McLaren's Mika Häkkinen won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in highly controversial circumstances on this day in 1998.
The Finn was all but cruising to victory, owing to rival Michael Schumacher's retirement on lap six with an engine failure. However, Häkkinen mistakenly entered the pits on lap 36, claiming he had been called in. This blunder gave the lead to McLaren team-mate David Coulthard. However, a few laps before the end of the race, Coulthard let Häkkinen pass on the front straight. The two had made a pre-race agreement that between the two of them, the driver who led at the first corner would go on to win the race, should he be in the position to do so.
Häkkinen would go on to claim seven more victories in 1998, en-route to his first drivers' world championship.
Click here to read Motor Sport's race report from Albert Park
Click here to read Mika Häkkinen's Motor Sport profile.
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