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Previous | Season 1998 | Next |  |
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The World Formula One Championship rarely disappoints with its cut and thrust on and off the water and 1998 was no exception, so the title lead see-sawed from race to race with three potential winners going into the final round. From the first green light of the year in Cagliari, defending champion, America’s Scott Gillman was given food for thought when quadruple World Champion, Guido Cappellini, racing in the Laserline Castrol DAC, easily set the pace with a 54.38 second lap putting him ahead of Gillman and 1997 runner-up, Finland’s Pertti Leppala, driving for Star Racing. Tension was obvious before the start and for Gillman and Leppala it proved too much as they jumped the lights and were penalised one lap. Cappellini was grateful for this and as he moved into second place on the water behind Gillman, the American faced a near impossible task of lapping everyone to make up the penalty but a yellow flag closed up the field and dashed his hopes. Cappellini compounded the American’s despair by overtaking him with three laps to go when his Rainhow Belco Avia Racing rig stopped momentarily and Britain’s Jonathan Jones, driving a new Castrol Seebold, finished second. St Petersburg was cold and windy but failed to deter thousands from watching Gillman get his revenge. Cappellini took pole again, almost a second ahead of Jones and he showed superior speed in the race, building up a 13 second lead over Leppala in his Chesterfield DAC from Jones and Gillman. Attrition followed with Jones first to retire and then Cappellini’s day ended with a broken prop shaft. Leppala took out a turn buoy forcing a stoppage and on the re-start five leading boats rounded the first turn together but only two came out unscathed, Leppala eventually taking the flag three seconds ahead of Gillman, but the Finn was disqualified for destroying the buoy.
Only 0.7 seconds separated the top drivers during qualifying in rain-swept Chalon with Leppala snatching his first career pole from Cappellini, Gillman, Francesco Cantando and Jones, three times a winner on this river circuit but as the lights turned green for racing, it was Cappellini who passed Leppala on Lap 1. On Lap 2, Gillman and Massimo Roggiero collided which resulted in a restart and put paid to Gillman’s hopes when his Seebold lost part of one sponson, while Cappellini and Leppala battled for the lead until the Finn’s engine stalled leaving Jones to give chase. The Weishman got within two seconds of his rival but the Italian maintained his superiority. After seven years in F. 1, Sweden’s Goran Karloff won his first victory and it could hardly have been sweeter, winning in the heartland of Scandinavia at Tampere, Finland which was hosting its first big boat Grand Prix. Cappellini set a sizzling pace in qualifying for his third pole and was quick off the pontoon, leading for the first five laps before stopping on the course and then barrel-rolling. Leppala took the lead over Karloff but with just 14 laps to the flag, the Finn came to a sudden stop and left the Swede to pick up the lead, chased by Gillman and Jones. Karloff defended his first place, beating Gillman by 2.48 seconds and with just four Grands Prix under his belt, F.3 maestro, Hungarian Rudolf Mihaldinecz, finished a creditable fifth while rookie Finnish racer Sami Selio came home in sixth place in only his first full F. 1 event. Second in Finland was good enough to move Gillman to the head of the Championship with Jones five points behind but the Welshman took delivery of a new engine before the Greek Grand Prix in Corfu and set the second fastest time in qualifying,just 3IlOth. second behind long-time rival Cappellini, but ahead of Gillman. From the start, Jones led the field but with 5 laps to go, the engine blew and Gillman took over but the rollers of Garitsa Bay caught him out and he barrel-rolled, handing Cappellini his third win of 1998. Mihaldinecz had turned his Castrol rig over in qualifying and was hospitalised overnight and despite a clean bill of health, failed to make it to the start line or the Italian Grand Prix two weeks later in Stresa. The Italian venue brought the three seasoned rivals together, with Cappellini and Gillman lining up ahead of Jones and huge crowds gathered at the lake anticipating another Cappellini win but teammate Roggiero was fastest off the dock followed by Cantando, Cappellini, Karloff and Jones. Gillman retired with engine problems on Lap I and Cappellini crashed on Lap 2, leaving Roggiero leading Cantando and Jones, until engine failure forced Cantando out of the running 10 laps from the finish. Roggiero went on to record his first Grand Prix victory on home waters with Jones taking second place ahead of Fabrizio Bocca in his Rainbow Belco Avia rig. Dunaujvaros in Hungary saw another change in the points table when Gillman bounced back from his retirement in Italy to set fastest qualifying time, ahead of a flying Roggiero, fresh from his first victory. Surprise qualifier in third was Britain’s Andy Flliott who had only attained the top ten once during the season with Jones and Cappellini, who were leading the championship table, qualifying fourth and fifth. In the race itself, Gillman dominated the 19 runners on the Danube, ending his disappointment of the past two races and Jones kept on the pace, finishing just 8 seconds behind. The battle for third was spectacular with Cantando driving superbly to hold off a strong challenge from Cappellini who had worked his way methodically through the entire field and newcomer, Selio, continued to impress by finishing fifth. The penultimate race in Moscow proved controversial and the result seemed to set Cappellini on course for his fifth title in six years. Gillman led the pack from Cappellini and Leppala but on lap 21 the American retired after colliding with Argentina’s Carlos Maidana. Leppala grasped the lead, leaving arch-rivals in the title chase, Cappellini and Jones, to engage in an awesome fight for points. With 27 laps to go, Jones dived inside Cappellini on a turn, only to find the Italian on collision course and he ran into the side of Jones’ boat. Unaware of damage to his Seebold, Jones raced on but with 9 laps to go, water eventually made its way into the engine and his challenge expired.
Leppala, who had won in St.Petersburg earlier in the season only to be disqualified, cruised to his first max of the season followed by Bocca and Cappellini, who was given two yellow cards for dangerous driving but was allowed to keep his points. His team-mate, Roggiero, was docked 2 laps for taking out a turnbuoy but still finished in fourth place with Jones’ team-mate, Mihaldinecz scoring a hat-trick of fifth places and the result in Moscow set up an exciting finale in Abu Dhabi. In an extraordinary final, Jones won his only race of 1998 and secured his fourth World Championship title but going to the Gulf, it seemed that nothing could stand between Cappellini and his fifth title. Just 14 points separated the Italian, the Welsh-man and the defending champion, Gillman and with 20 points on offer, it seemed that the ultra-reliable Cappellini need only race tactically to capture the title hut all was not well in the Italian’s camp, where problems with his DAC meant he failed to put in any competitive laps and he started eighth on the grid. Roggiero set the pace in the first session but eventually settled for second behind Leppala and ahead of Gillman, Maidana in the Texaco boat while surprisingly, F. 1 newcomer Fabio Comparato in the Waircom team finished fifth ahead of Jones, who opted to run a British Burgess boat for the first timeduring the year and just made the top six.
From the start Leppala led Gillman and Jones, who was not sure where Cappellini was hut after a lacklustre performance for 18 laps, the Italian retired with electrical problems.Jones held a comfortable third and Leppala had a huge lead over Gillman but with 14 laps remaining, Leppala retired after hitting driftwood. If Gillman won and Jones took second, then the American would retain his title and with very few laps to catch and overtake him, the Welshman was still 12 seconds behind him with 7 laps to go when Gillman’s engine failed, giving Jones the victory from Roggiero, Maidana, Selio, Cantando and Australia’s Craig Bailey.
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