The 1998 Australian Grand Prix (formally the 1998 Qantas Australian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at the Albert Park street circuit in inner Melbourne on 8 March 1998 at 14:00 AEDT (UTC+10). It was the 63rd race in the combined history of the Australian Grand Prix that dates back to the 100 Miles Road Race of 1928. It was the first of the sixteen races of the 1998 FIA Formula One World Championship and held over 58 laps of the 5.3 kilometre street circuit and the sixth to be held on the Albert Park venue first used in 1953, or the third since the new circuit first hosted the race in 1996. The race was dominated by the McLaren-Mercedes team and won by Mika Häkkinen over his teammate David Coulthard in controversial circumstances. Williams driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen finished third, more than one lap behind. The race also represented the first win for Japanese tyre manufacturer Bridgestone in Formula One and the first race since the 1991 Canadian Grand Prix not won by Goodyear. Johnny Herbert scored his only point of the season. Race summary The McLarens of Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard made good starts from the front row of the grid, but Ferrari's Michael Schumacher, starting third, also had a good start and tried to overtake second place Coulthard. The Ferrari driver stayed with the McLarens, but retired on lap 6 when his engine failed. This handed third place to the Williams of Jacques Villeneuve, who was being chased by Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella. After the first round of pitstops, Villeneuve found himself behind teammate Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Ferrari's Eddie Irvine and Fisichella. Fisichella was able to pass Frentzen for third but then retired with mechanical failure, leaving Frentzen to finish just ahead of Eddie Irvine's Ferrari which had gambled on a one-stop strategy. Villeneuve was lapped soon after this by the McLarens, but he still managed to finish in fifth place. On lap 36 Häkkinen came into the pits unexpectedly, apparently having misheard a call over the radio. He drove straight through the pitlane and rejoined the race without stopping, but lost first place to teammate Coulthard. In 2007, McLaren boss Ron Dennis claimed that someone had tapped into the team's radio system: We do not and have not manipulated Grands Prix, unless there were some exceptional circumstances, which occurred in Australia [1998], when someone had