The 1999 Australian Grand Prix (formally the LXIV Qantas Australian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 7 March 1999 at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia. The race, contested over 57 laps, was the first round of the 1999 Formula One season – the 50th World Championship season in the history of Formula One.
Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard dominated in practice and the opening stage of the race, but retired with technical problems - the new McLaren MP4/14 proved to be very fast but not yet reliable, a trait shared by a number of Adrian Newey designed cars. Michael Schumacher also had problems during this eventful race, which gave his Ferrari team mate Eddie Irvine the opportunity to take his first Grand Prix victory. He made no mistakes and beat Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Ralf Schumacher to the finish by a few seconds.
Read more about 1999 Australian Grand Prix: Standings After Grand Prix
Famous quotes containing the words australian and/or grand:
“Beyond the horizon, or even the knowledge, of the cities along the coast, a great, creative impulse is at work—the only thing, after all, that gives this continent meaning and a guarantee of the future. Every Australian ought to climb up here, once in a way, and glimpse the various, manifold life of which he is a part.”
—Vance Palmer (1885–1959)
“It is a grand thing to rise in the world. The ambition to do so is the very salt of the earth. It is the parent of all enterprise, and the cause of all improvement.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)