2000 Italian Grand Prix

Italy  2000 Italian Grand Prix
Race details
Race 14 of 17 in the 2000 Formula One season

Autodromo Nazionale Monza (Modified in 2000)
Date 10 September 2000
Official name LXXI Gran Premio Vodafone d'Italia
Location Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy
Course Permanent racing facility
5.793 km (3.600 mi)
Distance 53 laps, 306.719 km (190.586 mi)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari
Time 1:23.770
Fastest lap
Driver Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes
Time 1:25.595 on lap 50
Podium
First Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari
Second Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes
Third Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW

The 2000 Italian Grand Prix (formally the LXXI Gran Premio Vodafone d'Italia) was a Formula One motor race held on 10 September 2000 at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza near Monza, Italy. It was the fourteenth race of the 2000 Formula One season. The race, contested over 53 laps, was won by Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher after starting from pole position. Mika Häkkinen finished second in a McLaren car with Ralf Schumacher third for the Williams team.

Michael Schumacher's win was his sixth of the season and Ferrari's seventh. The event was marred by tragedy as a first lap accident claimed the life of a trackside marshal.

Report

Background

The Grand Prix was contested by eleven teams, each of two drivers.[1] The teams, also known as constructors were, McLaren, Ferrari, Jordan, Jaguar, Williams, Benetton, Prost, Sauber, Arrows, Minardi and BAR.[1] Tyre supplier Bridgestone brought four different tyre types to the race: two dry compounds, the medium and the hard, and two wet-weather compounds, the intermediate and full wet.[2]

Going into the race, McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen led the Drivers' Championship with 74 points, ahead of Michael Schumacher on 68 points and David Coulthard on 61 points. Rubens Barrichello was fourth with 49 points with Ralf Schumacher fifth on 20 points.[2] In the Constructors' Championship McLaren were leading with 125 points, Ferrari and Williams were second and third with 117 and 30 points, respectively, while Benetton with 18 points and Jordan with 13 points contended for fourth place.[2] Ferrari and McLaren had so far dominated the championship winning the previous thirteen races. Championship competitor Giancarlo Fisichella had gained one second place podium finish, while Ralf Schumacher, Heinz-Harald Frentzen had achieved third place podium finishes.

Over the month of July, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza race track was resurfaced in an effort to reduce its bumpiness. The Prima Variante and Seconda Variante chicanes were reconfigured by the race organisers to become a series of narrower corners with the exit away from the entry of turn 1. Some of the drivers, however, were unhappy with the modifications, though, as there were fears of a multi-car accident on the first lap.[3] Coulthard claimed that the new corner would make braking more difficult and was concerned over the amount of penalties issued to other competitors.[3] However, Michael Schumacher believed his and other teams would be less concerned with suspension damage.[3]

Following the Belgian Grand Prix on 27 August, the teams conducted a four-day testing session at the Monza circuit and concentrated on optimising their car set-ups for low downforce.[4] Jos Verstappen set the quickest times on the first day, ahead of Pedro Diniz.[5] Coulthard was quickest on the second day. Fisichella suffered a high speed crash going into the Ascari chicane, bringing a brief halt to testing.[6] Jacques Villeneuve set the quickest times on the third day as rain shortened the team's running. Minardi's Gaston Mazzacane suffered a high speed accident at the Ascari chicane, forcing testing to be stopped.[7] Ralf Schumacher was fastest on the fourth day. Michael Schumacher's car developed a malfunction and pulled off the race track, limiting Ferrari's testing time as the car's power unit was changed.[8]

Practice and qualifying

Four practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—two on Friday, and two on Saturday. The Friday morning and afternoon sessions each lasted an hour. The third and final practice sessions were held on Saturday morning and lasted 45 minutes.[9] Barrichello set the first session's fastest time with a lap of 1:25.057, three-tenths of a second ahead of Jarno Trulli. Michael Schumacher was one-tenth of a second off Trulli's pace, while Coulthard set the fourth fastest time. The two Arrows drivers rounded out the top six; Pedro de la Rosa ahead of Jos Verstappen.[10] In the second practice session, Barrichello was again fastest setting an identical lap time; Michael Schumacher finished with the second fastest time. Trulli set the third fastest time, with the two McLaren drivers fourth and fifth, Häkkinen ahead of Coulthard. Eddie Irvine rounded out the top six. Jean Alesi's Prost car was afflicted by an hydraulic leak; this restricted him to three timed laps, and he was slowest overall. Alexander Wurz suffered an similar problem and set the 18th fastest time.[11]

The Saturday practice sessions were again held in dry and sunny conditions. Michael Schumacher set the fastest time of the session, a 1:24.262. The Williams drivers were running quickly—Jenson Button in second and Ralf Schumacher fifth—they were separated by Coulthard and Barrichello and Fisichella rounded out the top six positions.[12] In the final practice session, Michael Schumacher again set the fastest time, a 1:23.904; Barrichello set the third fastest time. They were separated by Häkkinen with team-mate Coulthard clinching the fourth fastest time. The Williams drivers rounded out the top six; Ralf Schumacher ahead of Button. Mazzacane again suffered problems with his car when his engine ran out of air pressure and was forced to stop on the track.[13]

Saturday's afternoon qualifying session lasted for an hour. During this session, the 107% rule was in effect, which necessitated each driver set a time within 107% of the quickest lap to qualify for the race. Each driver was limited to twelve laps.[9] The session was held in dry conditions; the air temperature was 22 °C (72 °F) and the track temperature was 34 °C (93 °F).[14] Michael Schumacher achieved his sixth pole position of the season, his second at Monza, with a time of 1:23.770. He was joined on the front row by Barrichello who was just off his team-mate's pace.[15] Häkkinen qualified third, though he believed he could have set a faster time as he struggled with the handling on his car. Villeneuve qualified fourth, nearly half a second behind Michael Schumacher, and stated that he was happy with his performance. Häkkinen's team-mate Coulthard qualified fifth. Trulli, Ralf Schumacher, Frentzen, Fisichella and de la Rosa rounded out the top ten. Verstappen qualified 11th having been forced to use two of his team's cars when they developed hydraulic and engine problems.[16] Button qualified 12th and said he overheated his tyres after running insufficient amounts of downforce.[17]

Race

The conditions for the race were dry with the air temperature 25 °C (77 °F) and the track temperature 37 °C (99 °F).[14] The drivers took to the track at 09:30 (UTC +1) for an 30-minute warm-up session.[9] It took place in dry weather conditions. Zonta set the fastest time of the session, a 1:26.448, six hundredths of a second faster than Häkkinen, in second place. Michael Schumacher had the third fastest time, ahead of Coulthard in fourth and Verstappen in fifth, with Salo rounding out the top six.[18]

The race started at 14:00 local time. Michael Schumacher maintained his lead going into the first corner withstanding Häkkinen's attempts to pass. Barrichello dropped to third position. Heading into the first corner, Salo and Irvine made contact, with the Finn suffering an puncture and the Jaguar driver retired from the race. Going into the chicane, Frentzen collided with Barrichello and collected Trulli and Coulthard. Trulli's car lost its left rear tyre which struck fire marshal Paolo Ghislimberti.[19] Behind them, de la Rosa collided with Herbert and was sent airborne. The accidents prompted the deployment of the safety car at the end of the first lap. Both Sauber drivers, Herbert and Zonta all made pit stops for repairs.[20] Ghislimberti suffered from head and chest injuries and was given an heart massage before being taken to Monza Hospital. Salo became the fifth driver to pit on lap 8.[21] During the end of the safety car period, Button swerved to avoid team-mate Ralf Schumacher and collided with the barriers, sustaining damage to his car. He later went off at turn 9 and became the race's second retirement on lap 11.[20]

When the race restarted on lap 12, Michael Schumacher led, while Häkkinen and Villeneuve were running second and third. Behind them were Ralf Schumacher, Fisichella, Wurz, Gene, Heidfeld, Zonta, Mazzacane, Diniz, Salo and Alesi.[21] Michael Schumacher began to immediately pull away from Häkkinen as he set consecutive fastest laps. Further down the field, Wurz overtook Diniz and Mazzacane for 10th position.[20] By the start of lap 13, Michael Schumacher led Häkkinen by 2.1 seconds.[21] Further back, Zonta passed Heidfeld to take ninth. On lap 14, Zonta moved up into 7th position after passing Gené and Wurz. Villeneuve became the third retirement of the race with gearbox problems on the same lap. Meanwhile, Verstappen overtook Fisichella to take 4th position.[20] Heidfeld retired after spinning off at turn 3 on lap 15.[21] One lap later, Ralf Schumacher lost two positions after being passed by Verstappen and Zonta.[20]

Salo passed Button to claim 9th position on lap 17. Zonta overtook Verstappen to take 3rd place four laps later.[20] Michael Schumacher lapped consistently in the 1:26 range, setting the new fastest lap of the race on lap 22, a 1:26.428, to extend his lead over Häkkinen by 5.4 seconds.[21] On lap 23, Zonta became the first front runner to make a scheduled pit stop and emerged in 11th position. Salo continued to move up the field when he passed Wurz for sixth on lap 25. Three laps later, Zonta moved into ninth position after he overtook Mazzacane and Diniz. Salo pitted for the second time on lap 29 and emerged in 10th place. Verstappen took his pit stop three laps later and came out in seventh position. Zonta made his third and final pit stop of the race on lap 36 and dropped to eighth position. Michael Schumacher took his pit stop on lap 39 and exited behind Häkkinen. Three laps later, Häkkinen pitted and rejoined behind Michael Schumacher. Fisichella was the final driver to make a scheduled stop on lap 44.[20][21]

At the completition of lap 45, with the scheduled pit stops completed, the race order was Michael Schumacher, Häkkinen, Ralf Schumacher, Verstappen, Wurz, Zonta, Salo, Diniz, Gené, Mazzacane, Fisichella and Alesi.[21] Häkkinen was able to close the gap to Michael Schumacher on lap 50 to five seconds, but it appeared that the German would be unchallenged.[20] Michael Schumacher crossed the finish line on lap 53 to clinch his sixth victory of the season in a time of 1'27:31.368, at an average speed of 130.260 miles per hour (209.633 km/h). Häkkinen finished in second position 3.8 seconds behind, ahead of Ralf Schumacher in third, Verstappen in fourth, Wurz in fifth and Zonta rounding out the points scoring positions in sixth. Salo, Diniz, Gené, Mazzacane and Fisichella completed the next five positions and were one lap behind the winner, with Alesi the last of the classified finishers.

Post-race

The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and in the subsequent press conference. Schumacher broke into tears when asked if matching Senna's number of wins meant a lot to him. He did not answer further questions during the interviews as he tried to regain his composure, and has never spoken about the cause of the outburst.

The podium finishers were overshadowed in the media by coverage of the first lap accident at the Variante della Roggia corner. Barrichello placed blame upon Frentzen for starting the accident and demanded that the Jordan driver be banned for ten races. He also added that his helmet was damaged from his collision with de la Rosa.[22] Frentzen reacted by suggesting that Barrichello braked earlier which forced him to make contact with team-mate Trulli.[23] Criticism also emerged about how the incident was treated from several figures in Formula One. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Race Director Charlie Whiting defended his decision not to stop the race saying that the safety car was deployed as all cars involved were in the run-off areas and that he believed stopping the race would be dangerous. However, he admitted that he was not aware about Ghislimberti's condition when making the decision.[24]

Bernie Ecclestone, the owner of Formula One's commercial rights, called for the removal of chicanes from racing circuits labelling them "silly and unnecessary".[24] FIA president Max Mosley subsequently announced that safety measures would be reviewed and stated an review of the Monza track would take place.[25] Former driver Jacques Laffite advocated an electronic warning system for marshals and believed that a review of chicanes should have taken place.[26]

Ghislimberti was later pronounced dead at Monza Hospital. His death became the first Formula One related fatality since the death of Ayrton Senna in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix and the first for a bystander since Osella mechanic Giovanni Amadeo was killed in the pitlane at Zolder during the 1981 Belgian Grand Prix. On 15 September, he was given a funeral at the San Ulderico church, Lavis and attended by several drivers, friends and colleagues.[27] As a result of Ghislimberti's death, wheel tethers were introduced to stop flying tyres being a danger to the drivers, safety officials and fans. In 2004 a safety fence was placed at the Variante Della Roggia.

Hours after the race, five cars involved in the accident were impounded by Italian authorities.[28] Race stewards concluded the incident was an "racing accident" with no further action being taken. Magistrate Salvatore Bellomo opened a formal investigation into the crash and interviewed drivers.[29]

As a consequence of the race, Häkkinen's lead in the Drivers' Championship was reduced by four points to two, ahead of Michael Schumacher. Coulthard remained in third on 61 points. In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren's lead was reduced to four points.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 3 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:23.770
2 4 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:23.797 +0.027
3 1 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:23.967 +0.197
4 22 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1:24.238 +0.468
5 2 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:24.290 +0.520
6 6 Italy Jarno Trulli Jordan-Mugen-Honda 1:24.477 +0.707
7 9 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:24.516 +0.746
8 5 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Mugen-Honda 1:24.786 +1.016
9 11 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Playlife 1:24.789 +1.019
10 18 Spain Pedro de la Rosa Arrows-Supertec 1:24.814 +1.044
11 19 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Arrows-Supertec 1:24.820 +1.050
12 10 United Kingdom Jenson Button Williams-BMW 1:24.907 +1.137
13 12 Austria Alexander Wurz Benetton-Playlife 1:25.150 +1.380
14 7 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth 1:25.251 +1.481
15 17 Finland Mika Salo Sauber-Petronas 1:25.322 +1.552
16 16 Brazil Pedro Diniz Sauber-Petronas 1:25.324 +1.554
17 23 Brazil Ricardo Zonta BAR-Honda 1:25.337 +1.567
18 8 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Jaguar-Cosworth 1:25.388 +1.618
19 14 France Jean Alesi Prost-Peugeot 1:25.558 +1.788
20 15 Germany Nick Heidfeld Prost-Peugeot 1:25.625 +1.855
21 20 Spain Marc Gené Minardi-Fondmetal 1:26.336 +2.566
22 21 Argentina Gastón Mazzacane Minardi-Fondmetal 1:27.360 +3.590
Source:[30]

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 3 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 53 1:27:31.638 1 10
2 1 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 53 +3.810 3 6
3 9 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 53 +52.432 7 4
4 19 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Arrows-Supertec 53 +59.938 11 3
5 12 Austria Alexander Wurz Benetton-Playlife 53 +1:07.426 13 2
6 23 Brazil Ricardo Zonta BAR-Honda 53 +1:09.293 17 1
7 17 Finland Mika Salo Sauber-Petronas 52 +1 Lap 15  
8 16 Brazil Pedro Diniz Sauber-Petronas 52 +1 Lap 16  
9 20 Spain Marc Gené Minardi-Fondmetal 52 +1 Lap 21  
10 21 Argentina Gastón Mazzacane Minardi-Fondmetal 52 +1 Lap 22  
11 11 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Playlife 52 +1 Lap 9  
12 14 France Jean Alesi Prost-Peugeot 51 +2 Laps 19  
Ret 15 Germany Nick Heidfeld Prost-Peugeot 15 Spun off 20  
Ret 22 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 14 Electrical 4  
Ret 10 United Kingdom Jenson Button Williams-BMW 10 Accident 12  
Ret 8 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Jaguar-Cosworth 1 Collision damage 18  
Ret 4 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 0 Collision 2  
Ret 2 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 0 Collision 5  
Ret 6 Italy Jarno Trulli Jordan-Mugen-Honda 0 Collision 6  
Ret 5 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Mugen-Honda 0 Collision 8  
Ret 18 Spain Pedro de la Rosa Arrows-Supertec 0 Collision 10  
Ret 7 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth 0 Spun off 14  
Source:[31]

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 Finland Mika Häkkinen 80
2 Germany Michael Schumacher 78
3 United Kingdom David Coulthard 61
4 Brazil Rubens Barrichello 49
5 Germany Ralf Schumacher 24
Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 131
2 Italy Ferrari 127
3 United Kingdom Williams-BMW 34
4 Italy Benetton-Playlife 20
5 Republic of Ireland Jordan-Mugen-Honda 13

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Formula One Teams and Drivers (2000)". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original on 5 June 2000. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Tytler, Ewan (6 September 2000). "The Italian GP Preview". Atlas F1. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Drivers wary of first corner carnage at Monza". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. 2 September 2000. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  4. ↑ "Teams being testing at Monza". GrandPrix.com (Inside F1, Inc.). 29 August 2000. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  5. ↑ "Teams Back to Work at Monza - Day One". Atlas F1 (Haymarket Publications). 29 August 2000. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  6. ↑ Righetti, Tom (30 August 2000). "Formula One: Fisichella crashes in Monza testing". The Telegraph (Telegraph Media Group). Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  7. ↑ "Rain Shortens Monza Testing - Day Three". Atlas F1 (Haymarket Publications). 31 August 2000. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  8. ↑ "Ralf Schumacher quickest in Friday testing at Monza". GrandPrix.com (Inside F1, Inc.). 1 September 2000. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "2000 Formula One Sporting Regulations". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 24 January 2000. Archived from the original on 24 August 2000. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  10. ↑ "Friday First Free Practice - Italian GP". Atlas F1 (Haymarket Publications). 8 September 2000. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  11. ↑ "Friday Second Free Practice - Italian GP". Atlas F1 (Haymarket Publications). 8 September 2000. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  12. ↑ "Saturday First Free Practice - Italian GP". Atlas F1 (Haymarket Publications). 9 September 2000. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  13. ↑ "Saturday Second Free Practice - Italian GP". Atlas F1 (Haymarket Publications). 9 September 2000. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Grand Prix of Italy". Gale Force F1. 10 September 2000. Archived from the original on 29 April 2007. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  15. ↑ "Schumacher heads grid". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 9 September 2000. Archived from the original on 17 April 2001. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  16. ↑ "Schumacher on Pole; Qualifying Results - Italian GP". Atlas F1 (Haymarket Publications). 9 September 2000. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  17. ↑ "Free Practice + Qualifying". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 9 September 2000. Archived from the original on 8 July 2001. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  18. ↑ Reuters (10 September 2000). "Sunday Warm-Up - Italian GP". Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  19. ↑ "Grand Prix Results: Italian GP 2000". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 20.7 "Race Facts". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 10 September 2000. Archived from the original on 18 June 2001. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 21.6 "Lap-by-Lap: Grand Prix of Italy". Gale Force F1. 10 September 2000. Archived from the original on 4 January 2005. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  22. ↑ "Barrichello claims Frentzen must be banned for 10 races". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. 10 September 2000. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  23. ↑ "Frentzen says Monza Accident Not his Fault". Atlas F1. Haymarket Publishing. 12 September 2000. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 "FIA explain no Red Flag". Gale Force F1. 14 September 2000. Archived from the original on 3 May 2007. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  25. ↑ "Mosley promises action after Monza tragedy". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. 12 September 2000. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  26. ↑ "Laffite Wants Warning System to Protect Marshalls". Atlas F1. Haymarket Publications. 10 September 2000. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  27. ↑ "Formula One says good-bye to Paulo". GPUpdate. 15 September 2000. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  28. ↑ "Italian police impound crashed cars at Monza". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. 10 September 2000. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  29. ↑ Allsop, Derick (11 September 2000). "Tragedy mars Ferrari's homecoming". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  30. ↑ "2000 Italian GP - Qualification". ChicaneF1.com. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  31. ↑ "2000 Italian Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula One Management. Archived from the original on 5 July 2007. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2000 Italian Grand Prix.
Previous race:
2000 Belgian Grand Prix		 FIA Formula One World Championship
2000 season		 Next race:
2000 United States Grand Prix
Previous race:
1999 Italian Grand Prix		 Italian Grand Prix Next race:
2001 Italian Grand Prix

Coordinates: 45°36′56″N 9°16′52″E / 45.61556°N 9.28111°E