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1998 Formula One World Championship
The 1998 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 52nd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1998 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1998 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a sixteen-race series that commenced on 8 March and ended on 1 November.
The season saw a large shuffling of the pecking order, with McLaren emerging as the fastest constructor. After the factory withdrawal of Renault and the departure of designer Adrian Newey to McLaren, the Williams team and Jacques Villeneuve were unable to defend their respective championships. Williams suffered their first winless season since 1988.
Mika Häkkinen won his first World Drivers' Championship and McLaren won the World Constructors' Championship for the first time since 1991. McLaren would wait a further 26 years before their next constructors' title was secured in 2024. In addition, McLaren's double Drivers' and Constructors' Championship success in 1998 was the last time they won both the Drivers' Championship and the Constructors' Championship in the same season until 2025.
The following teams and drivers competed in the 1998 FIA Formula One World Championship.
† All engines were 3.0 litre, V10 configuration.
At the end of 1997, Renault withdrew as a direct engine supplier from Formula One and thus marked the first season since 1988 that Renault-branded engines were absent due to the company's privatisation plan. As a result, the two teams running Renault engines were forced to source alternative suppliers. Williams opted to run engines supplied by Mecachrome, who were working with Renault to develop the most recent iteration of their RS9 engine rebadged with the Mecachrome name. Benetton sourced a similar rebadged Renault-based Mecachrome engine rebadging it Playlife after a fashion brand owned by the Benetton family. Neither Williams nor Benetton were competitive to the same level as in previous seasons. Renault themselves would invest in Benetton for 2000, before buying the team outright in 2002. They would not supply engines to other competing teams again until 2007.
Arrows had bought out Brian Hart's preparation company to build their own engines. They would do so as well for 1999.
The Prost and Jordan teams swapped their engine suppliers from 1997: Prost now used Peugeot, whilst Jordan used Mugen-Honda.
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1998 Formula One World Championship AI simulator
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1998 Formula One World Championship
The 1998 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 52nd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1998 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1998 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a sixteen-race series that commenced on 8 March and ended on 1 November.
The season saw a large shuffling of the pecking order, with McLaren emerging as the fastest constructor. After the factory withdrawal of Renault and the departure of designer Adrian Newey to McLaren, the Williams team and Jacques Villeneuve were unable to defend their respective championships. Williams suffered their first winless season since 1988.
Mika Häkkinen won his first World Drivers' Championship and McLaren won the World Constructors' Championship for the first time since 1991. McLaren would wait a further 26 years before their next constructors' title was secured in 2024. In addition, McLaren's double Drivers' and Constructors' Championship success in 1998 was the last time they won both the Drivers' Championship and the Constructors' Championship in the same season until 2025.
The following teams and drivers competed in the 1998 FIA Formula One World Championship.
† All engines were 3.0 litre, V10 configuration.
At the end of 1997, Renault withdrew as a direct engine supplier from Formula One and thus marked the first season since 1988 that Renault-branded engines were absent due to the company's privatisation plan. As a result, the two teams running Renault engines were forced to source alternative suppliers. Williams opted to run engines supplied by Mecachrome, who were working with Renault to develop the most recent iteration of their RS9 engine rebadged with the Mecachrome name. Benetton sourced a similar rebadged Renault-based Mecachrome engine rebadging it Playlife after a fashion brand owned by the Benetton family. Neither Williams nor Benetton were competitive to the same level as in previous seasons. Renault themselves would invest in Benetton for 2000, before buying the team outright in 2002. They would not supply engines to other competing teams again until 2007.
Arrows had bought out Brian Hart's preparation company to build their own engines. They would do so as well for 1999.
The Prost and Jordan teams swapped their engine suppliers from 1997: Prost now used Peugeot, whilst Jordan used Mugen-Honda.