25 years on: Was 1999 F1's most exciting season?

In the wake of a somewhat one-dimensional 2023 season, an open contest in 2024 has served as a refreshing palate cleanser to those becoming frustrated with the staidness of a single team-driver period of dominance. Four different teams have won more than one race, and seven drivers have lapped up a carbonated grape-based product perched upon the top step of the podium.

Had it happened slightly earlier then Max Verstappen would be less of a lock for the drivers' title, but Red Bull's inability to get Sergio Perez firing on anything more than one cylinder has at least ensured that the constructors' standings look open. 

PLUS: Seven themes to watch for the rest of F1 2024

The only thing that the 2024 season is missing is a real madcap thriller, one of those races plunged into disarray by the whims of the Mad Hatter and Mother Nature uniting for a coalition of chaos. In other words, the kind of race where the podium is locked out by midfielders, an unfamiliar trio usually battling against the Q1 cut-off line rather than for outright silverware, after a series of unlikely events coalesce into a spectacular result. Once it has that, 2024 has one of the key remaining attributes needed to enter the pantheon of F1's Greatest Seasons.

Could it become the greatest season? It's hard to quantify something so subjective, but the predictability of the opening five races (sans Sainz's Melbourne triumph) rather suggested that a 2023 redux was on the cards. That it's not serves as some relief, but it'd be a much more open contest without the one-way traffic of the opening rounds.

What we're looking for here is thus: a start-to-finish championship battle, a plethora of thrilling races, memorable moments scattered throughout the calendar's run-time, and a smattering of surprise results underpinned by one virtually improbable affair.

With those criteria, let's discount some others: 2012 started off strongly with seven different winners in the opening seven races, but tailed off somewhat in the second half when Sebastian Vettel started winning everything. 1982 would be the answer had the on-track brilliance not been tainted by death and serious injury, and the off-track affairs not become politically toxic. 2010 has to be under consideration with a four-way title scrap but lacks the singular flight-of-fancy event, while 2021 might be had the aftermath not left a sour taste in the mouth. 1981 was also hotly contested, but again stunted by a fractious political environment, while 1997 is a strong contender that ended in iconic circumstances.

The current F1 season has drawn similarities to the 2012 campaign with multiple different winners but a Red Bull driver ultimately dominating

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

But 1999? It had everything one could possibly ask for: a championship battle that seemingly nobody wanted to win, unlikely title contenders, an even more unlikely winner, and a series of heroic performances from the era's midfielders and backmarkers. 

A disclaimer: this writer has biases towards the 1999 season, some of which have already been disclosed throughout his output at Autosport. This was the season in which the passing interest in watching cars go around a track developed into a fully-fledged addiction, one fed by general reference literature and an oft-rewound VHS copy of Murray's Formula 1 Celebration. There will be those reading this who view perhaps 1974 in the same light, and those who started with 2021 that deem it as the more favourable season. Under the tenuous veneer of it being 25 years later, however, one wishes to extol 1999's virtues in full.

But first, one should open with the hair in the soup: was 1999's title battle helped or hindered by Michael Schumacher's leg-breaking Silverstone incident? Without his accident at Stowe corner, Schumacher likely would have won 1999's title as defending champion Mika Hakkinen's efforts to retain his crown were laboured at best. That's not to say that they were all of the Finn's own making: his MP4/14 decided not to speed up after the safety car in Australia's season opener, and had two wheel-related incidents at Silverstone and Hockenheim to stunt his championship lead in either case. And then there were his own unforced indiscretions at Imola and Monza...

When Schumacher broke his leg and Hakkinen retired from the British Grand Prix, Irvine 'properly' joined the title race. A brace of wins at Austria and Germany, albeit the latter awarded thanks to substitute Mika Salo obeying orders to move over, brought the Ulsterman to the top of the championship standings

Without Schumacher to lead the line for Ferrari, Eddie Irvine admirably stepped up to the plate. After three years of effectively serving as the German's dogsbody at the Prancing Horse, albeit a role he accepted and was paid handsomely for, Irvine got his reward of a maiden win in the explosive Melbourne opener, standing upon a then-unlikely podium of himself, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, and Ralf Schumacher. The competitive order had been torn asunder Down Under; after breaking into what appeared to be an unassailable lead early on, the McLaren duo were both out before half distance, while Schumacher the Elder stalled off the line and spent his race outside of the top six. 

Some degree of normality ensued in the following five races, demonstrated by the tete-a-tete battle between Hakkinen and Schumacher. The McLaren driver won from pole at Interlagos, but shunted from the lead at Imola to help Schumacher clinch his first win of the year. Seeking a first title with Ferrari, Schumacher followed that up with another win at Monaco, but Hakkinen got two back at Barcelona and Montreal.

And then, if you'll imagine the next phrase rendered in Murray Walker's inimitable style, the title was blown wide open. 

Frentzen's triumph for Jordan in France stands out for its sublime performance as much for its shock factor

Photo by: Sutton Images

That Frentzen entered the picture even briefly was a surprise in itself, partly as the Monchengladbach native had endured a miserable couple of years at Williams, and partly as he was driving a Jordan. Eddie Jordan's army had improved hugely over the 1998 season after a gruelling start to the year and was firmly in the ascendancy over 1999, but it was still nonetheless remarkable to see the Irish squad - lesser-funded compared to the might of the manufacturers - genuinely take the fight to Ferrari and McLaren. 

Frentzen's breakthrough with Jordan came to pass at Magny-Cours when, in the wet, the team executed a one-stopper perfectly to ensure that he could make it to the end on fuel mileage. It completed something of a turnaround for Frentzen, who failed to thrive in the less-forgiving atmosphere at Williams but was rejuvenated among Jordan's more familial environs.

When Schumacher broke his leg and Hakkinen retired from the British Grand Prix, Irvine 'properly' joined the title race. A brace of wins at Austria and Germany, albeit the latter awarded thanks to substitute Mika Salo obeying orders to move over, brought the Ulsterman to the top of the championship standings. Sans command, Salo might have been on course for his first F1 victory, but Ferrari had to make the effort to back Irvine's unlikely title challenge and ensure he stood eight points clear of Hakkinen.

Hakkinen shook off the disappointment of his Hockenheim blow-out with victory at Hungary and second place at Spa, the latter being a result that he was noticeably displeased with as team-mate David Coulthard had won it after first-lap contact. This echoed their Austria collision, contact that handed Irvine a win at the McLaren duo's expense. Regardless, it moved Hakkinen back to the top of the standings, although he and Irvine were equal after Monza.

With a healthy lead over Frentzen at the Italian Grand Prix, Hakkinen infamously threw his car off the road at the opening chicane and became ensconced within the gravel. He blamed a mistake in shifting down to first rather than staying in second, locking the rears and spiralling into his ignominious slip off the road. And, despite his best efforts, he couldn't help but break down among the foliage - worried that his bid to defend his title might have slipped from his fingers.

In his favour, however, was a dire performance from Irvine. "We got out of jail here," Irvine remarked afterwards after finishing sixth, 16 seconds down on the third-placed Salo, as Ferrari looked the weaker of the two teams. Not having Schumacher was proving problematic, but the then-two-time champion was due to return in Malaysia after a six-race layoff. Assisting an Irvine title charge was not of any real interest to Schumacher, but a presumed effort to take the rest of the year off was apparently rumbled by an innocent phone call. Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo was greeted by Schumacher's daughter Gina-Maria when attempting to check in with his driver, only to be told that he was currently waylaid looking for his football boots.

Hakkinen broke down after fearing he'd thrown away the title spinning out of the lead at Monza

Photo by: Motorsport Images

But assist Schumacher did, as Irvine's failure to score at the Nurburgring helped Hakkinen back into the championship lead. Indeed, Schumacher did a worthy Irvine impression to help the Northern Irishman win in Malaysia, but could do little with Hakkinen in the lead of the Japanese Grand Prix. Even ceding second to Irvine, who was almost a lap down at the end of the race, wouldn't have helped.

Of course, there were suggestions that Ferrari didn't really want to help Irvine in the first place; he was off to Jaguar for 2000, and watching the #1 move to the outfit formerly known as Stewart was not in its interests. But Irvine hindered himself on occasion, and a combination of Ferrari-Irvine mishaps cost a points finish at the Nurburgring - a race that very much stood as 1999's jewel in the crown.

Frentzen could have become more than just an outside bet with victory at his home circuit, and he looked set to pounce on McLaren's over-eagerness to fit wet tyres to Hakkinen's for only a fleeting downpour, and Irvine barely being at the races. However, an "electrical issue" turned the race upon its head; Frentzen crawled out of the pits and came to a stop at the opening corner, although this was later explained as the German forgetting to turn his anti-stall device off post-stop. Rumours have since been abound that Jordan had endured a hiccup with a legal form of traction control, but such rumours remain unconfirmed...to a degree, at least.

Although McLaren and Ferrari provided the centrefold title scrap, one that their drivers ultimately struggled with, it was great to have Jordan and Stewart providing genuine challenges to them

Had he won, he'd have been almost level on points with Hakkinen and Irvine going into the final races. But the difficulty in the final races would have been greater for Jordan's effective one-car setup versus McLaren and Ferrari; Damon Hill's retirement tour was going poorly, and the 1996 champion almost quit a couple of times before the year was out. Perhaps with a job to do, Hill might have tucked into the final races with a smidgen more gusto, but parking a healthy car at the Japan finale ensured his drama-packed F1 career ended with a whimper.

Instead, Johnny Herbert claimed the surprise spoils at the zany Nurburgring race, as Stewart got his pitstop timings spot on for a heavier bout of rain later on. The Briton had started 14th, but came in for wets at the end of lap 35 (having gone long on 'slicks' - the tyres were then grooved - beforehand) which brought him out ahead of team-mate Rubens Barrichello and Prost's Jarno Trulli. And it all came Herbert's way: Coulthard stayed on dry tyres for too long and spun from the lead he'd assumed from Frentzen, Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella also fell off the road after leading for four laps, and Ralf Schumacher suffered a puncture moments after reclaiming the lead. Herbert, twice a winner in 1995, was not about to let a third victory escape his clutches - and managed the final 16 laps perfectly - although helped by the whopping 22 second gap to Trulli.

Barrichello was aggrieved for two reasons: firstly, he'd been with the Stewart team from its first season in 1997, and desperately wanted to break his duck with the team. He had half a chance in Brazil, but his desperate luck in front of his home audience came to bear as his Ford Cosworth engine elected to pop. The second irritation was produced by his inability to pass Trulli on the final lap, the two crossing the line separated by just two tenths. A Stewart 1-2 might have been more in demand, but one suspects the tartan-trousered Sir Jackie Stewart cared not as he was doused in champagne by his charges.

The feelgood race of the season was Herbert's win for Stewart at the Nurburgring

Photo by: Sutton Images

Although McLaren and Ferrari provided the centrefold title scrap, one that their drivers ultimately struggled with, it was great to have Jordan and Stewart providing genuine challenges to them. Jordan was bolstered by Mike Gascoyne's 199 design and a stronger Mugen-Honda engine, while Stewart's McLaren-influenced SF-3 was also helped by the greater reliability of its Cosworth-penned Ford engine. Not that it looked like it, of course, when both Stewarts went up in smoke on the Albert Park grid...

And the midfield action was equally as impressive. Williams and Benetton, after dominating the mid-1990s, were hamstrung by the Supertec-badged ex-Renault V10s at their disposal. While Ralf Schumacher and Fisichella provided hints of promise with points and podia, the 'Two Alexes' struggled to deliver: Alex Wurz's second full year in F1 fell flat, while Alessandro Zanardi's return from the States was hindered considerably by his inability to deal with the grooved tyre formula. 

And, among the lower midfield, BAR provided some comic relief at great expense to itself. Formed from British American Tobacco's purchase of Tyrrell and mixing the assets with Reynard, BAR offered bravado; chief designer Adrian Reynard suggested that the team should be aiming to win the Australia season opener. The team scored no points, with a car so unreliable that Jacques Villeneuve could probably gamble on a Sunday afternoon plane ticket home. Craig Pollock's team had managed to secure Villeneuve's services, owing to Pollock's role as the Canadian's manager, under the pretence that the Brackley-based team would become immediately competitive. Instead, it rocked the boat in ways it hadn't planned; a split livery concept revealed at its launch was blocked by the FIA, forcing the team to wrap up its 555 and Lucky Strike cigarette brands into a dual 'zip' livery.

Villeneuve didn't finish a race until the Belgian Grand Prix, in an incredible twist after he and team-mate Ricardo Zonta both shunted at Eau Rouge. In that 11-race retirement streak, Zonta had broken his hand, got replaced by Salo for three rounds, and still had three finishes in the meantime...

By contrast, both Arrows and Minardi managed a point each courtesy of two Spaniards; Pedro de la Rosa, who had dislodged Salo from the Arrows line-up on the eve of the season, clinched a point in the attritional (yet excellent) Australian Grand Prix, while Minardi's Marc Gene claimed sixth at the Nurburgring. And yet, Minardi could have had more; Luca Badoer's tragic retirement from fourth place led the Italian on his continued path as the most experienced driver never to score. 

There's one downside of 1999, however, and that's the Spanish Grand Prix: a race that offered so little in the way of action that a number of articles were written decrying the state of contemporary F1 racing. Per myth, only one successful pass took place in the 65-lap affair; the records show four, but regardless it led to a lot of criticism. Little did the authors know what would come to pass over the rest of the year.

And if our dear readers have the opportunity to revisit the 1999 season, let this be the support to our recommendation. The Australia and Nurburgring races were the real highlights, but every other round (except Spain) has a wealth of intrigue to spice up your day. All this, and soundtracked to a backdrop of screaming V10s. What more do you need?

Where does the 1999 F1 season rank in the all-time list?

Photo by: Andre Vor / Sutton Images