Early in the season the car showed huge performance with Irvine winning the opening round in Australia while Schumacher collected podiums along with wins at Imola and Monaco, thereby making Ferrari a serious threat to the McLaren duo of Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard throughout much of the 1999 season. While Irvine would also go on to win back-to-back victories at Austria and Germany along with the inaugural Malaysian Grand Prix, Häkkinen and McLaren had shown great consistency over the season despite 4 retirements over the course of the season. Ferrari's championship aspirations also took a beating after Schumacher had broken his leg at Silverstone, resulting in Ferrari briefly replacing him with Mika Salo during the midway point of the season. Salo performed well, handing victory to Irvine in Germany and finishing third at Monza. The team were briefly excluded from Malaysia after the stewards found out that their bargeboards were illegal, meaning that Häkkinen and McLaren were effectively handed their respective championships by default. However, Ferrari managed to appeal against the FIA's decision in court and both of their drivers were subsequently reinstated. After the season had ended, Häkkinen had claimed the driver's title by two points from Irvine while Ferrari claimed the constructor's title by four points from McLaren.
The chassis of the Ferrari F399 was almost identical to its predecessor, the F300. It had a reinforced carbon-fibre and honeycomb monocoque structure that could protect the driver from most accidents. The engine was an MR layout. Changes from the F300 was that front wing was slightly modified, the sidepods were waisted, and the exhaust was improved in order so that Ferrari could push harder in their fight with McLaren. The suspension for the front and rear areas of the car were the pushrod/double wishbone suspension systems that still exist today in Formula 1. The car also has wheel tethers on each wheel to prevent the tires from hitting the driver's head, a regulation that is still used by Formula One to this day. The engine is an 750 BHP, 80-degree 3.0 litre V10 engine manufactured by Ferrari called the Tipo048/B/C. It also bears a 7-shift transmission that was in all Formula One cars until the teams started using 8-shift transmission gearboxes since the 2014 season began. The car also used Shell fuel to power its engine while the tyres, which were designed by Bridgestone, now had 4 grooves on all 4 tyres instead of 3 grooves on the front tyres. The new tyres with four grooves were a new rule change for the 1999 season and onward in the V10 era of the sport.
