Most employees unhappy at the manner of their dismissal seek recourse through the law. Unfortunately a 47-year-old Frenchman chose to register his protest by wandering on to a race track in the middle of a Grand Prix. Miraculously his reckless behaviour did not result in an accident, but it did cause lasting damage to David Coulthard’s hopes of becoming world champion.
With victories at Melbourne, Interlagos, Imola, the Nürburgring and Montreal, Michael Schumacher looked to have all but sewn up the championship by the middle of June. Then a retirement at Magny-Cours and a first-corner exit at the A1-Ring left the door open for McLaren, Schumacher’s lead over Coulthard being cut to just six points prior to his home Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
In a wet qualifying session, Coulthard underlined his growing confidence by taking pole from Schumacher, Giancarlo Fisichella’s Benetton and Mika Hakkinen. Schumacher’s Ferrari team-mate, Rubens Barrichello, started back in eighteenth place from where it seemed that he would be unable to offer much help to the championship leader.
All year, the McLaren team had been unhappy with Schumacher’s tactic of pulling across at the start. He had cut across Coulthard at both Imola and Magny-Cours, forcing the Scot to lift. Here, it was payback time. As the lights went out, Coulthard pulled across to the inside line to block Schumacher, who reacted immediately by switching to the outside. In doing so, he drove straight into Fisichella’s front wing and the pair slid off into the tyre wall – the second race in a row where these two had failed to make it around the first corner. The man to profit from this chaotic start was Hakkinen, who led at the end of the first lap from Coulthard and Jarno Trulli (Jordan), while further back Barrichello had shot up to eighth. The Brazilian soon forced his way up to third before a pit stop on lap 17 out of 45 made it clear that he was on a two-stop strategy, whereas the McLarens were intending to stop just once.
Hakkinen continued to lead Coulthard around until a bizarre incident took place on lap 24. A spectator burst through the fences, ran across the track near the Clark Kurve and began walking along the grass verge. It later transpired that he was protesting against his dismissal from Mercedes-Benz. While the race organisers waited for security guards to remove the man, the safety car was brought out. Coulthard had been due to pit on that lap but when he saw Hakkinen dart into the pits, he stayed out, unaware that the safety car was lying in wait. Stuck behind the safety car, poor Coulthard had to suffer a slow lap before he could get to the pits, eventually rejoining in sixth. The anti-Mercedes protester had cost a McLaren-Mercedes driver his chance of the race.
The safety car stayed out for three laps, during which time 14 cars pitted. Hakkinen retained his lead, from Trulli and Barrichello, but then on lap 29 the safety car was introduced again after the Sauber of Pedro Diniz slammed into the back of Jean Alesi, scattering wheels and bits of chassis from the Prost over the track. With 13 laps remaining, it started to rain heavily in the stadium section of the circuit, but not in the forest, placing the drivers in a dilemma. Eleven of the 15 cars still running pitted to go on wets, including leader Hakkinen, but Barrichello opted to stay out on drys. This propelled Barrichello into the lead and, driving with great skill on the slippery surface, he held on to win by seven seconds from the fast-closing Hakkinen, with Coulthard in third and Jenson Button in fourth just missing out on his first podium.
For Barrichello and Ferrari, it was a moment to savour – his first Grand Prix win in his 124th start. For Coulthard and McLaren, it was the one that got away through no fault of their own. As McLaren’s Ron Dennis caustically commented: ‘We had flexibility in our strategy, but not sufficient to accommodate a deranged spectator who wandered on to the circuit costing us the race and endangering his and the lives of the drivers.’