1999 European Grand Prix
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Frentzen stays out, as do Schumacher and Coulthard.
Salo is also going onto the wets, as Ferrari uses him to, pardon the pun, test the waters for Irvine. But he's in the pits for 38s...
Pit stop
Hakkinen's coming in! McLaren has decided to put Hakkinen on the wets as it's got very damp at the top of the circuit.
Schumacher and Coulthard's battle continues on, but this time Schumacher hangs on down the straight and steams past the Brit to claim third!
Fisichella has another off-moment - luckily Panis is too far away to clear the Italian.
It's Schumacher and Coulthard side by side! Coulthard holds third place, as the Supertec-powered Williams doesn't quite have the poke on the straight compared to the Mercedes-powered McLaren.
Rain
There's some rain! The coats and umbrellas are out.
Irvine finally gets past Fisichella, going too deep into the corner before the Bit-Kurve and lets the Ferrari squeak past. Irvine's now unleashed and goes a lot quicker.
Frentzen is just dictating the pace here, and Hakkinen doesn't seem to be able to make any further inroads into the German's lead. Meanwhile, Irvine is still stuck behind Fisichella.
Hakkinen is still within half a second of Frentzen here, with Coulthard and Schumacher still very much in this mix.
Fisichella somehow manages to hang on from Irvine again, holding the line into the opening corner to avoid the Northern Irishman's advances.
That's a very grey cloud, some kind of rain must be imminent...
It was Takagi rather than de la Rosa, and Zonta was also involved in that crash. Zanardi's car is out of the firing line, and he's out of the race.
Crash
That's Zanardi! He and de la Rosa were caught in a spin at the final corner - but it looks like the '98 CART champ is stuck.
Panis now has Villeneuve and Salo for company behind this enthralling battle between Fisichella and Irvine.
Fisichella hangs on in the chicane too, wise to Irvine's tricks a few laps before.
Fisichella is really under threat from Irvine here, and the Ferrari driver has a go at passing the Benetton ace at the hairpin - but Fisi holds on.
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The front four are all very close to each other - all within 1.5s.
Hakkinen has a small glance down the inside of Frentzen, having whittled the Jordan driver's lead down to half a second.
Schumacher doesn't quite have the pace to match the McLarens, but he's keeping tabs on them.
And, indeed, Irvine dispatches Panis at the chicane to collect sixth place.
Irvine is now on the back of Panis, having pulled out a good gap over the BAR of Villeneuve.
Panis has a really good look at Fisichella at the restart, as Coulthard is hustling Hakkinen as they both fight for crucial ground in the title race.
And the safety car's in, as Frentzen keeps his lead.
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And the safety car will come in at the end of the lap.
The current order, then, is as follows:
1. Frentzen, 2. Hakkinen, 3. Coulthard, 4. Ralf Schumacher, 5. Fisichella, 6. Panis, 7. Irvine, 8. Villeneuve, 9. Salo, 10. Alesi, 11. Barrichello, 12. Trulli, 13. Herbert, 14. de la Rosa, 15. Takagi, 16. Zonta, 17. Badoer, 18. Gene, 19. Zanardi
1. Frentzen, 2. Hakkinen, 3. Coulthard, 4. Ralf Schumacher, 5. Fisichella, 6. Panis, 7. Irvine, 8. Villeneuve, 9. Salo, 10. Alesi, 11. Barrichello, 12. Trulli, 13. Herbert, 14. de la Rosa, 15. Takagi, 16. Zonta, 17. Badoer, 18. Gene, 19. Zanardi
Diniz flips over on the opening lap after contact with Wurz at turn 2
Zanardi in the Williams took to the grass, but managed to avoid the colliding duo of Wurz and Diniz.
There's Diniz out of the car, he seems well - but that rollhoop has absolutely disappeared. He's a lucky lad, that Pedro.
So the Benetton of Wurz hit Hill, and Diniz was flipped, turned upside down.
Safety car
That's a safety car, then, as Diniz is being extricated from the car. Hill was also caught up in that fracas.
Wurz is out of the car, and Diniz is being rolled over - thankfully, you could see him moving around in the cockpit.
Crash
That's an upside down Sauber! That's Diniz, but the rollhoop has absolutely disintegrated!
Lights green
And we're away! Frentzen leads away from Hakkinen, as Coulthard attempts to clear his team-mate.
Frentzen rounds the final corner once more - hopefully, everybody will line up correctly.
Green flag
So Gene will be effectively placed at the back, as we have another formation lap - Frentzen leads away.
That looked like an Arrows in the wrong grid slot - it seems Gene's lined up in the wrong place.
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So we'll have a restart shortly after that bizarre moment - was that a problem with the lights? The front few drivers are wheeled back into place.
Lights green
It's a jump start! The lights never went out and both Frentzen and Hakkinen jumped the start - that's an aborted start.
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Frentzen's in his grid slot, then. We're almost ready to go.
By: Jake Boxall-Legge
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