GREATEST RACES #19: Johnny Herbert delivers a sensational shock victory for Stewart Grand Prix – 1999 European Grand Prix

If followers thought the 1999 season up thus far had been intense, they have been in for an additional dramatic weekend amid changeable situations on the Nurburgring. Whereas title rivals Mika Hakkinen and significantly Eddie Irvine confronted issues (extra on that later), the Stewart Grand Prix automobiles of Johnny Herbert and Rubens Barrichello charged their manner via the sphere from mid-grid beginning positions to contend for an unlikely win, taking advantage of a scary first-lap crash, a number of spins and technical-related retirements elsewhere.

On the finish of all of it, Herbert was the person who got here out on high, having timed his transfer to moist tyres completely, whereas Barrichello – who misplaced a while sticking with slicks – backed him up in third place, simply behind Jarno Trulli’s Prost. It marked a memorable and emotional second for Herbert, who had overcome extreme foot accidents sustained in his junior single-seater days to report a 3rd and last F1 victory, in addition to for the group led by former world champion Jackie Stewart and his son Paul, as they achieved a landmark triumph in what proved to be their third and last F1 season earlier than promoting as much as Ford and Jaguar.

Johnny Herbert, Stewart Grand Prix driver: “The very first thing [I noticed] was the wind once we received on the grid. I used to be 14th and Rubens was fifteenth, and all I keep in mind is the wind was blowing instantly up the straight. Whenever you go down in direction of Flip 1, hold going for about 40 kilometres and also you’re at Spa, and we all know what occurs at Spa with the climate. The race began, we received going, then I observed this cloud within the distance, a bit wider than the monitor – it regarded like a rain drop form. Then it simply received nearer and nearer. It saved coming lifeless straight over the center of the circuit, by no means went left, by no means went proper. I went, ‘When it comes, it’s going to throw it down’.

“Fortunately, after I was about to return in [for a pit stop]… I used to be doing my in-lap, so I received known as in, received to the far finish of the circuit, and it simply began to spit with rain. As I received again to the pits and stopped, I’d been on the radio and mentioned, ‘Put wets on’. Rubens got here within the subsequent lap and placed on slicks, so it was one thing that catapulted me to be within the combine. It [the rain] lasted longer than I assumed and I used to be going 12 seconds quicker than anybody else.

“It was very particular [to win] as a result of the Nordschleife itself, it was one among Sir Jackie’s final wins there, so there was a reference to my win, their [Stewart Grand Prix’s] first win and Jackie and his racing profession on the identical time. I used to be happy for myself, however I feel I used to be most likely extra happy for my crew, who had put in lots of onerous work and caught by me. It’s all the time pleasing to see the grins on their faces whenever you get again to the storage, and it’s due to them that I used to be in a position to obtain my final win.”