The 1998 season is now behind us, experienced as a transitional year between Briatore's management and the new leadership headed by Welshman David Richards and Rocco Benetton, the fourth son of team owner Luciano. At the end of the championship, one recalls the words spoken by Richards and Benetton in January '98 during the presentation of the new organizational structure of the Treviso-based team, when the two spoke of a project aimed at laying the foundations for long-term success. Unfortunately, the disappointing '98 season foreshadowed nothing more than a mediocre '99, and indeed the new Benetton B199 turned out to be a modest car with mid-field performance.
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| BENETTON B199, Alexander Wurz Spa-Francorchamps, Belgian GP 1999 |
Pat Symonds, a member of the team since the Toleman days, was confirmed as technical director, continuing to work closely with Nick Wirth, who, following Brawn's move to Ferrari, had now firmly taken on the role of Chief Designer. The crucial aerodynamics department still relied on the young James Allison, an engineer who would later establish himself definitively in the 2000s, contributing to the design of the Ferraris that won five consecutive titles with Schumacher, the Renaults that clinched two titles with Alonso, and later Hamilton's Mercedes from 2018 to 2020. Despite a wind tunnel built exclusively for the Benetton team at their English headquarters in Enstone at the end of '98, the engineers could do little starting from the mediocre B198 of the previous year.
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| BENETTON B199, Giancarlo Fisichella Imola, San Marino GP 1999 |
The chassis of the new B199 retained the classic carbon-fiber honeycomb structure but was redesigned at the front, now much more tapered than before. The slimness of the new nose was echoed in the design of the sidepods, which were slightly lower, set further back, and featured smaller intakes compared to recent Enstone single-seaters. Allison’s work in the new wind tunnel was also evident in the rear, which, while maintaining the rounded shapes of its predecessor, now appeared much more refined.
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| BENETTON B199, Alexander Wurz Hungaroring, Hungarian GP 1999 |
For the engine supply, the collaboration with Supertec continued into '99. Supertec, a branch of the Dutch company Super Performance Competition Engineering, had signed an exclusive distribution agreement in May 1998 with Mecachrome for the V10 GC37 (formerly Renault RS9) engines starting in the 1999 season. For sponsorship reasons only, the French V10 in the Benetton 199 was renamed Playlife, a fashion company based in Treviso, Italy, under the Benetton umbrella, though it remained the same Renault RS9 from '97 already used in '98 under the Playlife name. With only minor improvements to small details and nothing more, the French V10 maintained its renowned reliability, but without further developments, already evident in the previous season, its power output proved inadequate compared to top rivals Ferrari, Mercedes, and Honda, who, with their own upgrades, surpassed the French engine by at least fifty horsepower. On the '99 car, the team used a new six-speed semi-automatic sequential gearbox with a new dual-clutch system and an updated torque distribution mechanism.
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| BENETTON B199, Giancarlo Fisichella Spa-Francorchamps, Belgian GP 1999 |
The livery of the new B199 strongly recalled that of the previous season, with white and light blue dominating, although for '99 the classic Benetton green returned as well. Despite the team's preseason testing efforts, where the two main drivers from the previous season, Italian Giancarlo Fisichella and Austrian Alexander Wurz, along with French test driver Laurent Redon, covered no less than 4,127 km, once the championship began, the true potential of the B199 proved very limited. After a somewhat encouraging start to the season, with Fisichella managing three points finishes and one podium in the first seven races, from the French Grand Prix onward the '99 season turned into a true ordeal for the Treviso team's cars, with only Wurz managing a modest fifth place in Austria. At the end of the season, the Enstone cars collected just 16 points, finishing sixth in the Constructors' Championship, the team's worst result to date.
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