Great Results Formula 1 Rewind

ENGINES REV

MUSIC: The Chain by Fleetwood Mac

ENGINES REV MORE FURIOUSLY

Hello and welcome to F1 Rewind, with the great Murray Walker,

and today we're talking about great results.

We're going to spool through three different decades, aren't we?

Starting with the '80s. 1982, Austria. Set the scene for us.

'82 season, Suzi, was amazing.

It was full of incident, from the beginning to the end.

Some of it good and some of it bad.

Right at the beginning of the season, the San Marino Grand Prix,

the two Ferrari drivers, Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi,

have a spat about who was going to win,

as a result of which, at the next race at Zolder in Belgium,

Gilles Villeneuve very sadly lost his life.

Then we had the Monaco Grand Prix, that amazing last lap,

when we had four different leaders, and Patrese came home to win.

In Germany, Didier Pironi had a terrible crash

and that was the end of his Grand Prix career.

And when we came to the Austrian Grand Prix, which was well

at the end of the season, Didier Pironi still led the championship.

We'd had eight different winners.

The turbo cars against the normally aspirated cars failed in that race.

For one reason or another, the turbos failed to get the job done.

And the last lap was a real nailbiter

because Elio de Angelis was leading in the Lotus,

and he was being caught very rapidly

indeed by Keke Rosberg, Nico Rosberg's father, in the Williams.

And then, when they went across the line,

5/100ths of a second separated them, with de Angelis winning.

-Fabulous.

-It doesn't get much closer than that.

Here it is, then, the 1982 Austrian Grand Prix.

-MURRAY WALKER:

-The Osterreichring has the most beautiful setting

of any Grand Prix circuit. But it's not just beautiful,

it's tremendously demanding, too,

for its 3.7-mile lap is hair-raisingly fast,

and makes really hard work for the drivers and for the tyres, too,

because of its unique combination of speed, and track surface.

The Osterreichring is tailor-made

for the increasingly dominant turbos,

so it's no surprise that Nelson Piquet is in pole position

with his Brabham-BMW, at a staggering 151.7 miles an hour.

3/10ths of a second faster than his team-mate, Riccardo Patrese.

Then, three more turbos.

Prost's Renault, Tambay's Ferrari,

and Arnoux's Renault,

with Rosberg's Williams the fastest non-turbo in sixth place.

And they're away. They're coming through from the back,

and Keke Rosberg, who has already...

And, there... There's some trouble, straight into the alcove.

Can't identify for the moment.

But as they surge away, let's have a closer look.

There's two cars identified there,

and a third one going off on the side,

a fourth joining from the pit road as he's gone out wide,

and we will identify as quickly as we possibly can.

We're looking at the track while I talk to you.

We can't see, but it looks already as though four cars

are out on lap one. Meantime, it's one of the Brabhams in the lead,

it's Piquet, Nelson Piquet, the reigning world champion,

followed by his team-mate, Riccardo Patrese,

and Piquet, as they're coming down towards the Bosch Kurve

with Prost in third position, then Tambay,

then Arnoux, the de Angelis, then Rosberg,

then Alboreto. And Derek Warwick is in about tenth position.

Rosberg made a terrific start from the third row of the grid

and he's very keen to do well today.

He is determined to win a Grand Prix before the end of the season

and accumulate as many points as possible,

but it's going to be a hard battle for him here against the turbos.

Although he qualified fantastically well.

And here is a replay of the start.

Now, let's try and identify the cars for you.

Yes, Rosberg you see on the top right-hand corner

of the picture made a terrific start.

Rosberg going up against the pit wall.

And just about now we've got a couple of cars...

Here we are, a collision, maybe it's an Alfa. Two Alfas colliding.

And there's a puncture on Tambay on the Ferrari.

He's trying to get the car around to the pits.

And Alboreto has hit the barrier, he's parked against it.

It looks like there's been some sort of action,

but we've missed the main excitement.

With Patrese now leading from Nelson Piquet,

we can see that Michele Alboreto is out. The leaders go past.

And in third position, it is Prost behind,

then Arnoux in fourth position.

de Angelis in the John Player Special is in fifth place.

In sixth place is Nigel Mansell,

seventh is Rosberg and, in eighth position,

it is Derek Warwick in the Toleman. Now, look at this.

You ought to see if the Brabhams have got it right.

They're building up at least a second per lap

increase in their lead.

And it's Patrese leading now from Piquet,

and Renault is holding on.

And that is Patrick Tambay into the pits.

And, as usual, they're changing not only the tyre that has been damaged,

but all the other three as well.

And to frenzied applause from the crowd,

Patrick Tambay in the V6 turbo charged Ferrari accelerates away,

a long way down,

and I wonder if we are now going to see an epic drive by the Frenchman.

And that is Teo Fabi in the Toleman,

who was in seventh position.

And Derek Warwick, too, is out of the race!

Well, this is appalling luck for the Toleman team because Teo Fabi

and Derek Warwick have gone out of the race on the same lap,

when we were hoping they were going to do so well.

And with Niki Lauda, number eight,

being followed by Nigel Mansell across the line, the order is

still Riccardo Patrese in the Brabham-BMW leading Nelson Piquet.

In third position it is still Prost.

In fourth position it is still Arnoux.

Fifth is Elio de Angelis. Sixth is Keke Rosberg.

In seventh place it is Jacques Laffite.

In eighth place it is Brian Henton. Arnoux to the pits.

And the Frenchman, who had trouble in practice

when he broke his gearbox, is effectively out of the points.

I seem to say it every Grand Prix, I don't know what's wrong with

Renault, but they really are making a terrible mess of a job that

until this season they appeared to be doing very well.

The two Brabham drivers have arrived at a very interesting situation.

Should they go the full distance... And Nelson Piquet is in the pits!

Yes, this is it!

Nelson Piquet now for the first time you see the much expected

Brabham pit stop.

We didn't get a stopwatch on it, I'm afraid, but it's a very quick one.

There is the fuel going in,

and you can see the mechanics have all got fireproof suits on.

We look at Elio de Angelis in third position on lap 23.

The race being led by Riccardo Patrese from Alain Prost

in second place, Elio de Angelis in third position,

Nelson Piquet fourth,

with Keke Rosberg right behind him in fifth place,

and Jacques Laffite in sixth position, but with 30 laps to go.

And here is Riccardo Patrese coming into the pits.

So, let's see how a really expert, well-trained team deals with it.

And it has been done sensationally quickly

because it took only 14 seconds from the time the wheels stopped

to the time the wheels started turning again.

And Patrese has not only gone through

but he has retained his lead!

Yes, Riccardo Patrese has gone out just in front.

He's not got cold tyres, you can see the car sliding about.

And Alain Prost went past but he can't be very far behind now

because he went past the pits just as Patrese was going

up the hill into the first corner. Well, they've settled down now.

For the time being, it certainly looks as if Patrese

and Prost are pretty evenly matched,

and we may well have a good run to the finish on our hands.

Patrese's pit stop, I have to say...

Oh!

That is Patrese! Off!

Patrese off in the lead and the crowd floods forward.

And now sensation, and I guess, maybe, and I am hypothesising,

he looks all right, but his tyres were not yet warm.

It seems very surprising. He has been going strong for quite a while.

Anyway, it's now all up to Nelson Piquet,

who is therefore up into third position immediately,

and, once again, it is a Renault reading a Grand Prix

with Riccardo Patrese sensationally out of the race

on lap 29/53.

Here is a replay of Patrese going off.

I have a suspicion that something...

Some steam or something is coming out of Patrese's car.

I think what may have happened is that the engine may have blown,

and thrown water or something or steam on the tyres or oil

onto the tyres, but certainly

it looks like it wasn't Patrese's fault.

It certainly wasn't cold tyres.

They've had plenty of time to get warm.

But there was definitely some sort of fluid

coming out underneath the car,

getting underneath the tyres, making the car completely uncontrollable.

Now you see the gap between Nelson Piquet and Keke Rosberg,

and it's quite clear that Piquet cannot go as fast,

for whatever reason now, as he was going before he came in

to refuel and gets new tyres.

And Alain Prost, on lap 31,

is leading Elio de Angelis by some 27 seconds with Piquet

about 12 seconds behind de Angelis in third position.

Keke Rosberg is right with... And there is Tommy Byrne.

Tommy Byrne is out of his first Grand Prix.

It looks to me as though he spun off because look at the nose of the car.

And Piquet is slowing. As we look at Niki Lauda,

who is in seventh position,

I can tell you that Piquet is not only slowing, he's stopped.

He's running backwards because Keke Rosberg

has gone up into third position.

There is the world champion.

And, again, both Brabhams are out of the race.

Piquet is coasting backwards down the hill,

which leads up to the Hella-Licht chicane,

and that's just clear of the pits.

So, Piquet is running backwards into the pits.

I think he's just parking it out of the way to get it off the circuit.

The interesting thing at the moment,

I think, is that in this very, very hot race,

there is now only one turbo car, effectively, in the running.

Well, I wonder what's going through Alain Prost's mind now?

It's the usual situation, I think.

31-second lead is more than adequately comfortable

and he'll be doing the normal tactics for a man with a big lead.

That's slowing it down, cutting down the revs of his engine.

In fact, Renault, I believe,

don't give their drivers a turbo boost control

in the cockpit of their cars,

which always seems to me pretty stupid,

because if I was driving the car now and I had a boost control,

I'd be able to turn down the boost on my turbo.

I was speaking to Gordon Murray this morning at Brabham

and he was saying that they give their drivers control.

It depends whether you trust your driver or not.

Well, I said to him, quite frankly,

anybody who hires a driver they don't trust

has done something fundamentally wrong in the first place,

so it's a pretty silly attitude for the team to take.

If they can't trust their driver,

I don't know what they're going motor racing for.

Well, we may be headed for a little bit of interest around second place

because Keke Rosberg has slowly but surely been chipping away at the gap

with Elio de Angelis and he's now only six seconds behind him -

and Watson in trouble.

Can't see what's wrong,

but he doesn't appear to be hurrying into the pits,

so by the way he's cruising around,

that looks, sadly, to be the end of John Watson's race.

On that 48, the race order is Alain Prost leading by 30 seconds.

Elio de Angelis, less than four seconds almost now,

ahead of Keke Rosberg, who is third.

Jacques Laffite is fourth, Niki Lauda is in fifth position,

Patrick Tambay is ahead of Baldi, seventh.

Serra is eighth and John Watson is out of the race now.

So, there are only eight runners on lap 49 in this 53-lap race.

Here is the battle for second place and that is Prost - Prost's car!

The Renault is in flames! The race leader is out!

Alain Prost... It's happened yet again.

First of all, Arnoux out - now, Prost out.

And we're going to have Elio de Angelis or Keke Rosberg

winning the Austrian Grand Prix.

What incredible drama!

Well, there we go, and that looked like blown turbochargers.

Alain Prost very disappointed, very angry with the car

and I have to say that I think it might be coincidental -

on the other hand, it might well be relevant -

what I was saying just a little while ago,

about Renault not trusting their drivers to give them a boost knob.

As well as being good for reliability in the race,

it's also good to be able to turn it up, just to pass somebody,

to get a little bit of extra power when needed.

If you don't trust your driver, you ask for trouble.

And what a grandstand finish it's going to be

for the Austrian Grand Prix.

There is the fiercely charging Keke Rosberg,

coming up now to complete lap 51.

Laffite is still third.

Tambay fourth, Lauda, fifth.

Baldi and the Arrows, sixth

and the gap between De Angelis and Rosberg

is now down to 2.2 seconds

as they go into the Hella-Licht chicane.

That is the third gear, as they come out of it,

accelerate away up to 175mph towards the flat curve.

Well, De Angelis has got enough to keep his lead, to stay in front.

That, he's proved. His big problem is to stay cool,

because if he starts to get flustered,

he runs the risk of making a mistake and/or driving messily

and that will take speed off,

because when he drives smoothly and coolly

and he has been doing that some laps, he's got a bit ragged on others.

But when he drives it smoothly, he keeps his lead in front of Rosberg.

But Rosberg is steadily chipping away

and he looks to be just that little bit closer,

as they come down towards the Bosch curve for the penultimate time.

He's got a lap and a half to go.

Yes, and I am quite sure but when Keke Rosberg catches De Angelis -

not "if", he's going to catch him - but when he catches him,

Elio de Angelis is without doubt

going to have the widest car on the circuit.

He will be going into the corners as wide as possible,

he will be keeping Rosberg back as much as he possibly can.

And even somebody as determined as Keke Rosberg -

and he's probably the most determined driver on the track -

is going to have all his time cut out to get past Elio de Angelis.

But they're coming up to back markers.

They're coming through now, to complete lap 52

and into the last lap in this race

and the gap, as they do that, is 1.64 seconds.

Yes, well, I don't think...

If De Angelis keeps cool, he's not going to have to get wide,

because he's got enough lead to keep the gap going,

but Rosberg is really charging,

but De Angelis has got just enough air to keep that gap

for rest of the lap. What an exciting finish to the Grand Prix!

Rosberg is imperceptibly closing. Any minute now...

Oh, Rosberg coming in fast into the corner, he's giving it everything.

And now, Rosberg is close enough,

he's beginning to feel the effect of the tow from De Angelis' car.

He is close enough and now, Rosberg is in position,

just about to have a go.

He is going to be able to catch him before the end of the lap.

Fantastic finish.

Well, let's see. Rosberg right with De Angelis now.

One of these two is going to win the Austrian Grand Prix.

They go into the Bosch curve for the last time.

I can tell you that the whole Lotus team

and the whole Williams team are crowding the pit rails.

It's going to be one of the closest Grand Prix finishes

for a long, long time. Into the Texaco bend, 140mph.

On the left, De Angelis leading. On the right, Rosberg, second.

Rosberg's only chance is a do-or-die manoeuvre

into the last corner and he's coming out quicker through there.

He's getting the toe.

Can he get inside? Now, De Angelis taking the inside line.

Rosberg getting the toe. Rosberg should try the outside.

Oh, it's fantastic stuff. De Angelis kept him well blocked,

that's very excusable on the last lap, but Rosberg is coming at him.

They're going to finish side-by-side and De Angelis has just held it.

Up goes Elio de Angelis' hand

and the young Roman has won his third Grand Prix,

and he has put the hard-trying Lotus team back into position again.

I can't help feeling

that if Rosberg had been racing for the lead 25 laps ago

and had felt then that he had a chance to win,

he might have been with De Angelis a lot earlier.

He really got the bit between his teeth, the last few laps.

He drove a fantastic last six or seven laps and there they are,

crossing the line - half a car's length -

and it's the closest Grand Prix for quite a while

and at last, we've had a good race.

Whoa!

You couldn't get a cigarette paper between the two of them there, could you?

And that, of course, was his first win.

Yes, and it was, very sadly, Colin Chapman's last win.

Colin Chapman, the boss of Lotus, who made it what it was

and we famously, as ever, saw him throw his cap up in the air.

But sadly, we weren't to see it again.

Right, let's move forward now to Spa, 1998 - into the '90s -

and a race that definitely put a smile on Eddie Jordan's face,

that's for sure. What didn't happen in that race?

The weather was terrible, it was full of drama, wasn't it?

It was a race that was all about what happened at the beginning,

what happened at the end

and what happened in the middle!

Because, at the beginning, there was a colossal 12-car pileup.

I've never seen anything like it and it involved David Coulthard.

And when they got that sorted out,

Michael Schumacher, in the Ferrari, was in the lead

and he was catching David Coulthard, who'd had trouble

and was about to be lapped and whatever.

Schumacher drove into the back of David Coulthard.

Schumacher thought David had deliberately blocked him,

got out of the car, went storming down the pit lane.

He was going to rip David's head off.

Happily, that didn't happen.

At the end of the race, we have the unique situation of not one,

but two with Eddie Jordan's cars -

our Eddie Jordan -

leading at Spa, this wonderful circuit.

Damon Hill in the lead,

Ralf Schumacher, Michael's brother in second place.

Ralf Schumacher urging the team to let him past Damon Hill.

Damon Hill urging the team not to let him past

and Damon won the race and as a result of that,

he can say that he won from more than one constructor. Great.

Let's have a look at this, then.

Spa, 1998 - and look out for Eddie's boys at the front.

On the front row of the grid,

Mika Hakkinen starting in pole position

for the ninth time in 13 races this year. Three to go.

His teammate, David Coulthard, alongside him.

Damon Hill, a magnificent third -

the highest he's been for Jordan

and just ahead of Michael Schumacher.

The race which is crucial to the world championship.

Hakkinen on the left, Coulthard on the right.

Yes! Yes, it's go - and Coulthard drags.

Hakkinen gets away well.

Look at Eddie Irvine, coming up on the inside.

Fielder goes up into second position.

Schumacher is down into about sixth position. Bad start by the Ferrari.

Great start by Eddie Irvine. Look at Fielder pound into the wall!

-Who was that?

-Coulthard, Coulthard into the wall.

David Coulthard in the wall.

-They'll have to red flag this.

-Terrible!

This is quite appalling!

This is the worst start for a Grand Prix

that I have ever seen in the whole of my life.

Total carnage.

David Coulthard went off up the hill very early on

and then they just all piled into him in the poor visibility,

and they had no ability to stop.

The tyres are cold and everything locks up,

and he just slides straight into the accident.

Yeah, the race stopped, of course.

Mika Salo you saw walk away and he had a gigantic crash yesterday.

It's going to take an enormous time to clear all this lot up.

I think it started with David Coulthard getting on the power

and losing the backend, straight into the wall.

Look at that. That's Coulthard's car.

That was hit several times, Murray, after he hit the wall.

Here we go again.

It was at this point that David Coulthard puts the power -

watch the McLaren in the background.

There he goes, across the track, into the wall,

across the path of Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

Off go the wheels. Damon Hill goes through.

There's Eddie Irvine's Ferrari being hit by Mika Salo's Arrows,

which also hits David Coulthard's McLaren,

which had already been virtually written off.

I should think at least ten cars

have been really badly affected by that crash.

53 minutes after the Belgian Grand Prix should have started,

your fingers crossed, everybody.

We don't want another bad start like that one. 18 cars on the grid.

There's Damon Hill. Three lights, for lights, five lights...

Go, go, go, go! Hakkinen leads away again.

Irvine again comes up the left.

Damon Hill has made an excellent start and leads!

Damon Hill gets ahead of everybody at La Source.

-Schumacher going round the outside.

-He's spun!

Schumacher hits Hakkinen!

And Herbert has his Hakkinen!

Now, I can't believe they're not going to have to stop the race again.

They've got three minutes to get that out of the way,

but there's no spare car for Hakkinen.

If they do stop it, he'll have to take Coulthard's car back.

But at the moment, no sign of the red flag,

as Michael Schumacher comes up the inside of Eddie Irvine.

And takes second place.

So now, the battle is on between Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher.

Mika Hakkinen walks away. That's the World Championship leader.

He's not going... And out goes Coulthard! Coulthard is off!

This is terrible for the McLaren team.

David Coulthard has kept the engine running

and Schumacher is up with Damon Hill.

The Ferraris are second and third, and Damon leads a race

for the first time since Hungary last year in the Arrows.

What's absolutely clear to me

is that the Bridgestone intermediates

are not working at all well but, at the moment,

both Hill and Schumacher's car appearing to work well.

Michael looking the faster.

And remember, the way these two are old rivals.

And the safety car is on the track.

They're going to have to line up behind the safety car.

That is a good decision, in my opinion.

And now, Coulthard is back on the track.

David Coulthard has rejoined the race.

Recovered from that gravel trap. You saw him reversing gently out.

Safety car is good news for him. It's a bit like Austria.

He's going to end up at the back of the field,

but Hakkinen gets away very well, it appears. But Hill made a super start.

Coulthard, a poor start and Hill goes down the outside,

squeezes Hakkinen and breaks later.

Hakkinen very cautious there.

Now, Mika feels a bit under pressure -

very close to that Ferrari -

hits the throttle a little too hard, pirouettes,

only to be clouted by Johnny Herbert.

So, into the Bus Stop at the end of the lap.

The race is on, the race is on. There's the safety car.

Damon Hill leads on lap three of 44.

Can Michael Schumacher, in the Ferrari,

catch his old rival and get past him?

Not if Damon Hill has got anything to do with it.

And David Coulthard is the fastest man on the track in 15th place.

Eddie Jordan - he'll be keeping his fingers crossed.

He's never won in all the Grand Prix that Jordan have been in,

since they started in 1991.

Let's that's just think of the psychology here.

Damon Hill desperately wants to win this race.

He hasn't won a race since 1996.

Unlucky in Arrows at Hungary last year.

Michael Schumacher needs the World Championship points.

I think Michael will be thinking,

"I'm not going to take a wild move to get past this man.

"I've got a long afternoon ahead of me. I'll take him as and when I can."

But here's a good chance. Up the inside, into the Bus Stop.

He has track position, squeezes Damon over a little bit.

Michael Schumacher, a textbook overtaking opportunity

as he came out of that sixth gear Blanchimont corner much, much better.

And here's a replay. He has forced Damon Hill wide.

Michael Schumacher is able to take the right line into the Bus Stop.

Damon Hill has to defer or go off the track and damage his car.

-And off goes Schumacher!

-No, it's Irvine.

-Apologies.

Trying too hard and he's just missed by Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

Off goes the nose wing of the Ferrari.

And he'll be coming in for a new nose.

He's taken the barge forward off as well.

Into the pit lane comes David Coulthard.

This is the race leader in Belgium, it is Michael Schumacher,

coming through to complete his 12th lap.

He was nine seconds ahead of Damon Hill.

Yes, he'll be squeezing that throttle pedal

like there's an egg underneath it

he doesn't want it to break because,

if he jumps on it too quickly, we've already seen

several drivers just spin off in an apparent straight line.

And you really do have to squeeze the power on.

He's lapping 2.065 again on that lap.

You can see him bouncing across the curbs on the Bus Stop

and he looks totally under control, doesn't he?

Here is Michael Schumacher, race leader,

coming in for the first tyre change.

James Allen is there.

Very calm work by the Ferrari crew.

Perilous waters ahead for many other people at 8.3 seconds.

A bit of a slow takeoff. Meanwhile, Damon coming in, as well.

Yes, Damon Hill into... It was 8.3 seconds for Michael Schumacher.

Is Damon going to lose any time?

They're trying, but there's a spanner caught in the front wing.

It looks as if they were hoping to adjust -

maybe they did adjust the front wing on Damon Hill's car.

Whatever, the tool got stuck in the nut

and I don't think they changed anything.

Michael Schumacher, absolutely flying, now his car's on full wets.

He's just not backing off at all.

He is absolutely going for it.

His out lap is three seconds faster in the first section

than any of his competitors. Absolutely incredible.

Michael has got so much confidence.

Damon Hill driving a very sensible race.

Difficult thing here for Eddie Jordan

because Ralf is homing in on Damon at about a second a lap.

The two Jordans running second and third.

They really need to be having a word with those two and saying,

"Don't push each other too hard.

"We've got a great chance of a double podium here."

Michael Schumacher diving through with Diniz

and they're touching each other! My goodness, that was close!

Schumacher backs off and keeps the distance between them.

That could've taken Schumacher out of the race,

-if they'd been six inches closer.

-That's the mentality of the man,

but I'm a little bit surprised. He's got a half-minute lead.

That was a risk he did not need to take.

You can see the Ferrari boss walking down the pit lane,

talking to the McLaren team and that's why -

because Michael Schumacher is trying to lap David Coulthard.

Coulthard struggling around in his McLaren,

not happy at all with these conditions, for whatever reason.

And we've seen the Ferrari team boss walking down the pit lane.

But let us not forget that David Coulthard,

in these appalling conditions... Oh, God!

Michael Schumacher hits David Coulthard

and is out of the Belgian Grand Prix!

Maybe he should have been a bit more circumspect

about trying to pass him, but he is out.

Mika Hakkinen, in the nicest possible way, will be delighted.

The World Championship situation is now the same as it was

when the Belgian Grand Prix started and Damon Hill is in the lead.

Yes, I think they probably just radioed to David to say,

let him through, he's behind you.

David lifts off, Schumacher doesn't realise

and runs into the back of him.

The two Jordans are first and second.

Ralf Schumacher just ten seconds...

Look, David pulls over to one side,

lifted off and Michael clearly couldn't see.

Well, what an incredible development!

Coulthard appears to lift... And look at the spray -

no wonder Michael can't see anything.

He absolutely can't see.

He runs into the back of David Coulthard.

Michael Schumacher drives out of the Belgian Grand Prix

angrily throws his steering wheel out of the cockpit,

with every good reason.

You can understand his fury because he's now effectively

lost the chance of taking the World Championship lead.

Now, what is he up to?

He's storming down the pit lane, presumably because...

And look at him, look at him! He's saying, "I'm going to the stewards."

James, James, can you enlighten us? He's going to Coulthard.

He's going to have it out with David Coulthard.

This is a bit like Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna

at that Belgian Grand Prix. James, what's the news?

Unbelievable altercation.

Jean Todt has dragged his driver away. Michael absolutely furious.

I just saw the car as I came in.

Absolutely destroyed the front suspension. He's walking past me now.

He's close to tears, guys, he really is.

He cannot believe this race has gone away from him.

This is a replay. Just look at the anger.

Michael Schumacher is normally a very laid-back, calm chap, but his

dander is well and truly up now as he storms into the McLaren garage.

And David Coulthard denies any responsibility.

And out goes Eddie Irvine!

Two Ferraris out now,

and the Ferrari mechanics can hardly believe their eyes.

This is a fantastic Belgian Grand Prix.

On lap 27 out of 44,

Damon Hill leads Ralf Schumacher, both Jordans by 14 seconds.

Alesi is third, nine seconds back. Frentzen is fourth.

Damon's missed the chicane.

Damon going across the grass at the Bus Stop. No harm done,

but at the moment Ralf's a couple of seconds a lap faster.

But you can see there, look, the inside wheel.

And he had to go across the grass. If you go through the pit lane,

you've got to go through very slowly, you lose a lot of time.

I don't believe there'll be any damage done there.

A bit of grass in the radiators,

but engine temperature's not the problem.

Yeah, funnily enough, Damon did actually get caught...

And there's second-place man Ralf in

for I assume what is a scheduled pit stop...

-On a two-stop strategy.

-Rather earlier than I expected him.

I was running through the order. I got to Frentzen, who was fourth.

Fisichella is fifth, and Pedro Diniz in the Arrows, a lap down,

is in sixth place.

-Oh, Fisichella!

-I think that's coming out of the Bus Stop.

He obviously lost it and hit the end of the barrier.

That's a very nasty accident. That'll bring out the safety car.

I'm sure they'll bring out the... There's poor visibility there.

I think he's hit the end of the pit wall.

This is the same thing that happened to Schumacher and Coulthard.

Ooh, that is a nasty accident.

And now remember, Wurz was like this in Monaco in a Benetton.

Nothing he can do. No way. That's a horrible accident

And, well, that just looks like a torpedo, doesn't it?

Is the Belgian Grand Prix going to go the full distance?

Here's Damon for his second stop.

And Hill pitting under the safety car,

so hopefully he can get back out again and keep track position.

Overrunning his slot a bit there - that won't help his pit stop.

It's very important that Damon gets track position,

doesn't get stuck in traffic.

Normally, you should pit the instant the safety car comes out

and, of course, Ralf now may just have track position on him.

We'll have to see how it all shakes out.

Alesi, third-place man, also coming in for his.

Good, Damon has managed to get out of the pits ahead of Ralf,

keeps track position.

After this lap, the safety car will go straight on at the Bus Stop

and then Damon will probably try

and control Ralf a bit, back him up, take a run at it and have himself

a nice, clear space to brake when he wants to into La Source hairpin.

The safety car is off, the race is on. Damon comes out of the Bus Stop,

gives it all the throttle he can afford to.

Now, what's Ralf Schumacher going to do?

Down from La Source to Eau Rouge, a gigantic ball of spray,

and Schumacher is certainly not deferring

as they go out of La Source.

And Damon runs wide. Schumacher tucks in behind him.

Frentzen is right up behind Jean Alesi.

Fifth and sixth are Diniz and Trulli.

They've regained the positions they should have been in.

Lap 34.

A 44-lap race. The gap now is 2.3 seconds.

And Alesi is easing up slowly on Ralf Schumacher.

If Damon Hill can win this race,

I bet he'll say it's one of his most satisfying.

Of course, all of his other races were won in a Williams that

was dominant and it was easy for people to say,

"Would he win in anything else?"

And he is going to answer them beautifully with this drive here

on a treacherous afternoon.

Damon Hill leads. There is Schumacher. Wait for it...

And there would have been Jean Alesi,

but now here he is, coming up the climb to Les Combes.

It was a very slow lap from Damon, the one before.

He's moving over whenever he gets chance to try to get onto

the wetter part of the track, as is Ralf,

suggesting that the tyres are getting plenty warm enough

and the cars are squirming around a little bit.

And Jean Alesi's been the quickest of the three of them

on the last three laps.

Damon's six tenths faster than Alesi on that lap.

There's Coulthard in the background,

pretty much out of play after that pit stop to replace the rear wing.

But Alesi can't now respond.

Now the track's getting a little bit damper with this extra rain.

I think it's helping the Jordan slightly.

And they're easing away from Jean Alesi.

If, if, if - and I'm not saying he's going to, in case he doesn't! -

Damon Hill wins this race, it would

surely be the sweetest of all his victories because,

when he was driving for Williams,

he was certainly in a car which at minimum was as good as anything

else and, in most cases, better.

Get ready in Britain and Ireland, all round the world, to stand up

and cheer as Damon Hill comes home within

sight of victory at the Belgian Grand Prix.

His 22nd victory. Into the Bus Stop. He is yards away from the finish,

followed by his team-mate Ralf Schumacher.

And Damon Hill wins in Belgium. Fantastic!

Schumacher second, Alesi third.

Well, what an unbelievable race.

And Eddie Jordan at last, after all his efforts,

after fighting his way up through Formula Ford, Formula Three

and even getting a Formula One drive himself, founding his own team,

sees victory and is now very much one of the top five.

Murray, what a day for the British team.

Suzi, let's not forget that Eddie Jordan is Irish.

We can't ever forget that!

But it was a wonderful day for the Irish because, at last,

after, I think, eight years, wheeler dealer Jordan had got it right.

He'd not only won his first race, but he'd won second place as well,

and I've never seen anything so euphoric

as Eddie Jordan on the podium.

-It was amazing.

-He's always euphoric on the podium, even if he hasn't won.

-Win or lose.

-But a particularly special day.

And it must have been a fabulous race for you to commentate on.

I bet you were going mad.

Yes. I mean, Damon Hill's a great personal friend of mine.

I've had the privilege of talking about him ever since he started

racing in any kind of motorsport, particularly on motorbikes.

And I'd seen him win the world championship in the Williams

and now I see him winning in a different team.

It was very emotional indeed. I can't remember what I said,

but I think I would have said something full of tears.

Let's stay at Spa now, that great circuit, but move on two years,

to 2000, and this race was really all about a dynamic duo, wasn't it?

About one thing, and it was for the World Championship,

and it was the great Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari

and the only man that Michael Schumacher has admitted that he

feared in Formula One, and that was Mika Hakkinen in the McLaren.

Now, you know that Spa involves Eau Rouge, that enormously fast corner,

and then they go up the hill to Les Combes, the right-hander.

And on lap 40, Mika Hakkinen tried to pass Michael Schumacher

doing about 200mph

as they approached the right-hander at the top.

Michael Schumacher moved across and blocked him,

which didn't exactly please Mika Hakkinen.

And on the next lap, lap 41, exactly the same situation,

except that this time Ricardo Zonta was there,

in the BAR, in front of them.

Michael Schumacher goes to the left, knowing there was no way, at 200mph,

Mika Hakkinen could try anything to the right,

but Mika Hakkinen not only tried but he succeeded.

He passed Zonta and he passed Michael Schumacher,

and he took the lead and he won the race, and it was terrific.

And it looked incredible, didn't it, that Zonta sandwich? Spectacular.

A mesmerising battle between Michael Schumacher

and Mika Hakkinen coming up right now.

MUSIC: Adventures Of A Lifetime by Coldplay

This is going to be a great race from our point of view,

because we're going to be starting behind the safety car.

That is absolutely for sure, take it from me.

It's been raining all this morning.

You can see, looking down at this classic Ardennes circuit,

that it's wet.

It's wet. It's wet in most parts, it's damp in the drier parts.

It looks good for Mika Hakkinen.

To be honest, he's done well all the way through practising.

He took qualifying position, he was fastest this morning.

But he's got two young guns alongside him, Jarno Trulli,

who's only been on the front row of the grid once in his life,

in Monaco, and of course the fantastic Jenson Button,

who is starting third on the grid, ahead of Michael Schumacher,

Michael Schumacher, the rain master, who has won here five times

in Belgium, one of them disallowed,

but nevertheless, this is his circuit.

-It's anybody's guess. What's yours?

-I'm very surprised, in a way,

they're starting behind the safety car.

We've started races here at Spa with five times more

water on the track than they've got there.

I think this is an overcautious call this time.

So, the safety car is coming in at the end of this lap.

Effectively the clock has started for the race,

and so they're counting this as the formation lap.

As normal, this is part of the Grand Prix.

Yeah, and they have to hold station until they've gone over the start

and finish line.

And that, of course, is before La Source.

Is anybody going to get the jump on the man in front of him

or the men in front of him?

It calls for superlative timing in this situation,

when the cars are already rolling on the track.

And the green flags are waving.

-This race is effectively under way now.

-So, safety car...

We're looking at them as they come through the chicane

and the Belgian Grand Prix at racing speeds is on.

Mika Hakkinen leads Jarno Trulli.

Michael Schumacher has a look on the inside of Jenson Button as

they go round La Source. No changes yet.

David Coulthard's still there in fifth position.

And Michael Schumacher closing up marginally on Jenson Button as

they come into Eau Rouge.

It looks flat. It's anything but. Over the crest.

So, there is Button, Schumacher,

and Schumacher is definitely closing on the Williams.

Hakkinen comes through Stavelot,

heading down now towards Blanchimont.

Which is where the dry line is definitely emerging.

The lighter part of the tarmac that you can see is the drier part,

and you can see even now that there is spray coming up from the tyres.

There's a lot of trees in that sector of the course -

they release moisture and wetness onto the track

for quite a long time.

But Mika Hakkinen now is leading by 2.1 seconds at the end

of the third lap.

He's just made the fastest lap of the race, two minutes 5.4 seconds.

And look at Button coming up the inside of Trulli!

Jenson Button takes second place with a great outbraking manoeuvre.

Can he find the traction?

No! Trulli's taken it back again.

Button having to run wide because of the speed he carried into La Source

and lost that place.

Hakkinen one and a half seconds faster than anybody else on the last

lap and two seconds faster than most in the top seven of the field.

So Hakkinen really hooked up.

Now, Jenson can stay close through Blanchimont.

He must have a great chance of going down the outside of Trulli.

I'm sure he's going to and outbrake him.

No, he's positioned his car wrong and he's let Michael through.

Bad mistake there from Jenson. He went the wrong way completely.

He needed to go around the long way round, around the outside, there.

He really snookered himself on that move.

Michael Schumacher, then, is attacking, up to third position.

Jenson Button won't take that lying down. He has another look.

David Coulthard is still there, behind him is Ralf Schumacher.

And Button attacks again, hits Trulli,

spins the car but keeps going.

And Coulthard gets through!

David Coulthard has taken advantage of that spin there

and they go down to Eau Rouge together. This is fantastic.

This is 180mph Grand Prix Formula One wheel-to-wheel racing.

Yeah, Ralf is through.

So two or three terrible corners there from Jenson.

Finally showing his inexperience.

Lap six now and here, coming towards us,

is Michael Schumacher in second place

Some cars coming in the pitlane, Murray,

I think they're going to slicks already.

I can see the Ferrari mechanics outside my window ready too,

so some cars are ready to go to slicks this early.

And look at Button.

Button the background pushing his teammate Ralf Schumacher

very hard indeed for fourth place.

Ferrari with slicks in the pitlane, Murray.

So I would guess they'll be bringing in Michael Schumacher.

He's probably calling, "Yes, bring me in for some tyres."

So often here at Spa, you get this drying situation.

Coulthard still under pressure from the two Williams.

And it's working because fastest first sector now is

Jean Alesi down in 17th position in the Prost,

and he's been in and taken on dry-weather tyres.

This, as I expected, is going to transform the race.

Schumacher in. So, James is in the pitlane.

Martin, there's been a huge amount of debate about this.

At first they were, then they weren't.

It's an extraordinarily gamble.

He's still a few seconds a lap off the pace you need to be on.

But I think Michael is throwing the dice,

trying to force McLaren into a decision.

Over his shoulder, in comes his brother.

He's obviously seen what Michael is doing and Ralf is in too.

Jenson still on wets. Nice stop from Ferrari, but an incredible gamble.

I think McLaren have made a mistake by staying out this extra lap.

Well, there is Mika Hakkinen,

well and truly in the lead of the Belgian Grand Prix.

Over the dry tarmac, comparatively dry. Into the pitlane.

So, Mika Hakkinen comes in now. Where is Michael Schumacher?

Because Hakkinen had about a 17-second lead at least

when he came in, but Michael Schumacher meantime

is on the fastest lap of the race.

He's gone through the first sector in just 55 seconds

and that's really flying.

But remember, Hakkinen had a 10.8-second lead

before the pitstop started,

so I imagine he should come out in front of Michael Schumacher

but not by much. The lead will certainly be reduced.

There is the gap between Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher,

which is continuing to be marginally reduced lap by lap.

It's down to 4.6 seconds. Michael Schumacher has gone fastest again.

One minute 55.2.

The fastest lap last year was one minute 54,

as near as makes no difference to the newest tenth of a second.

The circuit is still damp in parts, they're staying on the dry bits.

-And out...

-That's Hakkinen.

-Mika Hakkinen running off the circuit.

What has happened? Has it cost him the lead?

-As the camera cut to the McLaren.

-He spun in Stavelot.

He spun on his way through Stavelot.

He appears to be picking up speed.

I think he's just swapped ends on the way into Stavelot.

We'll see a replay. Or did he just pull off the track?

Whatever, he was only leading by 4.6 seconds

and we are going to get the answer now.

Schuey is through, he's easily gone through.

Michael Schumacher leads the Belgian Grand Prix.

There he is and there, in the background, is Mika Hakkinen.

This is a terrific development.

Mika Hakkinen was four seconds ahead of Schumacher.

Whatever happened to him, the spin has cost him dearly.

It's cost him the lead.

I hope we see a replay as...Heidfeld out of the race.

I hope we see a replay.

I suspect Hakkinen just caught a white line somewhere

and the car swapped ends on him.

-Now, he is the pursuer.

-30 laps to go. Where is the Mika Hakkinen?

Look back. The gap was just about four, it's now 6.1 seconds.

Michael Schumacher has lapped half a second faster.

We're just seeing a replay here.

This is Hakkinen having quite a small spin.

I think they've been struggling to find it, the Belgian TV crew.

They just caught the end of it.

I think he almost certainly caught a white line on the way in

and it was half a spin effectively.

Michael Schumacher continues now, exits the lap.

This is the end of his 18th lap.

A gap of 8.8 seconds over Mika Hakkinen.

It's sure to have been increased as a result of that fastest lap

he has just had. In fact, it's increased by over a full second.

It's nearly ten seconds now.

Hakkinen has picked his pace up, but Michael on a 54.2.

Let's see if he feels the need again down the straight this time

to wander over to the right-hand side.

Yes, he does. And that's paying off.

That gained Michael Schumacher four or five seconds on his lead.

He's so smart. He's thinking all the time.

He needs less of his capacity to drive the car,

leaves plenty spare to think what's going on around him

and how he can maximise everything that's available to him.

Hakkinen has already had five second places this year,

but he needs victory here, just as Michael Schumacher does,

to do something about the World Championship

for one or other of them.

Schumacher in. James.

Earlier than we expected. We've been doing some research.

A fuel nozzle, when he came in first time, was only on for two seconds.

There was only 24 kilos of fuel, so in comes Michael Schumacher.

The target here is to get back out again ahead of Jenson Button.

That's what Ferrari are trying to do.

The seconds are ticking and 11.1 of them go

as Michael Schumacher exits the pitlane.

He was leading Mika Hakkinen by just over five seconds when he came in.

Now, where is Jenson Button? There is Ralf Schumacher.

So it looks as though the Ferrari objective has been achieved.

-Hakkinen coming in for his second stop.

-Following the Arrows in.

The gap was 14.6 seconds.

Michael Schumacher is sure to be taking the lead

unless he encounters a problem. That's a very good stop.

8.8 seconds for Mika Hakkinen. I'm looking for the flag.

There's the car going past. I just saw the top of it over the pit wall.

Where is the Ferrari?

-Now he's leading.

-That's one of the Arrows that's gone through,

so where is Michael Schumacher?

There is Mika Hakkinen coming down to Eau Rouge.

I saw the top of Schumacher's car.

-There he is.

-Yes, going underneath the wall.

It was difficult to pick up how far he'd got

before Hakkinen came out of the pitlane.

And, as we thought, Michael Schumacher,

who was 14.6 seconds behind before Hakkinen's stop,

it takes longer than 14.6 seconds because of the long pitlane

and the slow speed limit, and now Schumacher picks up the lead

once again and we think he is fuelled to the end.

No doubt at all about the fact that, on the two-thirds distance lap,

lap 30 out of 44, Michael Schumacher's Ferrari,

which you are looking at now,

is leading Hakkinen's McLaren by some five seconds.

There's Michael over on what little bit of damp track is left now.

Significantly, on the last lap,

Hakkinen took eight 10ths of a second

out of Michael Schumacher's lead.

Now you are watching what is going to be a classic confrontation

between the two top men with about 12 laps still to go.

That's about 46/50 miles still to go

and Mika Hakkinen is eating into Michael Schumacher's lead.

I've said this many times before, I'll say it again,

catching is one thing, passing is another.

But my goodness,

catching is certainly what Mika Hakkinen is doing.

On the previous lap, the gap, lap 31, was 3.1 seconds.

Over the line goes Michael Schumacher.

Over the line goes Mika Hakkinen.

Down comes the gap by half a second to 2.4 seconds.

Barrichello with some kind of problem,

coasting now into the pitlane.

He may be able to freewheel all the way down to his pit.

Bad news for Ferrari, good news for Williams and BMW

and Jenson Button because definitely up into fourth place goes Button.

To fifth goes David Coulthard,

to sixth goes Heinz-Harald Frentzen, hopefully to get a point for Jordan.

And Rubens Barrichello draws to a standstill,

very definitely out of the race, his third retirement of the year.

And sadly, Jean Alesi is out of the race in the Prost.

He was fourth at one time,

his teammate Nick Heidfeld has already retired long ago -

one of the earliest retirements.

And yet again, poor Jean is out of the race again.

Yet again no points for Prost. Lap 34.

Seven laps to go and look at this.

Mika Hakkinen is maintaining the pressure.

He has caught Michael Schumacher.

And just down the road, Coulthard had a go at getting past Button.

There's two 10ths in it. Coulthard trying down the outside.

His car has been much stronger under braking

and Coulthard takes that position,

so up into fourth for Coulthard.

Button down to fifth.

We've been watching the scrap through the last five, six laps,

and David Coulthard had a much better car under braking.

I think Button's rear tyres are going away too.

Struggling to get the power down.

But the two leaders now just about slugging it out

and keeping that gap to one second.

They are coming up to the Minardi.

If the Minardi gets in the way, it could affect the lead.

And the Minardi is that of Marc Gene, who is down in 14th place

and has already been lapped once.

Down to La Source, the slowest corner on the circuit,

about 35 miles an hour. So, the Minardi has been lapped.

The Ferrari is bearing down on them.

In front of the Minardi of Marc Gene is Alexander Wurz's Benetton

down in 13th position.

Over Raidillon. Now, it's here that Mika Hakkinen can close up.

-I don't think he's close enough...

-He is close enough, Murray.

He's got the slipstream.

We know he's got ten kilometres an hour extra.

But Michael Schumacher very firmly closing the door,

leaving Hakkinen nowhere to go at all.

Hakkinen had the speed, he didn't have anywhere to use it.

Lap 40. We've got laps 41, 42, 43 and 44 to go at the end of this one.

And I have to say, it's looking as though

Mika Hakkinen can take that lead

and increase his lead in the championship.

Michael there, pretty firm, I think it was legitimate.

Michael starts to move to the middle of the road.

He knows Mika has a run on him,

he knows he's got better straight line speed.

And Hakkinen with nowhere to go

and Michael moving back across the track.

Theoretically you're not supposed to do that,

but he was moving back to take the line through the corner.

A close call, but a legitimate move there from Michael Schumacher.

I think we'll see it again

because they are coming through to complete the lap now.

That is 40 laps completed, just four laps left to go.

Hakkinen's best chance is if Schumacher has to follow Zonta

closely through Eau Rouge.

I don't think that will happen this time around.

I think they will pass Zonta on another part of the racetrack

because that's what gives Hakkinen his best shot.

Schumacher in dirty air

and then Hakkinen with the extra straight-line speed.

Once again, Michael is having to defend.

The back-marker is in the way. Can he do it?

Yes, he's done it. A brilliant move, either side of Zonta,

and Hakkinen brilliantly takes the lead of the Belgian Grand Prix.

And you can see the delight in the McLaren garage

because that could well have decided the race.

A superb, gritty, determined, forceful move from Mika Hakkinen

takes the lead in the McLaren Mercedes

and he is on lap 41, three laps to go at the end of this one.

And he's obviously got superior performance.

I would expect him now to pull away,

particularly on that approach up to Les Combes

out of Eau Rouge.

So, Zonta really did come into play there.

Michael tried to defend the line,

then chose to go the long way around Zonta.

And Hakkinen just kept going.

Here we see from the front view, Michael defending the track,

making his Ferrari as wide as he can.

He then went round the outside of Zonta

and Hakkinen said, "Thank you very much.

"I'll have a piece of that side of the racetrack then this time around",

and really took Michael by surprise.

And can you imagine how much surprise Zonta had?

Remember, they were doing it at an approach speed of some 205mph.

These men are supermen

and you are getting the living proof of it before your very eyes now.

Michael is pushing right to the end,

faster in the first sector than Mika Hakkinen,

faster in the second sector by half a second than Mika Hakkinen.

But the Finn has got it in the bag unless something dreadful happens

in the closing few hundred yards of the race,

as Schumacher comes right up to the rear wing almost

of the McLaren Mercedes.

Mika Hakkinen exits the Bus Stop

and, for the first time in his career, wins the Belgian Grand Prix

by 1.1 seconds from Michael Schumacher.

But it might just as well been 1.1 hours from Michael Schumacher.

You never get sick of seeing things like that in Formula One, do you?

Suzi, it's terribly difficult to communicate to people

just how courageous and determined Grand Prix drivers are.

Not many of us in life have done 100mph.

Very few of us have done 200mph.

I don't think any of us have done 200mph trying to pass not one,

but two people in time to brake for about a 40mph corner.

It was one of the great moments of Formula One.

It certainly was iconic. Murray, thank you very much for today.

And thank you for your company

and being part of our Formula One time machine.

We'll see you very soon.