1999

Damon and Jacques Villeneuve had worked particularly well together as team-mates in 1996, each having a lot of respect for the other, and bringing the best out of themselves. When Jacques moved to the new BAR team (who had taken over Tyrrell), there was speculation Damon would join him. Despite a lucrative offer, Damon chose to stay at Jordan for 1999. He was to be partnered by another ex-Williams driver, Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Damon was also in demand from several TV shows, and was honoured on the "This is Your Life" programme, as had been his father Graham before him.

Compared to the F1 driver line-up which saw several changes and newcomers, the technical regulations remained mostly the same. Tethers to keep the wheels from flying off after collisions, and another controversial groove added to the front tyres (now supplied solely by Bridgestone) were the main differences.
The Jordan 199 had looked competitive in testing, consistently running at a fast pace, and challenging the McLarens in the final few days. Complimentary comments from highly regarded designer Adrian Newey (who had worked with Damon at Williams) furthered the belief that Jordan could have their best season yet.

Australia was the venue for the first race of the season, and Damon finished in the top 6 at the end of both Friday and Saturday's free practice sessions. It was therefore understandable that he felt frustrated at only qualifying 9th when he had been 4th, his final lap being upset by traffic and yellow flags. Frentzen's 5th place was a better indication of the car's performance, but the team felt that even that didn't represent its true potential.
A clutch problem and then a crash in the morning warm-up was perhaps a warning of what was to come in the race for Damon. Discounting his first outing for Arrows (in which he failed to start), this was to be Damon's 100th Grand Prix. After making a good getaway Damon was knocked off the track and into retirement by Jarno Trulli, who also caused problems for the Benettons. The Prost driver would later hit Marc Gene in an identical incident, forcing them both to go out.
It was left to Frentzen to uphold the Jordan team's honour, and this he did admirably. With both McLarens and Michael Schumacher suffering from mechanical problems, it was Eddie Irvine who took his first win ahead of Heinz-Harald, Ralf Schumacher finishing third. Funnily enough, the top 6 of the 8 drivers who finished had all driven for Jordan at some point.

Damon received a lot of unjust criticism for an alleged lack of performance in Melbourne, but was backed by team boss Eddie Jordan in the run up to Brazil. As the Irishman said, Damon should have been on the podium with Frentzen.
On a stronger note, the 5-week break had allowed the team to carry out considerable testing, resulting in a new front wing, diffuser and an up-rated engine. This showed in the Free Practice sessions with Damon reaching 2nd in the wet and Heinz-Harald taking 3rd in the dry. Unfortunately mechanical problems lost both drivers valuable track time, Damon suffering the worst. This was compounded by the early finishing of the final session due to a nasty crash for the BAR driver Ricardo Zonta.
With his restricted set-up time Damon wasn't fully prepared for qualifying and really struggled on the bumpy circuit. However on his final run he pulled a fast lap out of the bag as he always used to. This took him up to 5th, and he ultimately finished 7th, 0.018 seconds and one place ahead of his team-mate.
Damon got away well but was passed during the scramble to avoid Coulthard's stricken McLaren. On lap 9 he went to overtake Alexander Wurz, and although Damon had claimed the corner the Benetton driver came back across him. Damon retired in the pits the following lap with suspension damage. Once again he had been denied the opportunity of a high-scoring finish as Heinz-Harald took 3rd behind Mika and Michael.

Despite speculation over his future Damon showed determination and commitment to the Jordan team in testing and the practice sessions, running the most laps of all people throughout the weekend prior to qualifying. Damon finished 4th fastest on Friday but this unfortunately wasn't matched come Saturday, a mechanical problem for Frentzen and a trip across the gravel for Hill leaving them in 7th and 8th places respectively.
The race looked like another Hakkinen and McLaren walk-over, yet the Finn went off early on as he pushed the car just a little too hard. The battle was then between David and Michael, the German and Ferrari emerging triumphant in San Marino due to superior tactics. Damon meanwhile survived the first lap (although he had been squeezed out at the first corner), and with fast pit-stops looked set to follow Heinz-Harald home. Unfortunately as Jordan looked set for a double points finish Irvine's engine let go and, without any warning flags, Frentzen slid off on the oil. Damon continued to push, challenging Barrichello for third. With only a few laps to go Damon was within a second of the Stewart but due to traffic and being lapped by leader Schumacher he was forced to settle for fourth. Nevertheless it gave the Jordan team further points and Damon's run of bad luck had been broken. Some suggested his change of fortune was due to the shaving off of his beard and moustache!

Monaco was unfortunately as frustrating for Damon in 1999 as it had been the previous year. Having gone strongly on Thursday he had a very heavy crash on Saturday morning, shaking him up and losing valuable track time as the team repaired the car. He never recovered from the set-back and qualified a lowly 17th.
Damon exited the race early on when a risky passing attempt on former team-mate Ralf Schumacher (who had also qualified badly) failed. Frentzen finished 4th to bring Jordan within striking distance of McLaren in the Constructors Championship as Ferrari finished a crushing 1-2. With his 35th career win and his 4th at Monaco, Michael Schumacher became the most successful driver for the Italian team with 16 victories.

Buoyed by recent testing and the announcement of their future involvement with Honda, the Jordan team went to Spain fairly confident. Gambling on the harder tyres for the race, qualifying performance was sacrificed, Heinz-Harald claiming 8th and Damon 11th.
Sunday saw McLaren's first 1-2 (and indeed double finish) of the season, despite a good attempt by Michael to stop them. Sadly Frentzen retired with Jordan's first mechanical failure of the year, leaving Damon to fly the team flag. A late second pit-stop left the Brit battling with Trulli and Barrichello for 6th place as the three leaders came up to lap them. Despite losing time in letting them through, Damon took advantage of the situation to put a bold move on the Stewart driver to finish 7th, just out of the points.

The new narrower cars with their extra grooved tyres had been under increased criticism of late for their nervousness and aerodynamic sensitivity. Damon led the calls for a re-think of the regulations, backed by fellow drivers, designers and even Bernie Ecclestone.
A strong early showing in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix by Damon turned into another frustrating session when he suffered engine problems. He switched to the spare car which was set up for Heinz-Harald, but he was to have a further scare when it failed to brake into one of the corners. Damon finished 14th as Michael Schumacher finally broke Mika Hakkinen's run of Poles.
The race - as in previous years - was one of attrition. Both Jordan drivers were casualties, Damon retiring after a brush with the wall at the exit of the final corner. He was in good company however - Ricardo Zonta, race leader Michael Schumacher and fellow World Champion Jacques Villeneuve all doing the same thing. Unfortunately for Frentzen he too was to succumb to a nasty crash, a brake disc shattering within 4 laps of home when he was running 2nd.
Mika Hakkinen took the first Formula 1 finish behind a safety-car, and in doing so overtook previous leader Schumacher in the Driver's Championship. A "very 'appy" Giancarlo Fisichella finished second, ahead of Eddie Irvine who had driven a storming race to finish third.

On the 16th of June Damon announced that he would retire at the end of 1999 (see his full statement). It was a sad day for the sport, but at least it ended all the speculation and suggestions, leaving Damon free to concentrate on the remainder of the season. Tributes came from many people, Michael Schumacher's being especially poignant.
A long time rival of Damon, Michael said: "I was very surprised when I heard that Damon was retiring. It's a real pity for F1. Despite his age, Damon was still going strong. I think he will be a loss to the sport. We had some great and interesting battles on the track."

Eddie Jordan and his team were split into two with contrasting emotions after the French Grand Prix. A wet qualifying session saw a grid similar to Spa in 1994 and 1995, as Rubens Barrichello took Pole. Heinz-Harald took 5th, but Damon continued to struggle with the car, two exhaust fires leaving him in 18th place. Whereas Eddie Irvine had managed to squeeze below the 107% qualifying time, Damon was 0.003 seconds outside of it. The organisers however allowed him into the race, along with the four cars behind, due to the circumstances.
The first half-hour of the race was dry, but heavy rain after that caused the safety car to come out. Despite running towards the rear of the field, Damon's first pit-stop looked good. Disaster struck when an Arrows clipped him as he exited, forcing him to pit once more. An engine problem caused his eventual retirement from the race. The weekend had been an absolute nightmare for Damon, and he stated it could be one of his last.
Back at the front of the field the lead was alternating between Rubens Barrichello, Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen. In the end though it was Frentzen who took the chequered flag first, a controlled drive and superb strategy meaning he pitted only once. It was his and Jordan's second win.

Pre-race testing and practice for the British Grand Prix saw Damon return to form as he put in competitive times. He wasn't to disappoint in qualifying either, again matching Frentzen to finish one place and 0.108 seconds behind him in 6th, his best of the season. He would end the Sunday morning warm up second only to the McLarens and Michael Schumacher, underlining his confidence in the newly revised car.
Damon made one of his best starts of the season to overtake Frentzen, but it was to come to nothing when the race was red-flagged due to stalled cars on the grid. As the two Ferrari drivers raced side by side into Stowe, Schumacher locked up and ploughed straight on into the barriers, breaking his right leg in the impact. Rear brake failure was diagnosed as the cause.
The race was duly restarted, and this time Damon failed to make such a good getaway, losing out to Ralf Schumacher and remaining behind Heinz-Harald. He stayed with them for the duration, and even led the race briefly during the pit-stops, much to the delight of the home crowd. Damon finished a convincing 5th behind his team-mate, slowing slightly at the end due to another engine problem. The British fans showed their appreciation, but also had further cause for celebration as David Coulthard enjoyed a long-overdue victory ahead of Eddie Irvine.

After going off the road several times exploring the limits and set-up of his car, Damon hooked it all up to finish the first day's free practice for the Austrian Grand Prix with his name at the top of the timesheets. And while both he and Eddie Jordan were pleased, they were quick to point out that this was only Friday.
They were right to do so, as Damon struggled on Saturday. An incredibly close grid (with less than one second covering 4th to 17th) saw Damon end up 11th, with Frentzen heading the pack behind the McLarens and Irvine.
Losing a couple of places at the start, Damon got caught up in the aftermath of the second corner collision between Coulthard and Hakkinen, dropping back considerably. He fought his way back, and by the end of the race was 8th.
The front saw a reversal of Silverstone, with Irvine beating Coulthard to the flag. Heinz-Harald took another 4th to bring Jordan to 34 points in the Constructors Championship, equalling their 1998 total.

A further up-rated engine and aerodynamic tweaks helped the Jordans over the German Grand Prix weekend, and Damon finished Saturday's final practice session fastest. It was Frentzen who delivered in qualifying, narrowly missing out to Hakkinen. Damon suffered with traffic, and could only manage 8th. An incident-packed race saw Ferrari triumph as McLaren faltered. Heinz-Harald took another podium, but Damon struggled with a new brake material, and after three heavy lock-ups, retired from the race.

Unlike his team-mate, Damon raced the new Jordan mid-wing in Hungary, and also continued to run the longer wheelbase car, as he had done in the previous two Grands Prix. Damon had always been a bit of a specialist around this circuit, and he equalled his best grid position of the season to take 6th, a mere 0.003 seconds behind Heinz-Harald. A competitive race from the Englishman saw Damon maintain his remarkable finishing record at the track, taking 6th place.

Thanks to the new E-spec engine and sterling efforts from both drivers, Jordan lined up 3rd and 4th in Belgium, their best combined position in five years. Damon should have placed higher than his team-mate but for a mistake braking into the bus-stop, leaving him four hundredths slower.
Damon made a poor start and dropped several places, but with a good drive and excellent pit-stops, he finished 6th and in the points again. David Coulthard took the win ahead of Mika Hakkinen and Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

Italy was another weekend of two halves for the Jordan team. Heinz-Harald managed to split the McLarens in qualifying to take 2nd, but Damon couldn't hook it all up and over-drove his last run, leaving him 9th. Frentzen looked threatening in the race, and although Hakkinen spun himself out of the lead while under pressure, the German may have been able to beat him anyway.
Damon got off the line well but was boxed in behind Rubens Barrichello. A crucial mistake during Damon's only pit-stop saw him accidentally switch off his engine, resulting in a lengthy delay as it was started up again. This allowed Jacques Villeneuve to get past him, and with his power steering not working either Jean Alesi managed to overtake Damon on the track, leaving him in 10th at the chequered flag. He did however congratulate Frenzten and the team.

Damon was lucky to emerge unscathed from a 150 mph crash in practice for the European Grand Prix. The FIA accepted responsibility for the incident, which was caused by a loose drain cover on the circuit. Damon was the first out in qualifying and only Hakkinen could better his speed in the wet. The times tumbled as the track dried and Damon held Pole several times, at one point with his team-mate alongside him on the front row. It was Frentzen however who ended up fastest, a race-style pit-stop allowing him to be out on fresh tyres at the very end. Damon was pushed down the order to 7th as others went faster.
The race was reminiscent of Spa in 1998, although this time it was Stewart and not Jordan who triumphed. Damon started well but lost all power, unintentionally causing a very nasty looking crash for Pedro Diniz. Alexander Wurz had swerved to avoid Damon and in the process clipped the Brazilian, sending him airborne and then into a roll. He was fortunate to escape with only bruises. Heinz-Harald drove superbly in the changing conditions and maintained his lead after stopping at the same time as David Coulthard. Disaster struck on exiting the pits though when he - like Damon - lost his engine due to an electrical malfunction. With most of the field spinning off or having problems of one sort or another, it was Johnny Herbert who claimed Stewart Grand Prix's first victory, with Barrichello also on the podium. Jackie and his team richly deserved their success, and it was especially significant as the team would be renamed for the coming year as Jaguar. Minardi also had something to celebrate. Luca Badoer was unfortunate to retire from 4th, but Marc Gene finished 6th, giving the Italian team their first point since 1995.

The Malaysian Grand Prix saw the F1 circus move to a completely new track, whose layout and facilities were praised by all the teams and drivers alike. The big news story, however, was of the return of Michael Schumacher. With no possibility of winning the Championship himself, he was back to help support Eddie Irvine and Ferrari. The German had lost none of his speed, and indeed took Pole Position by a staggering 1.1 seconds over the McLarens, with Irvine alongside him on the front row. Jordan meanwhile were having problems getting their cars to work on the slippery circuit. Damon had got as much out of the car as he could and qualified 9th. Heinz-Harald, after a catalogue of misfortunes, could only manage 14th.
Sadly Damon was again to retire on the first lap, this time after being hit from behind by Fisichella in the second corner. Frentzen had a better race, his one-stop strategy allowing him to make up several places in the middle segment, leaving him 6th at the flag. The single point was largely irrelevant, as with neither Williams scoring, Jordan had already secured third place in the Constructors Championship.
Back at the front of the grid Schumacher had shot off into the distance but on lap 4 allowed Irvine through and into the lead. David Coulthard got past the double World Champion, but this actually worked out well for Ferrari as it allowed the German to hold up Hakkinen, and the Scot retired shortly anyway. Michael continued to play the ideal Number Two, and having made only a single stop he allowed his team-mate past him again three laps from the end. The team was elated as both Irvine and Ferrari took the lead of their respective Championships by four points. Controversy and drama ensued, however, when the two drivers were later disqualified for apparently illegal bargeboards. The Italian team appealed the decision, and after almost a week of intense speculation, it was reversed. Both titles were again going down to the wire.

Japan saw the final race of the season - and of Damon's F1 racing career. Much had been made of the special Suzuka-edition Mugan-Honda engine that Jordan were to run. Unfortunately it didn't deliver Pole Position level performance, the honour going to Michael Schumacher for the 23rd time of his career. Having held 5th place early on Damon fell down to 12th by the end of the session. Heinz-Harald fared better, crucially knocking championship contender Eddie Irvine from 4th place in the dying stages.
Schumacher had trouble getting away on the parade lap, and also made a poor start, allowing Mika Hakkinen through and into the lead. Except briefly during the pitstops, the Finn never lost it, and deservedly took the win and his second, consecutive World Championship. David Coulthard got past Irvine during the stops and then played an uncharacteristic blocking role, earning him particularly harsh criticism from Michael when he balked the German after an accident saw the Scot a lap down. Damon meanwhile had a poor race, going off at Spoon and requiring a new front wing. Running down in last place and with little chance of improvement, Damon decided to finish his final Grand Prix with at least some dignity, and on lap 21 pulled into the pits to retire. Frenzten came home fourth to take Jordan's point score to 61, another record for them this year. With Coulthard retiring and Michael and Eddie 2nd and 3rd, Ferrari took the Constructors Championship, which they too had deserved. Other noteworthy achievements were Stewart taking 4th place one point ahead of Williams, and Minardi retaining joint-ninth position after the massively funded and much hyped BAR team failed to score a single point in their debut season.

Damon remarked that 1999 would not be a year he would look back on fondly. Flashes of his old brilliance had shone through in Imola, Spain, Britain, Hungary and Belgium. However, a lack of motivation - not helped by a multitude of mechanical retirements and accidents that were not all his fault - proved that Damon had been right to call it a day.

Despite a disappointing end, Damon's career had been a highly successful one, made even more impressive by its short duration and his late start. In just 115 races he had amassed 22 Wins, 20 Pole Positions, 19 Fastest Laps and 360 points. 42 Podiums, 47 Front Row Starts and - of course - his 1996 World Championship further cemented his name in the record books as one of Formula 1's all time greats, and, as a true sportsman.