Mika Häkkinen retained the Drivers' Championship while Ferrari claimed its first Constructors' title since 1983, beginning a six-year dominance.
Key Facts
- Season races
- 16 races
- Season start
- 7 March 1999
- Season end
- 31 October 1999
- Constructors' margin
- Ferrari won by 4 points over McLaren
- Ferrari's last Constructors' title
- 1983 (16 years prior)
- BAR points scored
- 0 points all season
By the Numbers
Cause → Event → Consequence
Defending Drivers' champion Mika Häkkinen entered 1999 with McLaren seeking a second consecutive title, while Ferrari mounted a strong challenge. New entrant British American Racing joined with high expectations around 1997 champion Jacques Villeneuve. Damon Hill, the 1996 world champion, was in his final season of competition.
The 1999 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 53rd season of Formula One racing, contested over sixteen rounds from March to October. Häkkinen successfully defended his Drivers' title for McLaren, but Ferrari outscored McLaren in the Constructors' standings by four points, securing their first Constructors' Championship since 1983.
Ferrari's 1999 Constructors' title proved to be the first of six consecutive championships through 2004. McLaren would not produce another Drivers' champion until Lewis Hamilton in 2008. BAR finished the season as the only team without a single point, a major embarrassment given pre-season expectations, while Damon Hill retired from Formula One.