Williams entered the season with an all-new driver pairing. Ralf Schumacher, who had driven for Jordan in 1998, switched to Williams for the new season, and was partnered with Alessandro Zanardi, whose last stint in Formula One, for Lotus, had ended at the end of the 1994 season. In the meantime, the Italian had won the 1997 and 1998 CART titles for Chip Ganassi Racing. Heinz-Harald Frentzen completed a straight swap with the younger Schumacher, taking the vacant seat at Jordan alongside 1996 champion Damon Hill. Frentzen's 1998 teammate, the 1997 World Drivers' Champion Jacques Villeneuve, moved to the newly founded BAR team, who also utilised a completely new lineup. Villeneuve was partnered with the 1998 McLaren test driver and FIA GT1 champion Ricardo Zonta, one of three rookies on the grid at the beginning of the season.