read every single e-mail

00:15:43and try to incorporate ones of general interest

00:15:45into our show.

00:15:47I'm Terrell Frentzen.

00:15:49September 12th, the Grand Prix of Italy

00:15:51and these upcoming races will be at noon,

00:15:53your local time.

00:15:54Check your local listing.

00:15:55Then the Nurburgring on the 26th,

00:15:57Malaysia the 17th of October

00:15:59and Halloween night will be live

00:16:01from the Grand Prix of Japan

00:16:03to close out the 1999 season.

00:16:08Well, for Michael Schumacher,

00:16:10getting back into a Formula 1 car

00:16:12will be one thing,

00:16:13but being able to get out

00:16:15is equally important.

00:16:17Peter?

00:16:32After that huge accident at Silverstone,

00:16:34Michael Schumacher has been working very hard

00:16:36on his recovery, of course.

00:16:37One of the things he's going to be required to do

00:16:39by the FIA before he races,

00:16:41perhaps in the Italian Grand Prix,

00:16:43is to be able to get out of the car

00:16:45in five seconds.

00:16:46Now, what that means is

00:16:47removing the steering wheel,

00:16:48of course, undoing the belt,

00:16:49getting out of the car

00:16:50and then putting the steering wheel back in place.

00:16:52How difficult is that?

00:16:53Well, with the help of our friends here from Beneson,

00:16:55I'm going to try and find out.

00:16:57This is Alec Verts' car.

00:16:58I've chosen this one partly because

00:17:00he's a pretty big guy

00:17:01and I'm not exactly the smallest person in the pit lane,

00:17:03and it's quite comfortable.

00:17:04I'll have to say we've removed the seat.

00:17:05But anyway, let's give it a go.

00:17:06We'll have a countdown from Mick here,

00:17:08the mechanic.

00:17:09Three, two, one, go.

00:17:11Undo the seatbelt,

00:17:12click them like that.

00:17:13Steering wheel off.

00:17:14Off.

00:17:15Leaning myself up.

00:17:16It's not the easiest thing in the world.

00:17:18Mine was on the side here,

00:17:20and now the relatively difficult thing is...

00:17:22Steering wheel back in place.

00:17:24Not a particularly good time,

00:17:25but I think from Michael Schumacher's point of view,

00:17:27the right foot really doesn't come into it too much.

00:17:29He's got a lot of upper body strength,

00:17:31a lot more than I have, I think.

00:17:32I haven't damaged it there, has that been?

00:17:34That's terrible.

00:17:35Anyway, back to you.

00:17:37And a lot of adrenaline, too,

00:17:39to help with getting out of that car.

00:17:41Yeah, absolutely.

00:17:42One thing about that wheel,

00:17:43getting the wheel out,

00:17:44the reason you have to put the wheel back on again

00:17:45is so that the marshals can move the wheel

00:17:47and the marshals can move the wheel,

00:17:49and the marshals can move the wheel

00:17:51and the marshals can move the wheel.

00:17:53And the marshals can move the...

00:17:54Well, the cornerworks can move the car away from the incident.

00:17:56Right, they have to be able to steer it,

00:17:58if it can be steered, to be rolled away.

00:18:00Rubens Barrichello, is he going to Ferrari next year?

00:18:03Well, that's one of the questions yet to be answered.

00:18:05On the way to the kart race in Chicago last weekend,

00:18:08Frank Williams visited the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,

00:18:11met with Tony George.

00:18:18It was my first visit to Indianapolis

00:18:22under any condition.

00:18:24And I was most impressed, I must say,

00:18:26because I had no idea of the scale of things there,

00:18:30or the amount of resource

00:18:32that goes into running the place.

00:18:34I mean, it's clearly an enormous complex.

00:18:37I arrived in a meter driven,

00:18:39the wrong way around the circuit,

00:18:41but I didn't think we'd get to the top

00:18:43because the guy who runs the place is doing the driving.

00:18:45But it's very, very impressive,

00:18:47especially the banking,

00:18:48and so many seats and spectator places.

00:18:51For the one circuit,

00:18:53I had a lot of thought put into it,

00:18:55and I'm personally very enthusiastic,

00:18:58because there are two,

00:19:00at least two very useful areas for overtaking.

00:19:03A number of the corners are exceptionally wide,

00:19:06which gives the opportunity, I think,

00:19:08for drivers to try many different lines,

00:19:11make mistakes, get away with it,

00:19:13not finish up in the gravel.

00:19:15I think the entire approach and attitude

00:19:19means it's going to be a winner.

00:19:21I'm pretty confident about that.

00:19:23I would agree, absolutely.

00:19:25But what a great circuit.

00:19:27They seem to be improving it all the time,

00:19:29and it's going to be great next year.

00:19:31I just can't wait for it.

00:19:32It seems too long away, a year.

00:19:33Email tickets at brickyard.com

00:19:35for information about Formula One 2000 at Indy.

00:19:39Jacques Villeneuve, two days, two hard crashes.

00:19:42A spare car is brought in,

00:19:44and he is ready to rock it today.

00:19:47When we come back,

00:19:48we will go Formula One on one

00:19:51with F1 racing's elder statesman,

00:19:53John Lacey.

00:20:02The Grand Prix of Belgium on Fox Sports Net

00:20:04is brought to you by Toyota.

00:20:06Every day belongs to you.

00:20:07Make it count.

00:20:08Toyota, every day.

00:20:11Well, where else would you go

00:20:12to get the world's best Belgian waffles?

00:20:16It's going to be about 10 pounds heavier going home,

00:20:18I'm sure.

00:20:21John Todd with Bernie Ecclestone

00:20:23and Mika Salo listening in.

00:20:26Wish we could.

00:20:28But let's go earlier.

00:20:29Peter had a chance to catch up with John Lacey,

00:20:32a man on the move,

00:20:33and goes Formula One on one with Lacey.

00:20:37John Lacey is unusual amongst current Grand Prix drivers.

00:20:40He drives with his heart.

00:20:41He's emotional.

00:20:42He's not afraid to say what he thinks.

00:20:44And next year, he's driving for Alan Prost,

00:20:46his old Ferrari teammate.

00:20:48Ask him about this and about plenty more besides.

00:20:52I'm extremely happy because for me,

00:20:55it's the first time I have the chance to be French.

00:20:59I waited 35 years to be French.

00:21:01You know, I've been always Sicilian,

00:21:03half Italian, half French,

00:21:04so now I'm French.

00:21:06How do you feel about your career right now in Formula One?

00:21:08Are you really enjoying yourself?

00:21:10I enjoy very much.

00:21:11Unfortunately, I had just one win.

00:21:14But in terms of background,

00:21:17when I think about what I did,

00:21:19I'm really proud about it

00:21:20because the public loves the way I drove.

00:21:23I drive till now,

00:21:25and I had a good fight with the drivers

00:21:30like Senna, Mantel, Prost,

00:21:32so that is good.

00:21:34What do you like about the wet?

00:21:35The fact that it's difficult,

00:21:37or do you actually enjoy the feel of the car in the wet?

00:21:40I like the feel of the way the car reacts on these conditions,

00:21:46but you know,

00:21:48the Formula One car on the wet is a disaster.

00:21:53So you need to be extremely careful,

00:21:56extremely patient,

00:22:00and you need to take a lot of risks as well.

00:22:04All these combinations are difficult to put together,

00:22:07but when you put them together,

00:22:08it's fantastic and I enjoy it very much.

00:22:10Let's talk about Michael a little bit.

00:22:12You are very friendly with Michael,

00:22:14but how do you put him as a driver

00:22:16compared with other drivers like Senna, like Mantel?

00:22:20Senna was just naturally fast,

00:22:23naturally on the limit.

00:22:27Michael checks if technically something is possible,

00:22:34and then he goes for it.

00:22:36And he's doing it,

00:22:38which is really different.

00:22:41Would you describe yourself as a Schumacher or a Senna type driver?

00:22:46A lot more closer than Senna,

00:22:48because I didn't check anything, I just pushed.

00:22:51And then I wait to see if he's going OK or not.

00:22:55And will you continue to do that,

00:22:56or do you think Alan Prost might make you start to think technically?

00:22:59Probably he will help,

00:23:01and he will try to support me on this direction,

00:23:05but I enjoy so much the way I'm doing,

00:23:09so maybe the combination will make something explosive.

00:23:14Jean, great talking to you, Jean.

00:23:16Thank you very much.

00:23:17Thank you so much.

00:23:19He's very naturally talented.

00:23:21He's got great car control,

00:23:22and by his own admission, he's non-technical.

00:23:24Indeed, the sort of driver that was perhaps suited to an era long gone.

00:23:27Derek, you were around then.

00:23:29What do you think?

00:23:30Well, he's certainly a man of passion.

00:23:31A lot of passion is required in the older days,

00:23:33but what a modest man as well.

00:23:35And let's hope the move to Prost is a step up for Zona Lacey next year.

00:23:39We're closing in on the start here of the Belgian Grand Prix.

00:23:43Let's take you back one year ago.

00:23:45Jackie Stewart walks the pit lane in a downpour.

00:23:49Very, very wet, dangerous track conditions.

00:23:52Ferraris move to the middle as the McLarens spread out front,

00:23:56and Williams comes up around the outside,

00:23:58and they negotiate La Source, the hairpin,

00:24:00perhaps the slowest corner in all of Formula 1, without incident.

00:24:04But on the run up to Eau Rouge,

00:24:06look at the rooster tails and look at Coulthard into the barrier,

00:24:09and look at everyone alongside or behind getting swept up in it.

00:24:13And the other guys in the back are still flat out,

00:24:16coming down to the middle of the field.

00:24:19My goodness me, it was absolute carnage.

00:24:20I've never seen anything like it in my life,

00:24:22at the start of a Formula 1 race.

00:24:24There is talk as the drivers ran back for spare cars.

00:24:29And look at the litter all over the racetrack.

00:24:32But there's talk now of installing lights in the cars or helmets

00:24:36that would indicate red or yellow or even a blue flag to the driver.

00:24:40But it certainly wouldn't have helped in that instance.

00:24:42It would have been a bit too late for that one.

00:24:45Well, we'll come back with the starting grid for today's race,

00:24:48the formation lap, and the start of the Belgian Grand Prix.

00:24:52You're watching Formula 1 on Fox Sports Net.

00:24:59Welcome back to our pre-race coverage of the Grand Prix of Belgium.

00:25:08The grid clearing, and we're closing down on the formation lap

00:25:13in just about a minute.

00:25:17Well, McLaren's on the front row, but if Ferrari is going to hold that lead

00:25:20in the Manufacturer's Championship, Derek,

00:25:22they've got a ways to go to get there.

00:25:25I think it's going to be very, very tough on Ferrari

00:25:27to do anything much this weekend.

00:25:29But, you know, strange things have happened, and it's a long race,

00:25:31so we'll have to see.

00:25:34The grid cleared. The drivers will move out on their formation lap.

00:25:40And as they roll off, we'll have a look at the Toyota starting grid

00:25:43for today's race.

00:25:44Mika Hakkinen on pole, 10th pole position of the season 20th of his career.

00:25:49David Coulthard still there second for him.

00:25:53Look at the gap to the second row, a full second.

00:25:55And what a second row it is.

00:25:56There's Heinz-Harald Frentzen, more powerful engine

00:25:59from the Mugen Honda this week.

00:26:01Yes, a little more torque, and Damon Hill there

00:26:03in the best qualifying position for him this year.

00:26:07Back to row three, where Ralf Schumacher has his finest start of the year.

00:26:10It was eighth, and today he'll start fifth.

00:26:12And a very disappointed Eddie Irvine.

00:26:16Back to row four, Rubens Barrichello is the highest placed of the stewards.

00:26:19He is seventh.

00:26:21Alongside him, Zanardi, who I think had a great qualifying session.

00:26:24A good weekend for him so far.

00:26:26Mika Salo said he only got one good, clean run

00:26:29and finds himself ninth on the grid.

00:26:31And Johnny Herbert, well, he was up there ahead of Barrichello

00:26:33right to the end of qualifying.

00:26:34Did a good job.

00:26:36Hats off to Jacques Villeneuve.

00:26:38Crashed Friday, that crash, that horrible crash you saw Saturday,

00:26:41and he still came back to post the 11th fastest time.

00:26:43Jarno Trulli did a good time, but he's thought probably

00:26:45on driving for Jordan next year.

00:26:48Shekela Fizikele and the Benetton fought a push-off

00:26:50through qualifying.

00:26:51He ended up 13th.

00:26:52And Zonta, after, of course, his horrific accident,

00:26:54probably quite gratified to be in 14th place.

00:26:57Alexander Virts couldn't get the push out of his machine

00:27:00and qualified the T-car, 15th.

00:27:02John Lacey had electrical problems on his last run, 16th.

00:27:06Olivier Panay, engine problems.

00:27:08They finally got it right in the last run, but too late, 17th.

00:27:11Pedro Diniz and the Sauber again fighting horrible understeer, 18th.

00:27:16Tora Takagi got blocked on his best run, he said.

00:27:19Must have been cars on their coming-off-the-track lap, 19th.

00:27:23Luca Badoer for Minardi continues to struggle.

00:27:26Marc Genet in Minardi, 21st.

00:27:29And Pedro de la Rosa in the Arrows is 22nd,

00:27:32unable to find the balance of his car.

00:27:35As we're with Heights, Harold Frentzen, who will start from third.

00:27:39The McLarens are a second ahead of the field.

00:27:43But I don't know, Derek, I got a feeling about Jordan today.

00:27:45Certainly, I'd love to see if Dale Earnhardt could win Bristol,

00:27:48Damon Hill could win here in Spa, why not?

00:27:50Exactly, but I think he could be behind Harold Frentzen.

00:27:52He's been such a stunning year.

00:27:54They're just running through Blanchimont here, just to show that corner.

00:27:57Hear him just spinning those wheels as he tries to get some temperature in those rear tires.

00:28:01They're coming up now to the bus stop, obviously at very reduced speed.

00:28:05Very, very slowly.

00:28:06We used to go straight on through the bus stop

00:28:08and straight up through the left-hander called Clubhouse.

00:28:13Since 1988, only three drivers have won at Spa.

00:28:18Ayrton Senna four times, Michael Schumacher four times, and Damon Hill three victories.

00:28:25Points coming in, let's recap quickly.

00:28:27Eddie Irvine just two ahead of Mika Hakkinen.

00:28:30Frentzen and Coulthard knotted at third place, 36 points.

00:28:35Michael Schumacher and Ralph Schumacher at 22.

00:28:39Ferrari trying to hold on to what is now a very tenuous four-point lead over McLaren.

00:28:44Jordan solidly in third.

00:28:46Williams and Benetton scrapping for fourth, and Stewart.

00:28:54From the start, they will go to La Source, the slowest corner in Formula 1,

00:28:59and then to a real hold-your-breath section at Eau Rouge.

00:29:04Mika Hakkinen knows he has to have an immaculate race.

00:29:07We've seen him do some great drives this year.

00:29:09I expect another one from him today.

00:29:12Remember, David Coulthard has a bit of a cold.

00:29:15The rear line has to start, of course, on the kerb,

00:29:17which isn't too beneficial for them, but they're not that fast anyway.

00:29:20Set for the start of the Belgian Grand Prix.

00:29:38Yellow flags at the back of the grid where somebody's failed to take the start.

00:29:43Good, clean, open start there as David Coulthard pushes Mika Hakkinen.

00:29:46It's one of the two Arrows cars that has a problem.

00:29:48The two McLarens in the lead, followed by the Jordan, presumably Frenzel, and Eddie Irvine.

00:29:53One of the Jordans did not get a good start.

00:29:55Takagi was the car that stalled on the grid and is being rolled away.

00:30:02Screaming up the hill, up towards L'Econ.

00:30:05The right and left-hander, 205 miles an hour.

00:30:08They're breaking down to 50 as they turn in there.

00:30:10The Zanardi right close to Ralf Schumacher, good for Ralf and also good for Alex.

00:30:15Want to see them two do really well this weekend.

00:30:22These guys are going to be very cautious on the first lap.

00:30:24It's a long race, there's a long way to go.

00:30:26The two Fords there together, two Stuarts, followed by Fiji Keller.

00:30:29They're not running too well this weekend, the Benettons.

00:30:33A lot of dicing further back, but only one of the Jordans got off the grid well.

00:30:44Ralf followed by Zanardi.

00:30:47Two of them on the grid, one was Zonta and the other Takagi.

00:30:55I'm sure Zonta won't be too unhappy about that after his unfortunate incident yesterday.

00:30:59Tough on B.A.R.

00:31:00They had to bring in two new cars overnight, having lost three over the weekend so far.

00:31:08Heinz-Hauer-Frenzen staying right there.

00:31:10Eddie Owein followed by Ralf Schumacher, followed by Zanardi, followed by Damon Hill.

00:31:20Remember, this is a medium to low-force circuit.

00:31:22They come into the chicane.

00:31:23This is the bus stop it's called, actually.

00:31:25Very difficult to get the traction on.

00:31:26They're still on their first lap of four miles.

00:31:29Very, very careful as they come out.

00:31:30Sweep over the start-finish line for the first time.

00:31:33I'm wondering if something's wrong with Damon Hill's car.

00:31:35He did not get a good start.

00:31:36Zanardi has passed him, and...

00:31:39Ooh, a little bit of overtaking in the back here.

00:31:41Get out of my way!

00:31:46They get the...

00:31:47They get the traction as they go downhill.

00:31:50The two McLarens, Frenton Jordan, Irvine's Ferrari, Ralf Schumacher, and Zanardi

00:31:57up from eight.

00:32:01There's a fair bit of work going on as they come up the hill into Lake Colm.

00:32:05A great place for overtaking, as they come up.

00:32:07Ralf Schumacher, Frenton Jordan, Irvine's Ferrari, and Zanardi.

00:32:12Up from eight.

00:32:13There's a fair bit of work going on as they come up the hill into Lake Colm, a great place

00:32:18for overtaking as far as several opportunities and watching Alexander Virts.

00:32:23Ventons haven't had a good time this weekend, some places they run really well, some places

00:32:31they don't seem to, but I'm sure eventually they'll get it right.

00:32:38This is Pouhon, a very, very difficult corner indeed, I think, as Damon Hill said, the most

00:32:42demanding corner on the circuit.

00:32:44They're working their way down now to the right-hander at Fane.

00:32:48Is it the speed you carry through there, Derek, or is it just the technical quality of hitting

00:32:52both those apexes?

00:32:53Well, the fact is, as you come in there, it's so much faster exit than you think, and you

00:32:57think you can get into the first part of Pouhon faster, but in fact you don't, and every time

00:33:03you get into it, oh, I could have gone through there faster, but you don't take that chance

00:33:06because there's a big barrier facing you.

00:33:07It's really a 180-degree corner.

00:33:11Taking a look at Haakonen's start, David Coulthard got off with the lead, but I'm sure everyone

00:33:16wondering what happened to Poulsen or Mika Haakonen, as he sits second, Frentzen in the

00:33:20Jordan third, Irvine's Ferrari fourth, Ralf Schumacher and Alessandro Zanardi, Alessandro

00:33:26Zanardi, that is, in sixth, Damon Hill is seventh, Mika Salo eighth.

00:33:31Well, I wonder whether team orders are going to come into play.

00:33:35Ron Dennis says, we have no team orders, our drivers can run for it, but I have a feeling

00:33:38when it comes to the end of these two in line, first and second, Coulthard first, Haakonen

00:33:42second, he's going to say, I think you better ease over, David.

00:33:45We had this once before, and of course it's caused a great controversy last year in the

00:33:49Australian Grand Prix.

00:33:53Already David set the fastest lap, and he's actually gradually pulling away from Mika.

00:33:57Now, they're coming up to lap Zonta, who stalled on the start, had to move off from the pit

00:34:04lane, and you note the lack of cigarette advertising, that is a big source of comment

00:34:09here in Belgium, where there is a country-wide ban on tobacco advertising, but Bernie Ecclestone

00:34:14says his contract to hold this Grand Prix, he includes the right to have cigarette advertising,

00:34:19so the whole matter is under appeal.

00:34:22West prefers to run the driver's names on the cars, rather than their own name in the

00:34:27same logo type.

00:34:30Jordan with the Buzz and Hornets that we're familiar with over the past few seasons, and

00:34:33other manufacturers with other solutions to the problem.

00:34:38The tragedy of all this, of course, if we watch the McLaren crew in there, they're not

00:34:41ready for anything to happen, hopefully yet, the tragedy of all this, of course, is it

00:34:45might, could well be the last Grand Prix at Spa, which would be tragic, as it is the most

00:34:51wonderful setting in the world for Formula 1, and also the most demanding circuit in

00:34:55Formula 1.

00:34:56Let's watch the start again.

00:34:57Great start from the McLarens.

00:35:02Now, we see Damon Hill at the top of the screen, not getting away well, being passed on the

00:35:06outside.

00:35:07Oh, look at those two, they touched!

00:35:09Yes, they did!

00:35:10I'm surprised they didn't touch more, and didn't let the Jordan through.

00:35:13Look at Franson, almost came through!

00:35:15Yeah, absolutely, and of course, so did Ralf Schumacher, that is.

00:35:19What a great drive Ralf Schumacher's having, but clear after that, as they work their way

00:35:22downhill towards Eau Rouge.

00:35:24And thank goodness for the aerial shot, because from the shot from the outside of the circuit,

00:35:29you couldn't tell it was anywhere near that close.

00:35:31No, you certainly couldn't, and David has certainly benefited from that.

00:35:35Mika really did make it very tight for the young man.

00:35:38This is for a guy who's got the flu at the moment, but Hakanen has dropped back a lot.

00:35:42Wonder, wonder if he did get some damage to his car at the start.

00:35:48Up to 205 miles an hour or so, as they come up towards Les Combes, braking very strongly

00:35:53there, down to 85 miles an hour, third gear, goes to the right, goes to the left, doesn't

00:35:57use all the road as he comes out, doesn't use all the road as he comes in.

00:36:00As the caggy goes in the pits, looks like that could be his day over.

00:36:08Another driver who did not get a good start, Derek, was Jack Villeneuve.

00:36:12He's great at 11, ran the first lap in 14th, and has now dropped a spot from there.

00:36:17Yeah, well, B.A.R. are having a miserable season.

00:36:22Villeneuve still looking for his first finish.

00:36:25They have had three finishes with the other car, but not with his car this year.

00:36:3011th, I think, being the highest place they got.

00:36:32Mika Salo did quite a good job at Monaco, if I recollect, in one of the B.A.R.s.

00:36:38But Mika not shining as much as one would hope this weekend.

00:36:41He went very quickly in testing the other day.

00:36:43I have to say, Michael Schumacher did go testing the other day, and he was only, the first

00:36:48flying lap was 0.2 of a second slower than Eddie Irvine's test lap at Mugello.

00:36:53And by the end of the day, Michael was quickest by 0.3 of a second than Eddie Irvine.

00:36:57An amazing recovery.

00:36:58But let's just remember, his accident actually wasn't that bad.

00:37:01It just has been a lot of news being made about it.

00:37:04He literally broke his leg.

00:37:05He didn't exactly roll over and catch the light.

00:37:07Nonetheless, it was a nice accident.

00:37:10Well, there's an inquiry underway as to whether Mika Hakkinen rolled off the start line before

00:37:14all the lights went out.

00:37:16And that would have accounted for Coulthard having a chance to beat him to the first corner

00:37:20because Hakkinen may have edged ahead and then lost momentum.

00:37:23Well, actually, I thought that myself.

00:37:24I thought Mika did go ahead at the start.

00:37:26Before the lights went out, he had moved, I thought.

00:37:29Well, it's under inquiry by the stewards right now.

00:37:32A tough break for Hakkinen, the defending world champion, who comes in here with a strong

00:37:37opportunity to take the lead in the world championship.

00:37:40Right now, he trails his McLaren Mercedes teammate, David Coulthard, by some 2.7 seconds.

00:37:48Let's show you a full-field rundown at four laps here in the Belgium Grand Prix.

00:37:54Just outside the points positions, there's Damon Hill, Mika Salo, Barrichello, Herbert,

00:37:58Zakella, Olathe, Berts, Trulli, Villeneuve back there in 15th, and on back through the

00:38:04rest of the field.

00:38:06You're watching Formula 1 on Fox Sportsnet.

00:38:12Welcome back to the Belgium Grand Prix.

00:38:13David Coulthard, David Coulthard.

00:38:15Welcome back to the Belgium Grand Prix.

00:38:16David Coulthard leads.

00:38:18Five laps complete.

00:38:19The only change of position.

00:38:20Jacques Villeneuve has dropped now to 16th.

00:38:22Olivier Penney moving up to 15th.

00:38:24Let's have a look at the start from Heinz-Harald Frentzen's view.

00:38:31Heinz-Harald Frentzen didn't have a bad start, but Mika Hakkinen on your left side,

00:38:34it really zaps away.

00:38:36David Coulthard moved quite well on the inside.

00:38:38Just look at these two trying to outbrake one another.

00:38:41These are two teammates.

00:38:42Unbelievable, isn't it?

00:38:43Ron would have been over the moon if they had nailed each other.

00:38:45And I believe they did touch.

00:38:47And look at Florian Heinz-Harald trying to get tracks.

00:38:49And he thinks, if I don't get the power down, I can get away and get down this straight

00:38:52ahead of them.

00:38:53But no way.

00:38:54The tracks on these McLarens is superior.

00:38:57To the McLarens lead from Frentzen, who's now dropped 8.6 seconds back.

00:39:03Eddie Irvine for Ferrari.

00:39:05Fourth, Ralf Schumacher and Alex Zanardi.

00:39:08For Williams, fifth and sixth, and Damon Hill and Mika Salo.

00:39:14Lap time comparison.

00:39:16The quickest lap.

00:39:17On lap 6, 54.7.

00:39:19That's a good time.

00:39:22They're quite a lot slower this year in qualifying than last year.

00:39:24Some two seconds slower than they did in qualifying last year, which Hakkinen got with a 1.48.6.

00:39:30And that's just with one extra groove in the front seems to have made quite a lot of difference

00:39:33around this circuit.

00:39:35But I think it's because of the fast high-speed sweeps and turns.

00:39:38Whoa, look at this.

00:39:39Here we come.

00:39:40Getting it all sideways.

00:39:41Using some of his enthusiasm.

00:39:43I think it's the Nissan, sorry.

00:39:47Getting a bit out of control there as he comes through.

00:39:50The understeer problem here, Derek.

00:39:51Some drivers were able to dial it in and others, even in qualifying, reverted to the spare car

00:39:58because they just couldn't get their primary car to turn.

00:40:01Yeah.

00:40:02That's drastic.

00:40:03It is very drastic indeed.

00:40:04Great shot of Coulthard as he comes sweeping through Blanchimont.

00:40:08Up to the bus stop.

00:40:12As we're following Mika Hakkinen as he came up there.

00:40:17But he just showed just the speed at which they did deceleration.

00:40:21These cars can go 0 to 100 miles an hour and back to 0 again in something like six seconds.

00:40:26So it's pretty dramatic.

00:40:28How similar is this chicane to, say, the bus stop chicane at Daytona, which some of our

00:40:33viewers might be familiar with?

00:40:34It's actually a very similar bus stop, but it's not as long.

00:40:36And it's much smoother.

00:40:37Daytona is like running across a cross-country field.

00:40:40It's actually smooth.

00:40:41Daytona is pretty diabolical, actually.

00:40:44It's a bit of an afterthought, whereas this was certainly put in for a very good reason.

00:40:48And it's very, very rough over the bumps.

00:40:51You can see that Mika Hakkinen goes over those curbs.

00:40:53But they all go over the curbs.

00:40:54But there is a way to go over the curbs with the least amount of jarring.

00:40:58I think it must chap your teeth around a little bit.

00:41:02David Coulthard in 4.7 seconds ahead of Mika Hakkinen.

00:41:05A lovely position for David to be in.

00:41:08Something he hasn't experienced for some time at this stage of the race, anyway.

00:41:17So you can see just the power of those McLarens as they move away.

00:41:21Jordans, remember, are running an engine that has more mid-range torque and 12 horsepower

00:41:25more than they had in the previous race.

00:41:28It's called an e-spec.

00:41:29And they're racing it for the first time, having qualified it before.

00:41:32Well, I think the very nice weather here caught some of the teams out.

00:41:38In fact, McLaren went, and we're better to test if you want to anticipate rain.

00:41:42But Britain, they went to Silverstone to test, Peter.

00:41:45And they got the conditions they wanted last week, not this week.

00:41:48Yes, it is difficult to imagine a time when Mika Hakkinen has not been more confident.

00:41:52He had a brilliant test at Silverstone.

00:41:54Mika normally does not enjoy testing.

00:41:57And this year, he's been a little bit apathetic about it.

00:42:01But at Silverstone, he really got into it and exactly the weather conditions he wanted.

00:42:06It was wet at Silverstone for two of the three days.

00:42:08And Mika was dominatingly quickest on both of those wet sessions and came away

00:42:13saying to the McLaren engineers, let's hope it's wet at Spa.

00:42:16That's how confident Mika Hakkinen is at the moment.

00:42:20Well, his luck here has not been the best.

00:42:22And, of course, luck preparing by testing in the rain here has not proved fruitful either.

00:42:29We are dealing a super job holding off Damon Hill and Mika Salo.

00:42:33Ferrari do seem to be lacking that little bit of extra edge in setting the cars up with Michael Schumacher's skills.

00:42:39Remember, he did all the early day testing in the early couple of years.

00:42:43And now, of course, it's been Eddie Irvine this season.

00:42:46But Eddie certainly hasn't got to grips with it this week at all.

00:42:49Just going back to Eddie, I mean, the last race when he had that problem and went off the road.

00:42:52In fact, they have a very sophisticated differential.

00:42:56In fact, more sophisticated than any other team on the Ferrari rear-end differential on the gearbox.

00:43:00And it actually is activated by the amount of revs you're pulling and what gear you're in

00:43:04as to how much bias there is from how much slip on the diff.

00:43:08And they lost the diff, so Eddie only had traction out of one wheel, as did Mika Salo.

00:43:13And that could be one of the reasons that he didn't have a good race in Hungary.

00:43:17And talking about Ferrari as well, Schumacher I hear is actually Michael, that is.

00:43:21Sorry, not Ralph.

00:43:22Michael is in Norway at the moment. There's a house he has there where he normally goes in the winter to get fit.

00:43:26And he's working out five to six hours a day.

00:43:29And they say that his upper body strength is absolutely incredible.

00:43:32Never been fitter in that behalf.

00:43:34But of course, it's getting that right leg into good shape as well that matters now for him.

00:43:39Damon Hill, who's always been classed as a finisher in this race, three times a winner.

00:43:44Never started this race lower than ninth.

00:43:47Two weeks ago at Hungary, I said that Hill had scored points in every Hungarian Grand Prix.

00:43:52We had some slight misinformation.

00:43:54What that should have said was that he'd scored points in every one of his full seasons in Formula 1.

00:44:01In 1992, Damon finished 11th, four laps off the pace.

00:44:06So all but once he scored points in Hungary.

00:44:08Apologize for that error, but he has had good success here as well.

00:44:12The Coulthard leads from his McLaren Mercedes teammate Håkonen.

00:44:16Frensen in third for Jordan. Irvine for Ferrari, fourth.

00:44:20And then the Williams of Ralf Schumacher and Zanardi.

00:44:25Nine laps complete.

00:44:286.2 seconds. The pit board has been out for Håkonen and it says push.

00:44:33But this last lap, Håkonen has fallen another four-tenths of a second back of David.

00:44:38Now I think Mika is pushing, but it's his car that's pushing.

00:44:41And it's not enabling him to get round the corners the way he wants.

00:44:43We're watching his car go through Lake Holm at the top of the hill.

00:44:47Beautiful section through.

00:44:48Now normally in the old days, we used to go straight over the top.

00:44:51Down towards Malmedy, down to Stavlo.

00:44:53Another two miles down through the Master Kink.

00:44:55Some of the most frightening parts of circuit in the world.

00:44:57With just barbed wire on either side.

00:45:00Of course the race was finally banned from being a Formula 1 circuit back in the 70s.

00:45:05Which is a great pity, but then it was so dangerous.

00:45:07Now of course we have this magnificent guardrail and of course car walls.

00:45:11Probably the best footage you'll ever see of Spas from the movie Grand Prix.

00:45:14It was exceptionally good, I must admit.

00:45:17And didn't you do a lot of the filming for Le Mans here?

00:45:19No, we did nothing here at all.

00:45:21But I did race here a lot.

00:45:23And in fact had my most frightening moment of my life.

00:45:26Actually going to the Master Kink.

00:45:27But in fact was in the Guinness Book of Records for getting the fastest lap ever on a road circuit.

00:45:31164 miles an hour.

00:45:34A bit of out-braking going on.

00:45:36One of the Prost tries to get down the inside.

00:45:40There we see the Benetton of course.

00:45:42Benetton getting it very out of shape.

00:45:44Is he going to out-drag him down the hill? No, he isn't.

00:45:47You may notice the word Playlife upside down on the side of the Benetton car.

00:45:51That is not a mistake, it's a fact.

00:45:53It's one of their products and they're trying to make a mark by using Playlife as one of their brands to get attention.

00:45:59They put it upside down so you'll notice.

00:46:01Absolutely, and you're noticing I guess. We are.

00:46:04Well, Penney has moved up well, Derek.

00:46:06He passed Villeneuve three laps ago and now he's just gone past Virts to move himself up into 14th from 16th.

00:46:12Which is where he came off the grid after starting 17th.

00:46:15So, good run for Penney.

00:46:17Oh, look at Damon.

00:46:18Squirreling around there, under-braking as he chases down Zanardi with Mika Salo fairly close behind him.

00:46:24As far as one of those circuits that you like to be on your own.

00:46:27You like to be on your own because you like to be able to just get quicker and quicker through those corners.

00:46:31You don't need people breathing down your neck, pushing.

00:46:33The last thing you need to do as you're going through these fast corners is looking in your mirrors for the car behind.

00:46:41On your left there, the old Formula One pits and the sports car pits and the 24-hour pits.

00:46:46Circuit's used a lot, but it is also a public road.

00:46:50It's hard to see the way the cameras are placed, just how steep the ascent is up the route.

00:46:56Absolutely. It's the descent and the bottom as you go to the bottom.

00:46:59And, in fact, the problem with the two BARs yesterday, with Villeneuve and Zonta's accident,

00:47:03was the fact that, in fact, both the cars bottomed out.

00:47:07Which meant, again, they bottomed in the bottom because the guys went just that bit quicker.

00:47:10They hit the road, the wheels basically came off the road, and that shot the car sideways.

00:47:18Ten laps complete. David Coulthard took the lead for Mika Haakonen at the start.

00:47:23Frenson in third, Irvine, and the Williams of Ralph Schumacher and Alex Zanardi.

00:47:28You're watching Formula One on Fox Sportsnet.

00:47:33Welcome back to the Belgian Grand Prix. We're at 11 laps. David Coulthard leads by six and a half seconds.

00:47:38Coming around to complete lap 12.

00:47:41Keith Olbermann and Kevin Frazier bring you all the day's scores, highlights, and breaking stories nightly at 10 on Fox Sportsnet.

00:47:48Activity in the Arrows' pit.

00:47:51Here at just 12 laps complete.

00:47:55Tore Takagi out of race. Let's take you team by team.

00:47:58McLaren has first and second right now with Coulthard and Haakonen.

00:48:04Ferrari, fourth and eighth for Eddie Irvine and Mika Salo. Not the result they need.

00:48:10Salo's picked up a spot there from the grid.

00:48:12Heinzel, Frenson, third, and Damon Hill, who started fourth, has dropped to seventh.

00:48:17And Olivier Penney is in the pits.

00:48:22Making his first stop for Frost at lap 12.

00:48:29You see, he was making a very good move, working his way through the field, and that's what one has to assume is due to the fact he had low fuel.

00:48:36As you can see, and there he comes in for another fuel stop. So he's certainly on two-stop strategy.

00:48:40We understood Ralph Schumacher might be, but he hasn't got in yet.

00:48:44Remember, they'll be stopping if they're on one stop at 22 laps approximately, because it's a 44-lap race.

00:48:49Somewhere around 20, 22, 23 laps.

00:48:52Obviously, not all at the same time.

00:48:54Penney was up to 14th when he made his stop.

00:48:57It's quite a long entry to the pits here. It's longer than last year.

00:49:01So, obviously, they're going to be much more critical just as to how many pit stops they make.

00:49:07John Alessi having a very, very good drive.

00:49:09Chasing Barrichello, that's for ninth place.

00:49:22Well, John started 16th, so he's doing a good job, having not been terribly happy with the car.

00:49:27As we said earlier, he is, in fact, going to Frost for next year.

00:49:31Great move him to a French team.

00:49:33When he was with Ferrari, they called him a Sicilian, because it suited them better.

00:49:37And then he went to Sauber, and they said, well, he was between the two.

00:49:40He's gone to a Swiss team.

00:49:42They always stay neutral in Switzerland.

00:49:44And now, of course, he's going to Frost.

00:49:46And that'll be with a French team, really, which is really his home country.

00:49:53Well, for the teams that are on two-stop, as we'd expected,

00:49:56Well, for the teams that are on two-stop, as we'd expected,

00:49:59Well, for the teams that are on two-stop, as we'd expected,

00:50:01we'd expect them in the next two or three laps.

00:50:03For those, as we say, Penny has already been in,

00:50:07pitting at lap 12 as we complete 13.

00:50:10Foultard's lead on Hockett, and now it's stretched a little more, 7.3 seconds.

00:50:16And Williams is setting up for Zanardi.

00:50:20Zanardi again tried the steel brake rotors this weekend.

00:50:23Zanardi again tried the steel brake rotors this weekend.

00:50:25He preferred the feel of the steel brakes to carbon,

00:50:28but they have such a substantial weight penalty,

00:50:31they elected not to use them for the race.

00:50:34Luca Badua is in for Zanardi.

00:50:37They're still waiting for a big sponsor for next year, maybe Telefonica.

00:50:41Major telecommunications.

00:50:43Whoa, look at that smoke.

00:50:45A lot of smoke off the back.

00:50:47I think he had the tower smoke in the front of the car when he was down.

00:50:49He couldn't go anywhere.

00:50:52Quite a long pit stop.

00:50:56And John Alessi really working over Barry Keller.

00:51:00Of course, they could be preparing.

00:51:02He could be on low fuel, of course.

00:51:04Hence his wonderful drive from 16th up to 9th place,

00:51:07or should I say 10th place.

00:51:10And his activity in the Sauber fits as well.

00:51:14And you really would notice the difference in weight in a car,

00:51:17sweeping through these twists and turns of this circuit.

00:51:20It's different to a point and squirt place like Hockenheim.

00:51:25Here you feel that extra weight.

00:51:27Here they come down the hill, past the old pits.

00:51:30Those are the old pits on the left.

00:51:32Still used, but not in Formula 1.

00:51:34Sweeping through a roof, down into the dip,

00:51:36and up the compression at the bottom is absolutely amazing.

00:51:39You can't actually lift your foot off.

00:51:41You have a job sometimes to modulate your throttle pedal

00:51:44when you feel this isn't a flat lap.

00:51:46I'm going to lift back off a bit.

00:51:48In the 962s, the Porsches, we used to just back off.

00:51:51If we went to the bottom one time in 10, we'd get it flat.

00:51:54Here comes Alessi in as we thought he might be running on lower fuel,

00:51:58keeping down to that 50-mile-an-hour speed limit,

00:52:00which we have this week.

00:52:02Just over 50, 80 kilometers.

00:52:04And you see how long that pit entry is.

00:52:06Alessi's last lap, Derek, was eighth fastest

00:52:09of the last laps of all drivers.

00:52:11Of course, the advantage is now he may well get out into a clear bit of road,

00:52:15can utilize these fresh tires.

00:52:18Oh, dear, what are they doing?

00:52:20Come on, boys, that's too long for a one-stopper.

00:52:23He should be in the region of 7 to 8 seconds, not 10.2.

00:52:26You can see his fuel filler cap is up.

00:52:28As he goes out there, it will automatically shut.

00:52:31There's a moment as somebody locks it all up.

00:52:33Look at... Whoa, dear, oh, dear.

00:52:36Mayhem at the bus stop,

00:52:38allowing Fizzi Keller to go through.

00:52:39That was Johnny Herbert,

00:52:41who I think had just got by Fizzi Keller,

00:52:43but he certainly made it back again

00:52:45when Johnny outbreaks himself coming into the bus stop.

00:52:49And Johnny's coming into the pit,

00:52:51so I think he decided...

00:52:52Oh, it might be Barry Keller, I can't see.

00:52:54But it wouldn't be a bad time for Johnny to come in,

00:52:56but, no, that's Barry.

00:52:59Oh, Genet, I'm so sorry.

00:53:00I just saw the red top of the helmet.

00:53:03Genet in lap 14,

00:53:05and I believe Eros is with De La Rosa in as well.

00:53:15Mark Genet has made a stop.

00:53:18De La Rosa has stopped.

00:53:20Jarno Trulli has also stopped.

00:53:25And De La Rosa, right.

00:53:27As I said earlier,

00:53:30the computers say they can do it on one stop,

00:53:32and it is quicker than doing a two-stop.

00:53:35The magic of computers these days.

00:53:36And I would have thought the McLarens,

00:53:38sort of being out there in front,

00:53:39they can control their fuel consumption

00:53:41by not driving too hard.

00:53:43You'd think that they may well stay out

00:53:45and stick it out and just do a one-stopper.

00:53:48They've always been able to run

00:53:50better fuel consumption than anybody all year.

00:53:54Coltard has now opened up 8.2 seconds

00:53:58on Hakkanen,

00:53:59and it's a further 10 seconds back to Frentzen.

00:54:02Six more to Irvine.

00:54:04The fact, of course, that David has managed

00:54:05to pull away from Mika might let you think

00:54:07that he is on a lighter fuel load than Mika Hakkanen,

00:54:09and therefore is trying to get a lead,

00:54:11but to get an advantage.

00:54:12One wouldn't imagine that he would have

00:54:14got ahead of Mika at the start, normally,

00:54:16because Mika makes good starts.

00:54:19Noah McLaren is quite secretive

00:54:22in pre-race about their plans

00:54:24and their fuel loads,

00:54:25and very unpredictable as well.

00:54:29Stewart is in.

00:54:30Johnny Herbert

00:54:33here at lap 15.

00:54:37I think Herbert put a flat spot on his car, too,

00:54:39when he came to bus stop the previous lap.

00:54:40He thought it was a good time to stop now.

00:54:45Pedro Diniz going out.

00:54:55Those fuel caps open automatically

00:54:57as they come into the pit road,

00:54:58I think as they get on to the rev limiter,

00:55:00as they come in to control it down to 50 miles an hour,

00:55:03and then it goes out when it releases

00:55:05the 50-mile-an-hour rev limiter

00:55:07at the other end of the pit lane.

00:55:08Well, Derek, apparently it's been adjudged,

00:55:10perhaps by default,

00:55:11that Hakkanen did not jump the starting light.

00:55:14Once the inquiry was launched,

00:55:16the stewards had 20 minutes

00:55:18in which to render a decision,

00:55:20and there was no decision,

00:55:21which effectively means that

00:55:23Hakkanen was innocent of jumping the start.

00:55:26Yes, they had that 20 minutes in which to do it.

00:55:29Of course, it would have caused mayhem

00:55:30among the other teams,

00:55:32and I think Ron Dennis,

00:55:33if they had have done,

00:55:35given him a penalty.

00:55:36Watching David going through the bus stop chicane,

00:55:39you see the way it hits those bumps.

00:55:41That, obviously, is slow motion.

00:55:43And here we go through the top at Les Combes,

00:55:45this lovely complex at the top of the hill,

00:55:47and we drop down the other side

00:55:49towards Malmedy, a big city.

00:55:51Damon Hill, we understand, is in the pit.

00:55:55So Hill pits at lap 16.

00:56:02These guys have to be absolutely on the stop.

00:56:04Great stop.

00:56:05They're right on the point.

00:56:066.8.

00:56:07A superb stop by Jordan.

00:56:11For Damon.

00:56:12That's the fastest thus far.

00:56:13Not sure how much fuel they added.

00:56:15Certainly, it would not have been a full load

00:56:18in only seven seconds.

00:56:19No, they're going for two stops, that's for sure.

00:56:21And, of course, he gets out on fresh rubber.

00:56:23That does help.

00:56:24But there is no degradation on these tires, it seems.

00:56:26The softer tire,

00:56:27they've all been working on it all weekend,

00:56:29and they seem to have come up with the fact

00:56:30that they will last.

00:56:32Remember, they have basically two compounds,

00:56:34a soft and a medium compound to utilize.

00:56:37They have the option.

00:56:38They've gone for the soft.

00:56:40Now, Frentzen will likely be in next lap.

00:56:43There's further activity in the Jordan pit.

00:56:45He is 20.6 seconds behind the leader,

00:56:47and he is six seconds ahead of Eddie Irvine,

00:56:50but Ferrari is also setting up.

00:56:53Irvine, four seconds ahead of Ralf Schumacher.

00:57:0016 laps complete.

00:57:01Sorry, one has to say, Frentzen is very close

00:57:04to the back of Mika Hakkinen.

00:57:06One second.

00:57:07So, he's certainly putting pressure on Mika at this point.

00:57:12We might see that Jordan one-two yet.

00:57:15They had the one-two last time.

00:57:16They had the one-two last year in the pouring rain.

00:57:19Frentzen's in the pits for his stop.

00:57:21Nice to see how long that was going to be.

00:57:23Look at this long drive in.

00:57:25On here, the rev limiter as he goes by.

00:57:28So frustrating.

00:57:29When you're driving at 200 miles an hour

00:57:30and you have to drive in at 50.

00:57:36He must stop right on the spot,

00:57:38because those mechanics just go straight in

00:57:39with those air guns.

00:57:41Wheels on and off, and of course, the fuel man too.

00:57:44That's it.

00:57:45A bit longer.

00:57:46A second and a half longer than Damon Hales.

00:57:48I don't think it will affect him to Damon,

00:57:49but it could well affect him with Ralf Schumacher

00:57:52very close behind him.

00:57:54Mika Salo is in for Ferrari.

00:57:56And Rubens Barrichello for Stewart at lap 17.

00:58:09And you see Ferrari using Formula One

00:58:11and the F1 logo on the side of the car.

00:58:14Now, in past years, they had used the Marlboro identity

00:58:17without the name,

00:58:18and this year moved away from that.

00:58:21Perhaps, I'm only speculating,

00:58:24but without even the logo of Marlboro,

00:58:27now they'll have a chance to sell

00:58:28some more die-cast toys to the kids.

00:58:31And that's a big business, Derek.

00:58:33Perhaps not as a percentage of the budget

00:58:35of a Formula One team,

00:58:36but racing collectibles has become a huge business.

00:58:39I have to interrupt you there.

00:58:41It's coming up behind us, though,

00:58:42and we go into Bern...

00:58:44Blasiov.

00:58:46And he waves to the outside,

00:58:48and the pass is made cleanly without incident.

00:58:50We'll be right back.

00:58:51You're watching Formula One on Fox Sportsnet.

00:58:56Welcome back, as Mika Hakkinen comes into the pits

00:59:00here at lap 18.

00:59:04I'd love to have a camera on the far side of the car

00:59:06just to see if there is any damage.

00:59:09Good contact with David Coulthard at the start.

00:59:12Appears to be a normal pit stop,

00:59:14waiting on the fuel.

00:59:16That's seven and a half seconds.

00:59:17Well, they didn't adjust anything on the car.

00:59:20Irvine is in as well.

00:59:26That just shows how far those two were apart.

00:59:28One length of pit stop.

00:59:30So, Irvine also in at lap 18

00:59:33for his first stop of the day.

00:59:34What a great stop from Ferrari.

00:59:35Yeah.

00:59:366.9 seconds.

00:59:37As good as Damon Hill's superb stop.

00:59:39You hardly saw him stop and he was out again.

00:59:42Don't push it too hard going out, Eddie.

00:59:43You go straight across the road at last.

00:59:52So that leaves Coulthard and the two Williams

00:59:57and the Bennetons

01:00:00and the VAR

01:00:02who have not stopped.

01:00:07It shows what diabolical information we get fed before the start

01:00:10and telling us that nearly everybody is going to do a one-stop start.

01:00:13The one-stop pit stop, should I say, for the race.

01:00:19That's where the circuit, the new circuit joins the old.

01:00:21This is all the old circuit.

01:00:25Well, recently Williams have tried to minimize pit stops for Zanardi

01:00:28running him on a one-stop race

01:00:31and Benneton usually runs a one-stop race where it's feasible.

01:00:36So now Coulthard will make his stop and this will come at lap 19.

01:00:42It makes you wonder where he can almost go to the end of the race.

01:00:45If they get that extra bit of fuel in, David can make it on this one stop.

01:00:4819 laps only means he's got 25 to go.

01:00:56No air jacks in Formula 1.

01:00:57They use the tilt jack, front and rear.

01:01:037 seconds.

01:01:04Very good stop. Excellent stop.

01:01:07After confusion that McLaren's had earlier in the year,

01:01:11they're getting it right now.

01:01:17That's the view as they come down the hill from La Source hairpin,

01:01:2040 mile an hour hairpin, down to Eau Rouge.

01:01:22This amazing corner.

01:01:26You can feel yourself, your heart going down into your stomach

01:01:29as you go around there and your stomach going into your shoes.

01:01:32The sweep up, it's such relief when you get to here

01:01:34and know you're through it without going off.

01:01:39The dip in Road Atlanta before they reconfigured it,

01:01:41the dip and the turn under the bridge at the top of the hill,

01:01:43is that in any way similar, Derek?

01:01:45It is similar except for it is slower.

01:01:47Right.

01:01:48But it is similar.

01:01:49It is, but it's just that it's longer.

01:01:51The uphill is much longer at Spa.

01:01:54A similar feel to the body.

01:01:55When you do a landing, you cannot get your foot back off the throttle pedal

01:01:58to get on the brakes for the bridge.

01:01:59That was the problem.

01:02:00Now it's no problem because they've put a chicane in.

01:02:02Right.

01:02:03But it was that same gut-to-the-pavement kind of feel.

01:02:05Right.

01:02:06A little bit of overtaking is going to be attempted here.

01:02:08Is he going to get down inside him?

01:02:10Not much room.

01:02:11It's pretty tight, but it is a circuit coming up the hill to Lake Colnett.

01:02:13You can do it.

01:02:14Yes.

01:02:15Let him by very easily there.

01:02:16I should hope so, too.

01:02:19No point because you're in the back of the field.

01:02:21Yeah, De La Rosa had moved to the right side

01:02:23and then at the last instant saw the presence of the car

01:02:26and moved back over left.

01:02:27Very wise move that David threw.

01:02:30Only one retiree thus far at 20 laps of Tora Takagi.

01:02:37Look at the different pit stops there.

01:02:39Seven seconds difference between Coulthard and Hacken

01:02:41and presumably judging by the lap time.

01:02:43That's amazing.

01:02:48Oh, off and into the wall is one of the Saubers.

01:02:53Pedro Diniz.

01:02:55Pedro Diniz.

01:03:01If he can improve the make-up on that car at all.

01:03:03That's at the top of the hill at Eau Rouge.

01:03:05He's lost it just where Jacques Villeneuve went in yesterday.

01:03:07Here he comes. Let's watch him.

01:03:09See if he gets it sideways just now.

01:03:10Here he goes.

01:03:11He gets it out of shape there when he gets on that kerb.

01:03:14You cannot get on that kerb because across the road

01:03:16not quite just touches that pad.

01:03:18He's not going to flip it like he did yesterday

01:03:20and then back the other way.

01:03:22Very nice camera work.

01:03:24Magnificent. Look at him.

01:03:26Oh dear, oh dear.

01:03:27He was a very lucky boy there.

01:03:29The other two yesterday in qualifying both flipped it.

01:03:33Here he goes sideways.

01:03:36The truck's already ready to pick it up and wheel it away

01:03:38because it's a very dodgy place.

01:03:40Eighth time he's fallen out of a race this season.

01:03:43The best thing, Derek, was that he spun

01:03:45and kept spinning all the way up the hill

01:03:47and scrubbing off speed so that it was a light impact.

01:03:49So did Zonta, but he had no wheels on.

01:03:51All right.

01:03:52Sorry, that's not funny.

01:03:54No, it isn't.

01:03:57They were quickened to move that.

01:04:02So, Denise joins Takagi out of race.

01:04:05Takagi did not, I believe, did not complete a lap.

01:04:13First to second now, almost 11 seconds at 20 laps.

01:04:20But Ralf Schumacher, who has not made a stop, closing up.

01:04:23Oh, look at this lot coming up the hill, excuse me.

01:04:25Three wide.

01:04:26Is the four going to make it?

01:04:27Oh dear.

01:04:28No.

01:04:29Oh, and he gets out of shape as well.

01:04:31It looks like it was Barry Keller.

01:04:33He loses a place a bit there.

01:04:35He gets taken too.

01:04:36Well, he got it and lost it.

01:04:37Yeah, he got it and lost it.

01:04:38All in the same corner.

01:04:39Yeah.

01:04:40That was Alexander Wurz.

01:04:45The Lacey just ahead.

01:04:48Wurz and Barry Keller.

01:04:51Now that is, that's a scrap for 10th place.

01:04:59There are the points positions as Pedro Denise, as you see, is OK and walking away.

01:05:03Coulthard and Hockenheim.

01:05:05Ralf Schumacher and Zanardi, who have not made pit stops.

01:05:08And then Frentzen.

01:05:10There's a replay, as you see.

01:05:12A Lacey slicing across in front.

01:05:14Barrichello had gone to the inside but lost his momentum and Wurz got the position back.

01:05:27Yellow flags there at Eau Rouge for Denise.

01:05:29And here's Zanardi for his stop at lap 21.

01:05:39Great run by this team.

01:05:40Come on, Alex.

01:05:41We'd like to see you do a really good race today.

01:05:43So far, it's all happening for him.

01:05:45He's had this braking problem.

01:05:46Brakes with the rear end of the car have been causing a lot of instability for him.

01:05:50He had it in Hungary.

01:05:51He's had it here all through practice.

01:05:53But he had gone very much better all weekend.

01:05:55Always been up in the top 10.

01:06:009.2 second stop.

01:06:01And now the Benettons.

01:06:02Here's Fisichella in.

01:06:04He's also at lap 21.

01:06:06The Benettons and the BAR is the only teams left to pit.

01:06:10And that's at least for the first time.

01:06:1411 second stop for Fisichella.

01:06:16Full tanks now.

01:06:20Zanardi had a little bit of adjustment to his front wings in that pit stop.

01:06:24Presumably, he got a bit of push or a bit of OCO.

01:06:26Wanted to tune it out.

01:06:31These are the pit stop times.

01:06:33This is the comparison between Irvine, Coulthard and Agnes.

01:06:356.9, 7.2 and 7.7.

01:06:39But Mika Hakkinen's in and out must have overall been a lot more.

01:06:42Because he lost another 3 seconds to Coulthard.

01:06:45On the overall time that he entered the pits.

01:06:47Or the overall lap time, should I say.

01:06:50Quite substantial.

01:06:52Makes you wonder what is wrong with Hakkinen today.

01:06:54David Coulthard supposedly got a cold.

01:06:56Not doing a bad job.

01:06:57He'll get a cold more often.

01:06:58Doing a ready treat today.

01:07:00Hakkinen was fastest in this morning's warm-up.

01:07:03He had what Ron Dennis termed a flawless qualifying session.

01:07:07But look, you see now that he trails his teammate by 10.2 seconds.

01:07:10Looks like Ralf Schumacher coming in.

01:07:12Yes, Ralf Schumacher at lap 22.

01:07:16In for his stop.

01:07:19Now, this car next year, we're told.

01:07:21There's a lot of debate in the emails.

01:07:23Between German racing silver and German racing white.

01:07:25The Mercedes McLaren's racing silver.

01:07:27Next year, this car will take the BMW logo.

01:07:31Which is a roundel, they call it.

01:07:33The image of a spinning propeller in blue and white.

01:07:35And somehow that logo will be transformed into the color scheme of the Williams next year.

01:07:42Rather long stop that for Ralf.

01:07:44But of course, he did take more fuel on.

01:07:46He's only got, that will be his run to the end of the race now.

01:07:48So they would have wanted to check he got the right amount.

01:07:50And they don't want to bring him in early.

01:07:52Or run him out too soon.

01:07:53He runs out of fuel.

01:07:54But even so, his stop was 2.7 seconds longer than Zanardi.

01:07:58You know, his teammate.

01:07:59Alexander Wurz is in here at lap 22.

01:08:02And that will leave only the BAR's on track.

01:08:05Of the teams that have not stopped.

01:08:11So David Coulthard with a 10.2 second lead.

01:08:14Over Mika Hakkinen.

01:08:16Frenson.

01:08:17Ralf Schumacher.

01:08:19Eddie Irvine.

01:08:20Damon Hill.

01:08:21Mika Salo.

01:08:22Alex Zanardi.

01:08:23Jean Alessi.

01:08:24And Rubens Barrichello.

01:08:25The top ten.

01:08:26Welcome back to Fox Sportsnet coverage.

01:08:28Of the Grand Prix of Belgium.

01:08:2923 laps complete.

01:08:30David Coulthard leading from his McLaren teammate.

01:08:33Mika Hakkinen.

01:08:35In two weeks time.

01:08:36We'll be at the Grand Prix of Italy.

01:08:38Sunday, September 12th.

01:08:39Michael Schumacher's return.

01:08:41In front of the Ferrari faithful.

01:08:43Join us at noon.

01:08:44Your local time.

01:08:49There's a look at your top half dozen.

01:08:51Two McLarens.

01:08:52A Jordan.

01:08:53A Ferrari.

01:08:54A Jordan Ferrari.

01:08:56And Mika Hakkinen for some reason.

01:08:58Just got the quickest lap of the race so far.

01:09:02And on pretty full tanks.

01:09:04So Irvine.

01:09:05Two points ahead of Hakkinen.

01:09:07Coming in here.

01:09:08That will pretty well change.

01:09:10The way things are right now.

01:09:12And with Michael Schumacher coming back.

01:09:14Trying to advance from fifth.

01:09:16And still mathematically in contention for the title.

01:09:22Although as a practical matter.

01:09:24Not.

01:09:25In his mind.

01:09:26Yes.

01:09:27Well sure.

01:09:30Look at the gap now after pit stops.

01:09:337.7 seconds.

01:09:39So after 23 laps.

01:09:41And all of these cars have made a stop.

01:09:44Ralph Schumacher now.

01:09:46Sixth.

01:09:51And it won't be Damon Hill's day.

01:09:53Damon Hill's day sadly.

01:09:54Looks like Damon certainly has a good chance to finish in the points.

01:09:57But not duplicate his feat of one year ago.

01:10:01Well he's got Mika Salo very close behind him.

01:10:05Ralph Schumacher suffering from that stop.

01:10:07But remember he.

01:10:08I imagine will only.

01:10:09Will not have another stop to make in the race.

01:10:11And that could benefit him immensely.

01:10:13As David Courtois goes by one of the two BARs.

01:10:16Going down to Eau Rouge.

01:10:19Streaming up the hill.

01:10:21To Blaycombe.

01:10:29What a relief after last year's rain.

01:10:31Absolutely magnificent.

01:10:33Coming down.

01:10:34Into the.

01:10:36Left.

01:10:37Right hander at Rivage.

01:10:39Very smooth corner.

01:10:40But the car always wants to understeer.

01:10:42Then this corner.

01:10:43Is vital.

01:10:44This last part.

01:10:45Sorry.

01:10:46The corner is vital to get it right as they go down.

01:10:48Towards Pouhon.

01:10:50Pouhon again has this.

01:10:51Double apex.

01:10:52One apex there.

01:10:53The car drifts out.

01:10:54Then he bring it back in for the last one.

01:10:56And such relief when you get there.

01:10:57And you haven't gone off.

01:11:02There you see Haakonen's 22nd lap.

01:11:04Fastest of the day at 1.54.3.

01:11:11Sierra de la Rosa.

01:11:17Well as we look forward to the year 2000.

01:11:19And the U.S. Grand Prix returning to Indianapolis.

01:11:22That will be in September.

01:11:23Bernie Ecclestone is back in the paddock.

01:11:25We saw him during pre-race.

01:11:26Peter had a chance to catch up with Bernie.

01:11:28And I wonder Peter.

01:11:29Are we looking at some major schedule changes next year?

01:11:32Bernie Ecclestone back in full force.

01:11:33Doing his regular paddock tours now.

01:11:35The Belgian Grand Prix.

01:11:36Looking even fitter and better than he did before his operation.

01:11:40Confirming that yes there is indeed an intention.

01:11:43To switch the Formula 1 championship finale.

01:11:46To the North and South American continents.

01:11:49Now I pushed him on this.

01:11:50Said is it conceivable that Indianapolis might have the championship finale.

01:11:55The last round of the championship in 2001.

01:11:57Bernie looked at me and said yes possibly.

01:12:00And for Bernie Ecclestone that is quite a forceful comment.

01:12:04Certainly is.

01:12:05Well it would return us to the days of when the U.S. Grand Prix was at the Glen in October.

01:12:10A little late in the year there.

01:12:11Talk about a circuit where it would always rain.

01:12:14But in Indianapolis the weather is a little better than it is in upstate New York.

01:12:18At least a good part of the year.

01:12:22Well D.C.'s having himself quite a day.

01:12:27Absolutely magnificent day for him.

01:12:29Hakanen is actually inching in on him.

01:12:31He's got two seconds back on him now.

01:12:33David's going to have to start pushing a bit.

01:12:35Because if Mika stays back there's no way that David can just slacken off to let Mika go through.

01:12:39Mika is getting quicker laps too.

01:12:41He got the quickest lap at a 53 something just now.

01:12:44So it shows that he's on a drive.

01:12:49And the trouble with having the flu as Kulthar does is it doesn't so much sap your strength or your ability to do things.

01:12:57But your endurance seems to really suffer.

01:13:00It isn't that high an endurance circuit fortunately for them.

01:13:03The G-forces aren't that dramatic around this circuit compared to others.

01:13:06Of course they pull G.

01:13:07But it's nothing like, it's only really under braking.

01:13:10And it's through the corners that you get the G really tearing you apart.

01:13:14It isn't that bad because they run a relatively low downforce setup here.

01:13:21Well Mika Hakanen who the stewards absolved of any guilt of getting off the grid too early.

01:13:26But after that brush with Kulthar right down in La Source on the start of the race.

01:13:32Has been in 2nd the whole rest of the day.

01:13:34Hakanen has never won here.

01:13:36Finished 2nd in 94 and 3rd in 1996.

01:13:40Well I'm intrigued to know what Ron Dennis the team owner, team boss of McLaren is going to do.

01:13:45He's most adamant and most critical about Ferrari for having Ferrari drivers 1, 2 and other teams.

01:13:51And he says it shouldn't be so.

01:13:52Both the drivers should drive on their own merit.

01:13:54But of course it's going to be interesting to see what happens here with a very delicate situation.

01:13:58With Irvine in the lead of the championship.

01:14:00And Hakanen lying 2 points just behind.

01:14:02Whether he's going to let David get valuable winners points if that is the situation at the end of this race.

01:14:08Long way to go mind you.

01:14:10Well if not you'd think that Dennis is confident enough to think that in the scheme of the entire season.

01:14:15With 4 races to go after today.

01:14:17The 4 point difference between 1st and 2nd would end up being negligible in the grand scheme of things.

01:14:23That he could afford to let Kulthar go ahead and have those 4 points.

01:14:27Rather than Hakanen.

01:14:28I think that's quite a gamble.

01:14:30I think it is a gamble.

01:14:31But one that Ron Dennis has got to keep his mouth shut about.

01:14:34And get on and just let the guys sort it out.

01:14:36And that's what he said they will do.

01:14:38They're equal number 1's.

01:14:39And they will remain so next year.

01:14:41Which of course Tamika Hakanen is a bit tough.

01:14:43He's earning much more money than David.

01:14:45And of course he's world champion.

01:14:47Well they're all kinds of equal aren't they?

01:14:49Yeah.

01:14:50Except his pit stops are equal when he comes in for his last stop.

01:14:54Assuming he does.

01:14:55BAR is the only team not to stop.

01:14:57They are now laying out for Jacques Villeneuve who is now in the pit lane.

01:15:03So at lap 26.

01:15:05Here is Villeneuve.

01:15:08A bad crash Friday.

01:15:10When the lower front wishbone.

01:15:12The lower front control arm.

01:15:13It's made of carbon fiber.

01:15:15And the adhesive that bonds the 2 pieces together.

01:15:19Failed.

01:15:20He had a bad crash.

01:15:21And you saw the crash he had in qualifying yesterday.

01:15:25Crash and flip at the barrier.

01:15:28So Villeneuve is back out.

01:15:29Now they had cars ready.

01:15:31On the way to test.

01:15:33A transporter with 2 cars.

01:15:35To Monza.

01:15:36They reached the transporter by radio.

01:15:39Turned them around.

01:15:40And late last night.

01:15:41Both those BAR cars arrived.

01:15:43Here in Belgium.

01:15:45And those are the cars being used today.

01:15:48Are the cars with which they planned to test next week.

01:15:51And no doubt the drivers have been told.

01:15:53Please bring them home.

01:15:54Because we won't get a test at Monza.

01:15:56We've ruined this race already.

01:15:57So let's just make the most of Monza.

01:15:59By having the cars ready for the test.

01:16:02Frentzen finished 3rd here in 1997.

01:16:05His best at Belgium.

01:16:06Started 3rd today.

01:16:08Running 3rd.

01:16:10That may sound uneventful.

01:16:11But it's not.

01:16:13Frentzen had a chance.

01:16:14Coming out of La Source on the first lap.

01:16:16To steal the lead.

01:16:18And nearly did.

01:16:19Just a lovely view of La Source hairpin.

01:16:21The new pits on your left.

01:16:22The old pits just beneath us now.

01:16:24As the cars come down to Eau Rouge.

01:16:26Spa in fact is the oldest circuit.

01:16:28On the Formula 1 circuit.

01:16:30As they say.

01:16:31First race here was at 1921.

01:16:34And there have been 46 Belgian Grands Prix.

01:16:36And this is a 34th at Spa.

01:16:40What a wonderful place.

01:16:41But there have been some horrific incidents here.

01:16:43Just to put things into perspective.

01:16:44Of the safety of Formula 1 these days.

01:16:47Here we go. Some of the tracks.

01:16:48Spa was used 34 times.

01:16:50Zolder was used 10 times.

01:16:52Nivelles.

01:16:53A very flat boring circuit.

01:16:54Was only used twice.

01:16:57Spa was stopped as the Grand Prix circuit.

01:16:59Back some in the late 60s.

01:17:02Because of the terrific accidents that were here.

01:17:05Once an awful tragic day.

01:17:08Two drivers.

01:17:09Chris Christophe and Alan Stacey.

01:17:10Both got killed.

01:17:11And Sterling Moss and another driver.

01:17:13Both got taken to hospital.

01:17:15Separate incidents.

01:17:16I mean what a horror show.

01:17:18How much Formula 1 has improved over the years.

01:17:20Thank goodness.

01:17:22Olivia Penny is in Derek.

01:17:24Here at lap 27.

01:17:25And that begins the second stop.

01:17:28Penny was the first driver to make a pit stop in the race.

01:17:31At lap 12.

01:17:34So his first is in for its second stop of the day.

01:17:46But what of Eddie Irvine?

01:17:48Is the wind out of his sails?

01:17:50I mean I think Irvine has done a tremendous job.

01:17:53Picking up the gauntlet after Schumacher's crash.

01:17:56Taking the lead in the World Championship.

01:17:58And winning.

01:17:59But these last two races have just not been his finest hours.

01:18:02It makes you...

01:18:03Where I sort of...

01:18:04In the back of my mind it's coming to me that...

01:18:06That basically Irvine had the carry-on of Michael Schumacher.

01:18:11And when they went to the Austrian Grand Prix.

01:18:14Had Michael Schumacher set up for him.

01:18:16When they went to the German Grand Prix.

01:18:17He still had some of it.

01:18:18They got here.

01:18:19Hungary.

01:18:20Each race he's got slower and slower.

01:18:22Because of the Michael Schumacher influence has been less.

01:18:24I feel.

01:18:26So here's Damon Hill.

01:18:28Giving up fifth place.

01:18:31And Johnny Herbert's off.

01:18:34That's at the top of the hill too.

01:18:35I have a feeling.

01:18:37At the top of Eau Rouge.

01:18:39He was pressing on very, very hard indeed.

01:18:41In tenth place.

01:18:42Not a good weekend for Ford.

01:18:44Now let's see what happens.

01:18:45Oh, he loses it.

01:18:46Coming in under braking.

01:18:47It isn't Eau Rouge at all.

01:18:48I apologize for that.

01:18:50But he really lost it.

01:18:51Just turning into the right and left hander.

01:18:54Just after Pouhon.

01:18:56That is the left and...

01:18:57I'm sorry.

01:18:58Right and left hander.

01:18:59Immediately after Pouhon.

01:19:01It's actually Paul Fein.

01:19:02F-A-G-N-E-F.

01:19:03Or as you're really interested.

01:19:04He loses under braking.

01:19:05He keeps it locked up all the way through the corner.

01:19:07But can do nothing about it.

01:19:08And this is the problem.

01:19:09With these grooved tyres.

01:19:10A slick tyre.

01:19:11You could have managed to slow them down.

01:19:13You could have managed to slow the car down.

01:19:15Much more before you went off.

01:19:16Because of course.

01:19:17There is less rubber on the road.

01:19:20He manages to avoid the wall.

01:19:22But not to get restarted.

01:19:26So, 28 laps are complete.

01:19:28The McLarens lead.

01:19:29Coulthard and Håkonen.

01:19:30Frensens.

01:19:31Jordan is third.

01:19:32We'll be right back.

01:19:33Welcome back to Fox Sportsnet coverage of the Grand Prix of Belgium.

01:19:44Mike Joy with Eric Bell and Peter Windsor.

01:19:47Watching the great battle here for fifth place.

01:19:51Between Mika Salo and Ralf Schumacher.

01:19:55Now, we saw replays of two different incidents involving Johnny Herbert.

01:19:59The first was where he spun off the course.

01:20:01Managed to drive away.

01:20:02At the top of the hill.

01:20:03And then he ended up crashing at the bottom of the hill.

01:20:06So, a tough day for Herbert.

01:20:08He is out of race.

01:20:09Joining Tora Takagi and Pedro Diniz.

01:20:16Ralf looking to the inside there.

01:20:18Wondering if he can just make it go on Mika Salo.

01:20:21Salo not having the greatest of days in the Ferrari.

01:20:24Don't quite know what the problem is there.

01:20:26But as I said earlier.

01:20:27I still have a feeling it's to do with the Michael Schumacher factor.

01:20:30And he's not there to make this car work.

01:20:32And, of course, the car was built around him.

01:20:35Give a call to Zanardi there on screen.

01:20:37Alex Zanardi is up to seventh place.

01:20:40And he is in the T-car.

01:20:42After having brake problems with his own.

01:20:44And the T-car was set up for his teammate, Ralf Schumacher.

01:20:47Take you through the leaders.

01:20:48Coulthard, Hocken and in second.

01:20:50That's the way they've run all day.

01:20:53Heinz-Harald Frentzen started third.

01:20:55Runs third for Jordan.

01:20:56Eddie Irvine.

01:20:58Fourth for Ferrari.

01:20:59Not the result they wanted.

01:21:01And you're watching Mika Salo.

01:21:03In fifth for Ferrari.

01:21:06Trying to hold off Ralf Schumacher.

01:21:08And it looks like Zanardi is closing in on this battle.

01:21:11Well, because Salo is holding them up, of course, Mike.

01:21:13And that's all allowing Alex to come up.

01:21:15And look better than probably he has been running.

01:21:17But he's still nonetheless running in a very, very fine seventh place.

01:21:21Well, McLaren have the luxury of eight seconds first to second.

01:21:24And a total of 30 seconds back to the third-place car of Frentzen.

01:21:28So, McLaren is setting up for a stop.

01:21:30And here comes Mika Hocken.

01:21:34This is at lap 30.

01:21:35Hocken in second stop of the day.

01:21:45Pulled ahead.

01:21:46Looked like he was going to make it.

01:21:49Pulled ahead.

01:21:50Looked like he stopped quickly and then took off again.

01:21:56So, a seven-second stop for Mika.

01:22:10Salo continuing to lead.

01:22:12Schumacher.

01:22:14And Zanardi, who's within two seconds of him.

01:22:17Amazing that Hackenden should come in so soon.

01:22:19A very early pit stop for him after something like 12 laps.

01:22:23It was a nice ride with Frentzen.

01:22:28This is Lecombe at the top of the hill.

01:22:40This is Rivage.

01:22:47Bah, bah, bah.

01:22:53This is Pouhon.

01:23:02Into Fane. He's doing 190.

01:23:12And Coulthard is in. Ferrari is setting up.

01:23:15Down to Stableau.

01:23:23Here's Coulthard in for his second stop at lap 32.

01:23:26Alex Zanardi came in last lap, lap 31.

01:23:28They made a front wing adjustment on Zanardi.

01:23:33Good stop by McLaren. Super stop.

01:23:36David, my goodness, he's really on the charge today.

01:23:41It seems so slow at 50 miles an hour.

01:23:44It is.

01:23:48Could be Frentzen in.

01:23:51Damon was in at lap 28, so this should be Frentzen.

01:23:54And he had moved up into second place with Hackenden's pit stop.

01:24:01So at lap 32, Frentzen is in and Eddie Irvine is in as well.

01:24:06For Ferrari.

01:24:15A little slower stop for Irvine.

01:24:19Tenths of a second just fly by, don't they?

01:24:24All that effort on the track lost in the pits.

01:24:26Whoa, look, he comes out just ahead of Mikasa.

01:24:28Oh, Eddie, be careful now.

01:24:31He put his teammate off there. That would be down a while, wouldn't it, for Ferrari?

01:24:34Especially as Saal is beginning to pull away from Ralf Schumacher.

01:24:38Barrichello is in for Stewart.

01:24:41He lapsed off at lap 17, so he's in also at lap 32.

01:24:45And Damon Hill just got by Zanardi.

01:24:50But Damon's in seventh place, Zanardi back to eighth.

01:24:55Now Eddie, of course, needs a clear road because he's got fresh tires.

01:24:58He can do a job in Saal. Don't let him go through.

01:25:01Good move by Mikasa there.

01:25:04And is he going to continue to test for them the rest of the year?

01:25:07Well, there's a possibility because he's going to drive for Sauber next year.

01:25:10And, of course, a Sauber run, Ferrari-badged engines under the name of Petronas.

01:25:15It would be logical for him to stay on.

01:25:17He's obviously quite a good test driver, or Ferrari thinks so.

01:25:19Or certainly a quick one.

01:25:21And so they'll keep him on.

01:25:22That way, of course, they've got two cars.

01:25:24They've got two cars.

01:25:25They've got two cars.

01:25:26They've got two cars.

01:25:27They've got two cars.

01:25:28They've got two cars.

01:25:29They've got two cars.

01:25:30They've got two cars.

01:25:31And so they'll keep him on.

01:25:32That way, of course, they've got somebody who races with a Ferrari engine

01:25:35and also works on the Ferrari test drivers.

01:25:37He works both ways.

01:25:40Saal started the season without a ride.

01:25:42Rather than accept one that he felt inferior, he had offers, declined them.

01:25:47And he's turned into super sub.

01:25:50First for Riccardo Zonta and now for Michael Schumacher.

01:25:53It is a pity, of course, he wasn't benefiting from some of the Schumacher, I think,

01:25:58help or setting up factors because he's not run that well the last couple of races.

01:26:03A wonderful driver, of course, at Hockenheim when he had to give up victory to Eddie Irvine.

01:26:07But, Derek, with these cars, are Schumacher's setups of any value to Mika Salo

01:26:13or are the driving styles that different?

01:26:15Apparently they're fairly similar.

01:26:18But I think the fact is that, of course, it's that Michael sets the car up for each track.

01:26:23And that makes the difference.

01:26:24And then I believe Eddie utilizes those figures too.

01:26:27Watching Minardi getting way out of control, turning into the bus stop by the look of it,

01:26:31running right across the green stuff.

01:26:32Oh, look at that as he hits the kerb.

01:26:34And even both cars virtually go off the road over the kerbs.

01:26:38First Badawer and then Genet.

01:26:53To the Ferraris now, fourth and fifth.

01:26:56Behind the McLarens and Frentzen's Jordan.

01:27:03With Ralph Schumacher sixth in the Williams.

01:27:0633 of 44 laps completed.

01:27:08Damon Hill just out of the points.

01:27:10Then Barrichello and Zanardi.

01:27:11We'll be right back.

01:27:16Welcome back to Fox Sportsnet coverage of the Grand Prix of Belgium.

01:27:21The car slows to a halt.

01:27:23That is Badawer.

01:27:24Perhaps all that bouncing over the kerbs took its toll.

01:27:29And he joins Johnny Herbert, Tora Takagi, Pedro Diniz out of race.

01:27:34The car looks very low on the road or on the grass.

01:27:36I think he must have damaged something when he clouded that kerb so hard and virtually took off.

01:27:41Micasalo is in at lap 33 for his second stop.

01:27:49That leaves, I believe, Ralph Schumacher.

01:27:51Of course, the Bennetons and Alessi.

01:27:54You may wonder why we have these speed limits, but it would become so dangerous with 18 mechanics working on one pit stop

01:27:59and cars flying in at unlimited speed.

01:28:01It would become very, very dangerous.

01:28:03We still have accidents now, even at the speed limits.

01:28:05That's what we have speed limits for in the pit lane.

01:28:09Well, it's not a bad rule.

01:28:10I think it's a very central rule.

01:28:14Then nobody gets an advantage by being an idiot, flying up the road at 150 miles an hour,

01:28:18which would happen in certain cases.

01:28:22Villeneuve looking.

01:28:24It's getting very sideways.

01:28:25The thing is, when the guy in front of you brakes later as well,

01:28:28you brake with him later, and you both turn in sort of all out of shape.

01:28:32But they're really having quite a go here.

01:28:35Of course, it is for 14th place, so I wouldn't get too excited.

01:28:38I'll remember Villeneuve's in a car that until this morning he had not driven.

01:28:43But they trucked in.

01:28:45After he had two bad crashes, one Friday, one Saturday.

01:28:54David Coulthard's led every lap.

01:28:58Zonta is off.

01:29:03And back on.

01:29:05Zonta is off.

01:29:09And back on.

01:29:15They're obviously having a minor problem there.

01:29:18David Coulthard's lead, incidentally, is up to 13.4 over Mika Häkkinen,

01:29:22which is just what he wants, because it's going to be difficult for Ron Dennis

01:29:25to give him team orders at this stage when he's actually easing away from his teammates.

01:29:32Ten laps to go.

01:29:34Looks like Zonta is going to make it all the way around to the pits.

01:29:38But at reduced speed.

01:29:39Another BAR failure.

01:29:43Remember, they're running the Renault mechachrome engines this year.

01:29:45Next year, they'll be running Honda engines.

01:29:47The same, we hope, as Eddie Jordan,

01:29:49although Jordan supposedly is having Mugen Honda engines and not Honda.

01:29:52But I don't know why Honda would have gone to BAR rather than to Jordan

01:29:57after the wonderful effort that Jordan's put in this year and last year.

01:30:02Promise him anything.

01:30:03That's right, there must be something in it.

01:30:04There's Ron Dennis looking at the times up on the screen.

01:30:07The head of McLaren.

01:30:12Incredible drive by David Coulthard, one has to say.

01:30:15We give him a lot of hard time.

01:30:16A lot of fans give him a hard time.

01:30:18Mika Häkkinen fans as well say the guy just isn't up to it.

01:30:21But you put David in front, he's rather like Damon Hill,

01:30:24and he can do an amazing job when he's in front.

01:30:26But you stick him behind people.

01:30:27Mika tearing off at one of his tear-offs on his Biden

01:30:30so he gets better vision for the last few laps to see if he can go quicker too.

01:30:33But David has certainly proved that when he's in front, he's pretty good.

01:30:37And Damon used to do the same, but not very good in traffic.

01:30:40And I think the other teammates know that person's not good in traffic.

01:30:43Don't you, Mike?

01:30:44Yes, they're able to take advantage of him as you see Zonta climb out.

01:30:51And Villeneuve is still in hopes of finishing his first race.

01:30:54He is 15th, battling Alexander Burt.

01:30:59Kulthar could afford to take back off a second a lap,

01:31:02and still Mika Häkkinen wouldn't get by him.

01:31:04Yep.

01:31:06A new show coming to Fox Sports Net is NFL This Morning.

01:31:10It premieres Sunday, September 12th at 11 a.m. Eastern,

01:31:14one hour prior to our next Formula 1 telecast.

01:31:17Chris Myers, Jackie Slater, and Marv Levy will preview

01:31:20today's NFL action starting September 12th.

01:31:23If the race finished in the order that it is now,

01:31:25which is a kiss of death to anybody,

01:31:26Häkkinen would go away with a one-point lead over Eddie Irvine.

01:31:30Quite an interesting little gem there for you, Mike.

01:31:33And the pole sitter has not won here since 1991.

01:31:37It doesn't look like it's going to today, and I'm very, very surprised.

01:31:40Well, Ayrton Senna.

01:31:41And that was Ayrton Senna.

01:31:42Michael Schumacher, of course, has won it, what, four times, three times since then.

01:31:48Well, Mika, his record of having never won here is apparently going to stay intact.

01:31:53Second in 94, and here five years on, racing for second place.

01:31:5813.8 seconds behind David Coulthard at 36 laps complete.

01:32:04I have to modify my comment.

01:32:05Michael's actually won four times here.

01:32:07I forgot in 92 Michael also won.

01:32:09His first race here, his first race in Formula 1 was with Benetton.

01:32:14He won in 92 with Benetton.

01:32:17But he actually came and he drove for Eddie Jordan, I think I'm right in saying.

01:32:20Did I, in 91, 92?

01:32:23He qualified seventh.

01:32:25Because he stood in for the young man that hurt him.

01:32:28That got locked up in prison for spraying mace over a taxi driver in London.

01:32:32And he stood in for him, went out and got seventh position.

01:32:35Next year comes back with Benetton and wins.

01:32:37That's right, it was with Jordan.

01:32:40Well, Coulthard is also, of course, Damon Hill is the only driver in this race who has won here.

01:32:45Coulthard's looking for his first win.

01:32:48His best finish here, fourth, in 1994 for David.

01:32:55Crenson, 21 seconds back of Mika.

01:33:00And Eddie Irvine a further 10 seconds back.

01:33:02David's 15 seconds pulled away all the time now.

01:33:06This will be no team orders, I feel, this weekend.

01:33:08It's going to be a little bit too blatant if he backs off now.

01:33:11Oh, jeez.

01:33:12Here we go, over the curbs again.

01:33:14This is David.

01:33:16I'm sure you're right about that because it's written on his helmet.

01:33:19That wasn't my first clue.

01:33:27Coulthard continues to lead as we come to complete 37 laps.

01:33:31And the retirees increase here in the Grand Prix of Belgium.

01:33:39Welcome back to the Belgian Grand Prix.

01:33:41Pedro de la Rosa was the car being pushed away out of the race when we last were with you.

01:33:49Chris Myers hosts the show.

01:33:51The critics call it 60 minutes of sports TV.

01:33:53Going deep is Sundays at 9 p.m. on Fox Sportsnet.

01:33:57Interesting dice going on there.

01:33:59Very close between Ralf Schumacher in fifth place, Damon Hill in sixth.

01:34:02Mika Salo in seventh.

01:34:04Zanardi right close behind Mika Salo.

01:34:06And John Elasi not far behind Zanardi.

01:34:08So there's quite an interesting little group there.

01:34:10They're a couple of seconds apart, three seconds apart.

01:34:12But it's nonetheless interesting.

01:34:13David Coulthard drops to tenth on that lap to Mika Hakkinen.

01:34:17But I don't blame him.

01:34:18With only eight laps to go, I think I'd be probably backing off a tenth or two.

01:34:22And the best battle on the racetrack continues to be Alexander Wurz and Jacques Villeneuve.

01:34:27They're virtually nose to tail.

01:34:29Even though it's for 14th place, Villeneuve trying to finish his first race of the season.

01:34:35Yes, after this weekend, it'll be quite magnificent for him.

01:34:38Frenzen having another quiet, not quiet, should I say, quiet on the road, but nonetheless in the cockpit.

01:34:43Pretty frenetic, I'm sure, as he goes through Blanchimont, that incredible 185 mile an hour corner.

01:34:50Up into the bus stop.

01:34:51Quietly behind there and having his own race.

01:34:55Eddie Irvine's 11 seconds behind him.

01:34:58And he in turn is 21 seconds behind Mika Hakkinen.

01:35:02Locking up those points in the world championship.

01:35:06Well, Coulthard looking for his first triumph here, but looking for his second victory of the season.

01:35:11You see Mika Hakkinen's victories and those of Eddie Irvine.

01:35:15Four and three, two for Michael Schumacher.

01:35:18One for Heintal Frenzen.

01:35:21And David Coulthard, winner of his home Grand Prix, seeking his second of the season today.

01:35:32Frenzen's doing the same laps as Mika Hakkinen, although the best lap is some two seconds down or one and a half, three quarter seconds down on Mika's best.

01:35:51Which was that flyer that Mika had on the new tires after his start.

01:35:54Yeah, but of course, you know, they're 11 seconds apart.

01:35:56So Mika isn't necessarily pushing it and probably Frenzen isn't with a 21 second deficit.

01:36:05But amazing how Jordan got this car to work.

01:36:08Because when you think about it, they are a smaller team.

01:36:10They are sort of supposedly one of the mid race teams.

01:36:13And now they're right up there as one of the main players.

01:36:15Although in the races, they don't seem to feature quite as much.

01:36:19And now both drivers credited extra effort by the Mugen Group to produce a little more power for this race.

01:36:29They've started both cars on the second row and now run Frenzen in third and Damon Hill up to sixth in the points.

01:36:40Damon will be very happy with that.

01:36:41Remember, this is Damon's last year.

01:36:45Four races to go after this and the guy's going to retire.

01:36:48Sad moment for him, but one I think he realizes that, you know, the writing is on the wall.

01:36:53He is the oldest one driver in Formula One at the moment.

01:36:58And Hill is the defending champion of this race.

01:37:00I think all of us felt in the second half of the season, if he had a chance to win, this would be the place.

01:37:07Frenzen just nipped him in qualifying by what?

01:37:09Three, four one hundredths of a second, giving Damon odds, even chances with Frenzen for the day.

01:37:16But presently they run in third and sixth.

01:37:21Ferrari with Irvine fourth and Mika Salo seventh would get three constructor points,

01:37:28while McLaren for the second week in a row would pile on the maximum of 16 for first and second place.

01:37:40We've got a few laps to go, but the last time McLaren won here was in 91

01:37:44and it was a one-two, so it would be brilliant if they could manage that this time.

01:37:50There's the old circuit on your left.

01:37:52They're rolling in from the right-hand side there for a new circuit, working their way up towards Blanchimont.

01:37:58Here's Blanchimont, the entry.

01:38:00He just doesn't look so demanding when you see it on TV.

01:38:03It's terrible in a race car.

01:38:05There's Burts and Villeneuve continuing their battle.

01:38:07They've been just a couple of car lengths apart for about the last 10 or 15 laps,

01:38:12but now David Coulthard will have to pick his way carefully past these two

01:38:17if they continue to battle for position.

01:38:22Well, the team is telling David to take it easy and he better had,

01:38:24because he's got two guys battling it out in front of him.

01:38:27He doesn't want to get involved in that too much.

01:38:29They should let him by quite easily with four laps to go,

01:38:32but he's got to take it easy and get the overtaking done in the best parts of the row of the circuit,

01:38:37as he's keeping it very clean coming up the hill.

01:38:41Well, Burts has now pulled a second on Jacques Villeneuve,

01:38:43which may make Coulthard's task just a bit easier.

01:38:46We'll see.

01:38:47He's letting him by, look.

01:38:49Very sportsmanlike gesture.

01:38:51You could see a definite decrease in Villeneuve's speed to let Coulthard through prior to the corner.

01:38:56And he pulled over onto the slow line. That's not usually done.

01:38:58Usually you say, if you want to go by, boy, you go down to the inside and let me have the clean line.

01:39:03So now Coulthard to catch up Alexander Burts, who is running in 14th.

01:39:14I wonder how Jacques feels.

01:39:16World champion two years ago, and here he is.

01:39:19I think it's him with the fact that he's being lapped.

01:39:22Well, but he's probably happy just to finish the race.

01:39:25Yeah, I would say.

01:39:26He's at a point now where he needs to set his goals one race at a time,

01:39:30and VAR's goal is to finish.

01:39:32Yeah, well, they've got to.

01:39:33Next year, they'll be running the Honda engines, which will have substantially more power.

01:39:38But the disappointing thing is for them is that they are running the same engines as Ralf Schumacher,

01:39:43and that is the Renault engine, basically the mechachrome super tech engine.

01:39:49And there's Ralf Schumacher up in 5th and Zanardi in 8th position.

01:39:53So they could be up there.

01:39:54It means the car is just not up to it either.

01:39:56There's been a lot of battling within VAR as well during the year.

01:39:59A lot of dissension, a lot of upset.

01:40:01Not happy at all with Adrian Reynaud, who is the designer of the car.

01:40:05All right, Coulthard pulls down on Alexander Wurst to put him a lap down.

01:40:0939 laps complete, or rather 41 complete, 3 to go.

01:40:12We'll be right back.

01:40:16Three laps to go in the Belgian Grand Prix.

01:40:18David Coulthard has led every lap.

01:40:20Mika Hakkinen now 15 seconds off the lead.

01:40:24Heinz-Harald Frentzen a further 21 seconds back.

01:40:27Eddie Irvine, Ralf Schumacher, Damon Hill are in the points-paying positions.

01:40:32Then Mika Salo, Alec Zanardi, John Lacey, Rubens Barrichello the top 10.

01:40:39Johnny Herbert, as we saw retire early, that was his 140th Grand Prix.

01:40:44Sad way for him to finish out there.

01:40:47Incidentally, he was obviously driving for Stewart,

01:40:49and Ralf Schumacher had been offered $10 million to drive for Ford

01:40:53and whip him away from Frank Williams.

01:40:55Of course, with the Williams team, next year they'll be running BMW engines.

01:41:00And I feel, although they haven't run it yet in the Williams chassis,

01:41:06I think we should see great things from that team.

01:41:08But it will take a few races to get that combination going, I think.

01:41:15Well, the rumors of drivers continuing to move on,

01:41:19Herbert's ride was said to be in jeopardy.

01:41:23But Johnny told Peter that he has a two-year deal.

01:41:27It is not an option here. It's a pretty ironclad deal.

01:41:30And the buyout to get Johnny out of that second year was very, very huge.

01:41:35So it looks right now, and we're speculating,

01:41:38that Herbert's seat is safe at Stewart for next season.

01:41:42But after today, it might not be.

01:41:43Who knows?

01:41:44I have to just mention one thing,

01:41:45which I think is very important at this stage for American viewers.

01:41:49I've always been on about the fact that there isn't really a good driving system

01:41:53to bring drivers through into Formula 1 within the United States.

01:41:55And I believe for the Grand Prix here to work,

01:41:58we have to have American drivers on the team.

01:42:00Don't you think so, Mike?

01:42:01Yes, and Frank Williams has said that as well.

01:42:03Jackie Stewart has said that.

01:42:04That the American race fans,

01:42:07outside of the faithful who watch Formula 1 every week,

01:42:10they'd need an American driver to get excited about.

01:42:14So what is happening, I understand,

01:42:16there's a great possibility,

01:42:17as David Corker has come around to start his last lap,

01:42:19that there'll be a United States Formula 3 championship starting here

01:42:22in the not-too-distant future.

01:42:24There'll be no chassis restrictions,

01:42:26but he'll run the VW Volkswagen 8-valve 2-liter engine.

01:42:30I think that is great,

01:42:31because Formula 3 is the major breeding ground for young drivers in Europe.

01:42:36And I think it'd be great to have this compatibility

01:42:38between the two championships across the world.

01:42:41That'd be tremendous.

01:42:43All of the road racing series in the United States

01:42:46either lead towards sports cars or lead towards cars.

01:42:50Well, we have Atlantic, which I think is a lovely series,

01:42:52wonderful car to drive,

01:42:53but doesn't really relate to any other class in Europe.

01:42:56Anyway, this is the last lap,

01:42:57and what a lap for David Coulthard.

01:43:00Historic for him, leading the race from start to finish,

01:43:03magnificent.

01:43:04Alex Zanardi on pace for his best finish of the season,

01:43:08and Jacques Villeneuve on pace for his first finish of the season.

01:43:13Yeah, I think he's probably backed out of it a little bit,

01:43:15trying to make sure that little car finishes.

01:43:18So David Coulthard looking for a flag-to-flag victory

01:43:21for McLaren Mercedes,

01:43:22which would put the maximum 16 points up on the board

01:43:26for the Constructors' Championship.

01:43:29Ferrari showing today how much they must miss Michael Schumacher,

01:43:33with Eddie Irvine placed in 4th, and Mika Salo in 7th.

01:43:40Height, Gerald Frentzen in 3rd.

01:44:04Waiting for Coulthard to come around,

01:44:10and pick up his second victory of the season.

01:44:16Well, I said after Hendry, I said,

01:44:17McLaren is back on a roll,

01:44:18and some of our emailers took me to task,

01:44:20but I think it's been clear that once McLaren got their reliability back,

01:44:23they were ready to go.

01:44:24They were ready to go.

01:44:25They were ready to go.

01:44:26They were ready to go.

01:44:27They were ready to go.

01:44:28They were ready to go.

01:44:29They were ready to go.

01:44:30They were ready to go.

01:44:31It's been clear that once McLaren got their reliability problems straightened out,

01:44:35that they would be the team to beat,

01:44:37and if they could go out and crush the opposition.

01:44:39And, Eric, for two weeks in a row, they've done just that.

01:44:41They certainly have,

01:44:42and to see the fact that Coulthard can just do it and beat Mika Hakkinen,

01:44:45I'm intrigued to know at the Drivers' Conference why,

01:44:48whether they ever open up and tell us.

01:44:49I'd like to see an elated David Coulthard, as I'm sure he'll be,

01:44:52but I'd like to see him stop being so politically correct

01:44:54and get on and tell us the real truth.

01:44:58No team orders from McLaren,

01:45:00even though Mika Hakkinen comes in here just two points out of the lead

01:45:03in the Drivers' Championship.

01:45:05Ron Dennis putting weight behind his words

01:45:08that his two drivers are equal, number one,

01:45:11that Coulthard led the charge out of the first corner

01:45:14and is going to drive on to victory with about a 15-second advantage.

01:45:20Mika's best lap was only one-tenth quicker than David's.

01:45:26What a wonderful lap this must be for David,

01:45:28and to win at Spa, there's something very special about it,

01:45:31this incredible circuit in the Ardennes Forest,

01:45:34and here he is sweeping up the hill now towards Blanchimont,

01:45:38as he sweeps through there for the last time,

01:45:40and he is going to win this race.

01:45:42And for the first time in ten years,

01:45:44someone other than Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher or Damon Hill

01:45:49will take the checkered flag in Spa,

01:45:51all of whom, of course, were world champions.

01:45:53And here he comes.

01:45:55What a great moment for David Coulthard.

01:45:57David Coulthard, winner of the Belgian Grand Prix.

01:46:00An immaculate race, truly immaculate race for him.

01:46:03Great teamwork, Hakanen coming in second.

01:46:07Great drive for Mika, still intrigued to know why he came second, not first.

01:46:12And now looking for Heinz-Harald Frentzen, the Jordan.

01:46:16He's some way behind as he works his way up to the bus stop.

01:46:23He's going to come home third, Eddie Irvine will be fourth,

01:46:26Ralf Schumacher fifth,

01:46:28and Damon Hill will pick up the final point.

01:46:34Irvine.

01:46:35He's working his way through the bus stop chicane.

01:46:37Much better day finishing than it started for Eddie.

01:46:40Most definitely, but I'm sure he thought he might get a fourth.

01:46:43But look at Ralf Schumacher, what a splendid drive from that young man,

01:46:46with a car with 80 horsepower less.

01:46:50And only some four seconds behind Irvine at the finish.

01:46:54And Damon Hill will come home sixth.

01:46:58And will go to the podium when we come back to Spa.

01:47:01You're watching Formula One on Fox Sportsnet.

01:47:08Welcome back to Spa, and you see from this high helicopter shot,

01:47:11what a beautiful circuit this is,

01:47:13nestled among the hillsides of the Ardennes Forest,

01:47:16where David Coulthard has scored a convincing

01:47:19green and checkered flag victory over Mika Hakanen,

01:47:21his McLaren teammate.

01:47:23Frenson, right where he started, it's where he finished third.

01:47:25Eddie Irvine salvages fourth for Ferrari.

01:47:27Ralf Schumacher, a fine run, and Damon Hill gets the final point.

01:47:33Mika Salo, seventh for Ferrari.

01:47:35Alex Zanardi, his best finish of the year, equaled.

01:47:38Alessi Barrichello, Fisichella, truly.

01:47:41And how about Jacques Villeneuve gets his first finish of the season?

01:47:44Absolutely superb there in 15th place.

01:47:46They must be over the moon.

01:47:48Well, the points shake up,

01:47:50and it has Mika Hakanen leading Eddie Irvine now by one point.

01:47:54David Coulthard, 14 points back of the lead.

01:47:56Frenson, 20 points out.

01:47:58Michael and Ralf Schumacher.

01:48:00And the constructors' points, well,

01:48:02Ferrari have been tougher from the top.

01:48:04McLaren have 106.

01:48:05Ferrari, 97.

01:48:06Jordan, 47.

01:48:07Williams, 24.

01:48:09Benetton, 16.

01:48:10And Stewart, 14.

01:48:12But on the climb for the car,

01:48:14there was just a brief perfunctory handshake

01:48:16that Mika Hakanen offered David Coulthard,

01:48:19and now they ascend the podium.

01:48:21Coulthard, Hakanen, and Heinz-Gerald Frensen.

01:48:24Yes, that magic word, teammates,

01:48:26doesn't seem to sort of come over in this shot at all,

01:48:29I must admit.

01:48:30The only one that's really happy is Heinz-Gerald Frensen, I reckon.

01:48:49He's got it.

01:48:50He's got it.

01:48:51He's got it.

01:48:52He's got it.

01:48:53He's got it.

01:48:54He's got it.

01:48:55He's got it.

01:48:56He's got it.

01:48:57He's got it.

01:48:58He's got it.

01:48:59He's got it.

01:49:00He's got it.

01:49:01He's got it.

01:49:02He's got it.

01:49:03He's got it.

01:49:04He's got it.

01:49:05He's got it.

01:49:06He's got it.

01:49:07He's got it.

01:49:08He's got it.

01:49:09He's got it.

01:49:10He's got it.

01:49:11He's got it.

01:49:12He's got it.

01:49:13He's got it.

01:49:14He's got it.

01:49:15He's got it.

01:49:16He's got it.

01:49:17He's got it.

01:49:18He's got it.

01:49:19He's got it.

01:49:20He's got it.

01:49:21He's got it.

01:49:22He's got it.

01:49:23He's got it.

01:49:24He's got it.

01:49:25He's got it.

01:49:26He's got it.

01:49:27He's got it.

01:49:28He's got it.

01:49:29He's got it.

01:49:30He's got it.

01:49:31He's got it.

01:49:32He's got it.

01:49:33He's got it.

01:49:34He's got it.

01:49:35He's got it.

01:49:36He's got it.

01:49:37He's got it.

01:49:38He's got it.

01:49:39He's got it.

01:49:40He's got it.

01:49:41He's got it.

01:49:42He's got it.

01:49:43He's got it.

01:49:44He's got it.

01:49:45He's got it.

01:49:46He's got it.

01:49:47He's got it.

01:49:48He's got it.

01:49:49He's got it.

01:49:50He's got it.

01:49:51He's got it.

01:49:52He's got it.

01:49:53He's got it.

01:49:54He's got it.

01:49:55He's got it.

01:49:56He's got it.

01:49:57He's got it.

01:49:58He's got it.

01:49:59He's got it.

01:50:00He's got it.

01:50:01He's got it.

01:50:02He's got it.

01:50:03He's got it.

01:50:04He's got it.

01:50:05He's got it.

01:50:06He's got it.

01:50:07He's got it.

01:50:08He's got it.

01:50:09He's got it.

01:50:10He's got it.

01:50:11He's got it.

01:50:12He's got it.

01:50:13He's got it.

01:50:14He's got it.

01:50:15He's got it.

01:50:16He's got it.

01:50:17He's got it.

01:50:18He's got it.

01:50:19He's got it.

01:50:20He's got it.

01:50:21He's got it.

01:50:22He's got it.

01:50:23He's got it.

01:50:24He's got it.

01:50:25He's got it.

01:50:26He's got it.

01:50:27He's got it.

01:50:28He's got it.

01:50:29He's got it.

01:50:30He's got it.

01:50:31He's got it.

01:50:32He's got it.

01:50:33He's got it.

01:50:34He's got it.

01:50:35He's got it.

01:50:36He's got it.

01:50:37He's got it.

01:50:38He's got it.

01:50:39He's got it.

01:50:40He's got it.

01:50:41He's got it.

01:50:42He's got it.

01:50:43He's got it.

01:50:44He's got it.

01:50:45He's got it.

01:50:46He's got it.

01:50:47He's got it.

01:50:48He's got it.

01:50:49He's got it.

01:50:50He's got it.

01:50:51He's got it.

01:50:52He's got it.

01:50:53He's got it.

01:50:54He's got it.

01:50:55He's got it.

01:50:56He's got it.

01:50:57He's got it.

01:50:58He's got it.

01:50:59He's got it.

01:51:00He's got it.

01:51:01He's got it.

01:51:02He's got it.

01:51:03He's got it.

01:51:04He's got it.

01:51:05He's got it.

01:51:06He's got it.

01:51:07He's got it.

01:51:08He's got it.

01:51:09He's got it.

01:51:10He's got it.

01:51:11He's got it.

01:51:12He's got it.

01:51:13He's got it.

01:51:14Ladies and gentlemen, welcome and congratulations to the top three drivers at the 1999 Belgian

01:51:17Grand Prix.

01:51:18David Coulthard, Viggo Hakkinen and Heinz-Ard Frentzen.

01:51:21David, great victory, crushing victory, but a very aggressive start.

01:51:25Talk us through that first corner.

01:51:27Well, before the actual red light went out, Mika moved and I almost moved with him as

01:51:33a reaction.

01:51:34And then when the lights went out properly, he made a not very good start, I made a better

01:51:38start and, you know, naturally came over to defend what I could take on the line.

01:51:43And I realised it was still going to be close.

01:51:45I opened up a little bit and there was a little bit of contact, but there wasn't any damage

01:51:49there.

01:51:50So you actually touched it?

01:51:51Yeah, so we touched just as we were turning towards, but then I turned away to make room

01:51:55so we didn't, you know, damage him.

01:51:57Now you're much faster than Mika in the first stint and the rest of the race it's really

01:52:00even.

01:52:01Was it just because you were pushing early on?

01:52:02I don't, you know, I don't know.

01:52:03I was surprised I was pulling away from Mika.

01:52:05I don't know if he had some damage to his car from the contact or whether he had some

01:52:10but pretty much it was easy to pull away and then just try and maintain the gap until my

01:52:16last stop.

01:52:17Now, when you won in Silverstone, you did mention the fact that the two contenders were

01:52:20going out of that race due to accidents and problems.

01:52:22Does it give you more satisfaction to win here at the driver circuit?

01:52:25Absolutely.

01:52:26It's always been my favourite track and I've never won here in any of the formulas I've

01:52:29raced.

01:52:30So to finally win here is great.

01:52:32So to win Silverstone this year and then Spa, it's, you know, two big circuits for me.

01:52:36Dave, thanks very much.

01:52:38Mik, we've heard David's version of those first few yards.

01:52:40How did you see the first corner?

01:52:42I knew you were going to ask that first but I understand it is a start obviously.

01:52:45So it was the experience again.

01:52:50Not very pleasant but no further comments to be honest.

01:52:55But in general, I think the race itself, how it went, like, you know, when you have two

01:53:02very competitive cars, equal speed, overtaking them is something which is not, something

01:53:09what I should consider at that point.

01:53:12So, and try to stay close to David, you know, doesn't make any sense either because the

01:53:19engine doesn't cool very well at that moment.

01:53:22You take unnecessary risks because you don't have the best possible downforce in the car.

01:53:27So that moment is better just to drop and concentrate for your race and able to score

01:53:33in the best what you can have.

01:53:36And what moment was the best possible to score is the second position which is obviously

01:53:40if there's a championship.

01:53:43It's better than nothing what could happen in the first corner.

01:53:47But like I said, you know, I think at the moment we're equal points with Eddie.

01:53:56I understood he was fourth.

01:53:59So that makes the situation interesting further on in the season.

01:54:06Just going back a bit, what actually happened on the start line?

01:54:09Yeah, I had a slight problem there, you know.

01:54:16When the lights went on and all the lights were burning, you know, you want to feel the

01:54:22clutch where it is.

01:54:23The clutch grabbed very quickly and the car moved.

01:54:28Luckily, you know, I stopped the car completely that moment and put the clutch back in completely.

01:54:35And obviously that's normal.

01:54:37What happens is the light goes off that moment.

01:54:40I still was able to make a reasonable start, to be honest.

01:54:45And I was hanging there all the time, but that's it.

01:54:50Thanks, Mikko.

01:54:51You made a good start, kept your third position.

01:54:53Then the two McLarens went away from you.

01:54:55The rest of the field came behind you.

01:54:57It seemed like a very, very quiet race.

01:54:58Is that how you saw it?

01:54:59Yes.

01:55:00Yes, indeed.

01:55:01I mean, I felt a little bit sorry for the spectators.

01:55:04At least in the front, we couldn't make or couldn't have an interesting fight.

01:55:09Actually, at the start, I was quite confident that Mikko would get a penalty.

01:55:15But unfortunately, he didn't for me.

01:55:21I think the system is activated in a certain moment.

01:55:26But I was quite happy to get away as well, because there was a little bit of confusion.

01:55:32And then I tried to do my own race, try to be as quick as possible and try to maintain my rhythm.

01:55:41I tried to follow Mikko as much as possible.

01:55:44But unfortunately, the McLarens were a bit too fast for us today.

01:55:49Thank you.

01:55:50Dave, you're now just 14 points behind Mikko, 13 behind Eddie.

01:55:53You must be now thinking about the World Championship.

01:55:56Not really, no.

01:55:57I'm thinking about the next race, because it's obviously those races that put you in contention for that.

01:56:03So I'll just go away, hopefully have a good test in Monza, and look forward to that race.

01:56:08Well, the next race obviously has the spectre for McLaren of Michael Schumacher's return.

01:56:12Is that going to affect how you prepare for the race?

01:56:15Not at all.

01:56:16We prepare to our best ability for every Grand Prix.

01:56:20Obviously, you can expect more competition when Michael's back.

01:56:23But we can't do any more than we're already doing.

01:56:28Well, Mika Hakkinen was an absolute model of Finnish restraint.

01:56:32We'll see what happens in two weeks' time at the Grand Prix of Italy on Fox Sportsnet.

01:56:36And we'll be right back.

01:56:38Welcome back to Belgium.

01:56:39Well, Derek, we've heard from both drivers.

01:56:41Does Mika Hakkinen have a right to be angry with his McLaren teammate, David Coulthard?

01:56:45Well, I wasn't driving the car, but David is on the right, on the front,

01:56:48one of those two cars coming in the corner.

01:56:50Mika comes down the inside, tries to get inside him, and of course he wanted to do so

01:56:54because they had this little deal that the driver that leads out of the first corner

01:56:57goes on to win the race, if that's the situation.

01:56:59I don't think Mika was correct at all in feeling that he was hard done by.

01:57:04He may feel that David could have left him a little more room, but that's hard to do,

01:57:08especially when you're trying to come out there and take the lead.

01:57:11So David Coulthard, who was the goat in last year's first lap crash

01:57:15that took out a record 13 cars,

01:57:18goes on to score a stunning wire-to-wire victory.

01:57:22Keith Alderman and Kevin Frazier have all the news highlights and scores

01:57:25nightly at 10 on Fox Sportsnet.

01:57:29And Eddie Irvine falls one point back of Mika Hakkinen

01:57:32in the chase for the World Championship.

01:57:34What will happen in two weeks' time?

01:57:36You'll find out Sunday, September 12th, here on Fox Sportsnet,

01:57:40about our coverage of the Grand Prix of Italy, noon, your local time.

01:57:44We'd like to hear from you.

01:57:46Send your emails, comments, or questions to formula1 at foxsports.net.

01:57:56Well, on to Italy, where Michael Schumacher returns to Ferrari.

01:57:59I know they can't wait to get him back.

01:58:01And in front of the Italian Tifosi should be outrageous.

01:58:04For Derek Bell and Peter Windsor, I'm Mike Choi, still on from Spa, Belgium.

01:58:10I'll see you next time.

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