1998 Michael Schumacher Brazil GP race used helmet - Formula 1 Memorabilia

1998 Michael Schumacher Brazil GP race used helmet

Here is another incredible piece from Schumacher golden years...Michael Schumacher race Bell helmet used during the 1998 Brazil GP while driving the Ferrari F300. Comes signed. Podium helmet. Expensive.

At the start, Häkkinen made the perfect start pulling away from Coulthard and Frentzen. Michael Schumacher made a poor start dropping behind teammate Eddie Irvine and Alexander Wurz's Benetton. Jacques Villeneuve made a strong start climbing up to seventh from tenth. Rubens Barrichello in his home grand prix climbed from thirteenth to ninth in his Stewart at the start. Ralf Schumacher ended his afternoon when he spun his Jordan into the gravel trap going into turn 4. Going into turn 14, Michael Schumacher was able to reclaim fifth from Wurz at the end of the first lap.

The McLaren's immediately began to pull away from the rest of the field after the first lap. The two Ferrari's of Schumacher and Irvine began a duel for fourth position whilst on the third lap, the Tyrrell of Toranosuke Takagi and the Minardi of Shinji Nakano collided going into the first corner. Nakano spun out and stalled being sent out of the race.

On lap 10 Irvine let Schumacher through under team orders, Schumacher then soon began to put pressure on the Williams of Heinz-Harald Frentzen for third. Further down the second Williams of Jacques Villeneuve began to put pressure on Alexander Wurz for sixth position.

Lap 13 saw Johnny Herbert overtake the Prost of Jarno Trulli for eleventh position. On lap 17 Trulli pulled into the pits and retirement with a fuel pump issue. The same lap Häkkinen and Coulthard began lapping the first of the backmarkers. Mika Salo's Arrows pulled off the circuit with engine troubles as the McLaren's came around to lap him. One lap later Takagi's Tyrrell suffered a large engine failure sending him out of the race.

By lap 20, Häkkinen led by 6 seconds over Coulthard, whilst Coulthard held a 17 second lead over the duelling pair of Frentzen and Schumacher. The McLaren's once again demonstrating a dominance over the rest of the field.

On lap 23, Schumacher came into the pits for his first stop being stationary for 8.5 seconds before re-entering the track in eighth position. One lap later Frentzen and Irvine came into the pits, Frentzen was held up by the traffic of backmarkers during his in-lap which allowed Schumacher to get ahead of the Williams following the pit-stops. Both Schumacher and Frentzen were stuck behind the Benetton of Giancarlo Fisichella who had yet to stop. Irvine was unlucky to exit behind a lot of traffic, seemingly ruining his afternoon. Schumacher quickly disposed of Fisichella whilst a few corners later, Fisichella ran very wide going into turn 8 allowing Frentzen through. Diniz retired his Arrows with gearbox trouble. On the same lap Villeneuve pitted his Williams from fourth position, suffering a very slow pit-stop of 9.3 seconds exiting in twelfth.

The McLaren's continued to dominate out front, the rest of the field seemingly two stopping whilst the McLaren's maintaining a one-stop strategy. On lap 30, Irvine managed to overtake the Prost of Olivier Panis for tenth. He then began to engage in a duel with the Sauber of Jean Alesi for ninth. By lap 35 the other Ferrari of Schumacher began to bare down on Wurz's Benetton who had yet to make his first pit-stop.

On lap 36, Coulthard became the first McLaren to come into the pits for his one and only stop. He exited the pits remaining in second position. Three laps later Häkkinen took his first pit-stop, he rejoined the race in a comfortable lead. The same lap Jacques Villeneuve overtook the Prost of Panis for ninth and caught up to Alesi and Irvine who were duelling for seventh position. One lap later Villeneuve managed to overtake Irvine for eighth at the first corner, a lap later he managed to take Alesi for seventh at the same corner.

Among the front runners, Schumacher and Frentzen began putting heavy pressure on Wurz in third who had yet to make a pit-stop. Lap 44 saw Tuero retire from the race with throttle issues. On lap 46 Williams opted to bring Frentzen in, whose speed was being hampered by the slower Schumacher and Wurz in front of him. The following lap Wurz finally made his first stop, dropping down to eight notably behind the Williams of Frentzen.

On lap 47 Villeneuve came into the pits for his second pits stop whilst in fourth position. By lap 50, Coulthard notably began catching the leading McLaren of Häkkinen, by lap 52 he had dropped the gap to 4.2 seconds. Ricardo Rosset retired from his home race on lap 52 with gearbox issues.

On lap 55, Schumacher came into the pits for his second pit-stop. As he entered the pits he notably stalled in the pits, however the mechanics were quickly able to restart the engine. Schumacher despite a 14 second stop managed to make it just outside the duelling pair of Wurz and Frentzen, Wurz managing to overtake Frentzen into the first corner as Schumacher was coming into the pits. One lap later Rubens Barrichello was running eleventh position at his home race retired with gearbox issues, meaning all the Brazilian drivers were forced into retirement for their home race.

Normal position order was restored when Irvine who was in third came into the pits for his second stop dropping back to eighth. Lap 63 saw Panis suffer an engine blowout whilst running in tenth position.

Whilst Coulthard had been catching Häkkinen earlier on, Häkkinen managed to successfully manage the gap to his teammate. On lap 67, Johnny Herbert became the last retirement opting to pull out of the race after neck pains following his accident in Saturday practice.

Despite running slowly on the final lap allowing Coulthard to close to 1.2 seconds, Häkkinen went on to take the race victory. Schumacher finished in third a full minute behind Coulthard with Wurz, Frentzen and Fisichella taking the final points positions.

Damon Hill who had finished the race in tenth position was later disqualified due to his car being under the weight limit after post-race scrutineering.