All teams competed with tyres supplied by Bridgestone. The Stewart team was renamed Jaguar Racing, with the team's engines rebadged as Cosworths. Minardi’s engines were rebadged as Fondmetal engines, a change linked to financial input from Gabriele Rumi, and the car’s colour was changed to fluorescent yellow. Williams switched to BMW engines, marking BMW’s return to Formula One after over a decade of absence. BAR signed a deal with Honda to use their engines, ending Honda’s previous stint as an engine supplier which had ended in 1992. Arrows switched to Supertec engines following the departure of engine designer Brian Hart.
Rubens Barrichello moved from Stewart to Ferrari, swapping places with Eddie Irvine who joined Jaguar. Damon Hill retired from Formula One at the end of the 1999 season, with Jarno Trulli moving from Prost to Jordan to fill his seat. Olivier Panis left Prost to become a test driver for McLaren, with Jean Alesi and Nick Heidfeld joining Prost. Mika Salo signed for Sauber after being a substitute driver for Ricardo Zonta and Michael Schumacher in 1999. Jenson Button debuted for Williams, beating Bruno Junqueira in a ‘shoot-out’ test, replacing Alessandro Zanardi. Toranosuke Takagi left Formula One to drive in Formula Nippon, with Jos Verstappen taking his place at Arrows. Gastón Mazzacane was promoted to a Minardi race drive, replacing Luca Badoer. Luciano Burti deputised for an ill Eddie Irvine at Austria.
To keep costs down, the V10 engine configuration was made fully mandatory. A change to red flag procedure was introduced, where races stopped after two laps but before three-quarters race distance would be restarted with the cars lining up in the order they were at the end of the penultimate lap. Using cooled fuel during a Grand Prix was banned with immediate effect on 7 September. This was the last full season for cars competing without traction control, launch control, and fully-automatic gearboxes.
The United States Grand Prix returned to the calendar after a nine-year absence, being held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The British Grand Prix at Silverstone) was moved to 23 April, despite attempts by F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone to move the French Grand Prix to the same date, creating a point of contention. The European Grand Prix at Nürburgring was moved to a spring/summer date on 21 May.
The season began in Australia, with Michael Schumacher winning, followed by Rubens Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher. In Brazil, Schumacher won again, but the race was overshadowed by controversy as all the top six finishers with the exception of Fisichella were initially excluded due to problems with their wooden floors. The exclusion was later partially overturned, restoring the results for most drivers. At the San Marino Grand Prix, Schumacher secured another victory, with Häkkinen second and Coulthard third. Coulthard then won the British Grand Prix, ahead of Häkkinen and Schumacher.
Häkkinen won the Spanish Grand Prix, with Coulthard second and Barrichello third. Schumacher won the European Grand Prix, ahead of Häkkinen and Coulthard. At Monaco, Coulthard won, with Barrichello and Fisichella completing the podium. Schumacher won the Canadian Grand Prix, with Barrichello second and Fisichella third.
Coulthard won the French Grand Prix, with Häkkinen second and Barrichello third. Häkkinen won the Austrian Grand Prix, with Coulthard second and Barrichello third. Schumacher won the German Grand Prix, with Häkkinen second and Ralf Schumacher third. Häkkinen won the Hungarian Grand Prix, with Schumacher and Coulthard following.
Schumacher won the Belgian Grand Prix, with Häkkinen and Ralf Schumacher following. In Italy, Schumacher won, but the race was tragically marked by the death of a fire marshal after being struck by a wheel during a multi-car collision at the start. Schumacher secured the championship at the Japanese Grand Prix, winning the race with Häkkinen and Coulthard finishing second and third. The final race in Malaysia was won by Schumacher, with Coulthard and Barrichello completing the podium, also securing the Constructors’ Championship for Ferrari.
Michael Schumacher was champion with 108 points, Häkkinen was second with 89, and Coulthard third with 73. Ferrari won the Constructors’ Championship with 170 points, McLaren was second with 152, and Williams was third with 36.
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