The championship, which seems to be firmly in the hands of McLaren Mercedes, arrives in Hungary for the twelfth round and everything is in doubt.
On the traditionally difficult track for overtaking, the first row was almost routinely won by the McLaren Mercedes duo Häkkinen and Coulthard.
The only one trying to keep up with the elusive English cars is Schumacher in his Ferrari.
The Hungarian competition seems like an Anglo-German monologue, Schumacher realizes in the third that without adventure he is unlikely to be able to break this hegemony.
German teammate Irwin, after an excellent start, began to complain about a malfunction in his car and was forced to retire on the thirteenth lap.
Ross Brown from the red wall, eating his usual banana, is passionate, wants to win and dedicate his success to Drake, who has been missing for 10 years. As the laps tick inexorably, red Dt decides to focus on a more aggressive race and offers Schumacher a three-stop qualifying lap strategy.
The German loves challenges, but most of all he loves to win and, without even thinking, he gives his consent.
From that moment on, the German makes a race within a race, everyone on the team is tuned to their own Junkers, and at every stop they give the German results worthy of his own driver on the track.
On lap 52, Schumacher went off the track, which did not jeopardize the race, on the contrary, the German continued to drive faster and faster to take advantage of the opponent’s traditional stops.
When Hakkinen went to the pit stop, Schumacher took the lead. Finn tries to answer him, but suddenly his McLaren starts having problems with the gearbox, and he has to slow down.
The crowd in the stands and at home held their breath as Schumi entered lap 62 for his third and final stop.
In the pits, the mechanics are doing an exceptional job and returning the German to the track, still in the lead.
While Schumacher was in charge, Häkkinen, increasingly having a gearbox crisis, was forced to leave second position at the 1998 Hungarian Grand Prix to his partner Coulthard, and shortly thereafter to Hill and Frentzen.
Schumacher crosses the finish line victorious with his thirteenth victory as a Ferrari driver, a triumph that will make him famous as a red hero, equaling Askari and approaching the record of Lauda, who in 1998 was still the most successful Ferrari driver.