broke on lap 20, meanwhile Hill retired after spinning off the track but managed to come back to the pits to retire with mental driver fatigue on lap 21 in his final grand prix, Coulthard passed Irvine for third during the first round of pit stops. However, on lap 34, he made a mistake and spun into a wall, losing his nose. He pitted and rejoined a lap down, just in front of Schumacher. It was alleged that the Scot deliberately held up the German driver, before retiring several laps later with a hydraulic failure. Schumacher later criticized Coulthard's behaviour. Häkkinen eventually took the chequered flag five seconds ahead of Schumacher and, with it, his second Drivers' Championship. Irvine finished a minute and a half behind Schumacher in third, nonetheless helping Ferrari secure their first Constructors' Championship since . The minor points went to Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher and Alesi. Classification Qualifying Race Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Constructors Championship standings Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References Japanese Grand Prix Japanese Grand Prix Grand Prix Japanese Grand Prix