2001 Brazilian Grand Prix

  2001 Brazilian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 3 of 17 in the 2001 Formula One season
Date	April 1, 2001
Official name	XXX Grande Prêmio Marlboro do Brasil
Location	Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo, Brazil
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.309 km (2.677 mi)
Distance	71 laps, 305.939 km (190.067 mi)
Weather	Dry first, rain later; Air temp: 30°C
Pole position
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Time	1:13.780
Fastest lap
Driver	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW
Time	1:15.693 on lap 38
Podium
First	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes
Second	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Third	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas
Lap leaders

The 2001 Brazilian Grand Prix (formally the XXX Grande Prêmio Marlboro do Brasil) was a Formula One motor race held on 1 April 2001 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo, Brazil. It was the third race of the 2001 Formula One season. The race, contested over 71 laps, was won by McLaren driver David Coulthard after starting from fifth position. Michael Schumacher finished second in a Ferrari with Nick Heidfeld third for the Sauber team.

The race was Coulthard's first win of the season, and the result meant he reduced the lead of Schumacher in the Drivers' Championship to six points along with moving up to second place, 10 points ahead of Rubens Barrichello. McLaren reduced the lead to Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship to 15 points, with 14 races of the season remaining.

Report

A significant overtaking maneuver took place very early in the race. The safety car was brought onto the track because McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen had stalled on the starting grid. When the safety car came in, F1 rookie Juan Pablo Montoya overtook defending champion Michael Schumacher.

Rubens Barrichello had problems before he even got on the grid and had to switch to the spare car. He then slammed into the back of Ralf Schumacher on the restart, retiring on the spot. Ralf Schumacher limped back to the pits, but was in for a long time replacing the rear wing; he later spun off when the track was wet.

By lap 39 Montoya was leading by more than 30 seconds over Michael Schumacher.^[1] However, he retired after a crash while he was lapping Jos Verstappen. Verstappen let Montoya by, but as he pulled in behind Montoya while braking for turn 4 his Arrows slammed violently into the back of Montoya's Williams and both men were out of the race.

Soon after Montoya's retirement it began to rain heavily, forcing everyone to change tyres. Some went onto full-wet tyres while others chose the intermediates.

Michael Schumacher was fighting understeer all race, and despite planning to stop twice instead of once was only able to run at the pace of Montoya and Coulthard. However he was right back in the hunt after he had pitted early. He still needed to pit again for fuel anyway but was able to change tires as well. Coulthard, who had made his one and only stop, stayed out an extra lap which at that point looked costly.

But then Schumacher, with a dry-weather set up on his car, spun soon after exiting the pit lane, allowing Coulthard right back on his tail.

This led to a second important overtaking move of the race, this one by David Coulthard. He passed Schumacher with the aid of a backmarker, rather similar to his teammate Mika Häkkinen's move on Schumacher at the Belgian Grand Prix the previous season.

Coulthard went on to win, while Schumacher suffered another off on his way to second place. Nick Heidfeld took his first-ever podium driving for Sauber. It was also Sauber's first podium since Jean Alesi's at the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Lap	Gap
1	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:13.780	-
2	5	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	1:14.090	+0.310
3	3	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:14.122	+0.342
4	6	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	1:14.165	+0.385
5	4	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:14.178	+0.398
6	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	1:14.191	+0.411
7	12	Jarno Trulli	Jordan-Honda	1:14.630	+0.850
8	11	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Honda	1:14.633	+0.853
9	16	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas	1:14.810	+1.030
10	17	Kimi Räikkönen	Sauber-Petronas	1:14.924	+1.144
11	9	Olivier Panis	BAR-Honda	1:15.046	+1.266
12	10	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	1:15.180	+1.400
13	18	Eddie Irvine	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:15.192	+1.412
14	19	Luciano Burti	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:15.371	+1.591
15	22	Jean Alesi	Prost-Acer	1:15.437	+1.657
16	15	Enrique Bernoldi	Arrows-Asiatech	1:15.657	+1.877
17	14	Jos Verstappen	Arrows-Asiatech	1:15.704	+1.924
18	7	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Renault	1:16.175	+2.395
19	21	Fernando Alonso	Minardi-European	1:16.184	+2.404
20	8	Jenson Button	Benetton-Renault	1:16.229	+2.449
21	23	Gastón Mazzacane	Prost-Acer	1:16.520	+2.740
22	20	Tarso Marques	Minardi-European	1:16.784	+3.004

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	4	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	71	1:39:00.834	5	10
2	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	71	+16.164	1	6
3	16	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas	70	+1 Lap	9	4
4	9	Olivier Panis	BAR-Honda	70	+1 Lap	11	3
5	12	Jarno Trulli	Jordan-Honda	70	+1 Lap	7	2
6	7	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Renault	70	+1 Lap	18	1
7	10	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	70	+1 Lap	12
8	22	Jean Alesi	Prost-Acer	70	+1 Lap	15
9	20	Tarso Marques	Minardi-European	68	+3 Laps	22
10	8	Jenson Button	Benetton-Renault	64	+7 Laps	20
11	11	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Honda	63	Electrical	8
Ret	17	Kimi Räikkönen	Sauber-Petronas	55	Spun off	10
Ret	5	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	54	Spun off	2
Ret	23	Gastón Mazzacane	Prost-Acer	54	Clutch	21
Ret	18	Eddie Irvine	Jaguar-Cosworth	52	Spun off	13
Ret	6	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	38	Collision	4
Ret	14	Jos Verstappen	Arrows-Asiatech	37	Collision	17
Ret	19	Luciano Burti	Jaguar-Cosworth	30	Engine	14
Ret	21	Fernando Alonso	Minardi-European	25	Electrical	19
Ret	15	Enrique Bernoldi	Arrows-Asiatech	15	Hydraulics	16
Ret	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	2	Collision	6
Ret	3	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	0	Stalled	3

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher 26 2 David Coulthard 20 2 Rubens Barrichello 10 4 Nick Heidfeld 7 5 Heinz-Harald Frentzen 5

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 36 2 McLaren-Mercedes 21 3 Sauber-Petronas 8 4 Jordan-Honda 7 5 BAR-Honda 3

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

Notes

1. ↑ F1 News - Grandprix.com > GP Encyclopedia > Races > Brazilian GP, 2001

• First podium: Nick Heidfeld
• Mika Häkkinen retired right at the start of the race as he stalled on the grid.
• Juan Pablo Montoya was on course for his first F1 victory, but he was hit by Jos Verstappen from behind. Verstappen argued that Montoya braked early approaching the next corner.
• This race was run under heavy rain on the last 25 laps of the race.
• First time since 1993 the winner wasn't the eventual world champion at the end of the season.

Coordinates: 23°42′13″S 46°41′59″W / 23.70361°S 46.69972°W / -23.70361; -46.69972