2001 British Grand Prix

United Kingdom  2001 British Grand Prix
Race details
Race 11 of 17 in the 2001 Formula One season

Silverstone Circuit
Date 15 July 2001
Official name LIV Foster's British Grand Prix
Location Silverstone, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire, England
Course Permanent racing facility
5.140 km (3.194 mi)
Distance 60 laps, 308.400 km (191.640 mi)
Weather Partially cloudy, mild, dry, Air Temp: 15°C
Pole position
Driver Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari
Time 1:20.447
Fastest lap
Driver Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes
Time 1:23.405 on lap 34
Podium
First Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes
Second Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari
Third Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari

The 2001 British Grand Prix (formally the LIV Foster's British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 15 July 2001 at Silverstone in Northamptonshire, England. It was the eleventh race of the 2001 Formula One season. The race, which was contested over 60 laps, was won by Finnish driver Mika Häkkinen for the McLaren - Mercedes team, who managed to overtake the driver in pole position, Michael Schumacher.[1] Schumacher, driving for Ferrari, finished in second behind Häkkinen, while team-mate Rubens Barrichello gained the final spot on the podium.[2] It was Häkkinen's first victory of the season.

The race saw five drivers retire, as Jarno Trulli's Jordan collided with David Coulthard's McLaren in the first corner; Jacques Villeneuve's BAR pushed his teammate Olivier Panis off the track at the start, forcing Panis to retire; Ralf Schumacher and Luciano Burti also failed to finish the race. Tarso Marques also became the first DNQ of the season, as his Minardi couldn't make the 107% cut.[3] It was Heinz-Harald Frentzen's last race for the Jordan team as he was sacked by that team after this race following a disappointing season and forced to sit out for the next race, the 2001 German Grand Prix.[4][5]

Report

Background

Defending constructors title holders Ferrari went into the race with a 52-point lead on McLaren-Mercedes, while Michael Schumacher was 31 points ahead of his nearest rival, McLaren's David Coulthard.[6]

Practice and qualifying

Tarso Marques was unable to post a qualifying time within the 107% rule and the stewards rejected the subsequent request from Minardi to let the Brazilian race. Marques had suffered a throttle problem during the session and there was not sufficient time to change the settings on the spare car, which had been set up for team-mate Fernando Alonso.

Race

Michael Schumacher maintained his advantage going into the first corner with Mika Häkkinen following him through in 2nd. Jarno Trulli in the Jordan collided with championship contender David Coulthard at the first corner and went off, ending his race. Coulthard persisted, carrying damage from the incident but a suspension failure which came as result of the contact ended his race not long after. On lap 5, Schumacher ran wide and Häkkinen slipped past going into the 2nd corner. Häkkinen began to pull away at close to 2 seconds per lap while Juan Pablo Montoya in the Williams began to close up on Schumacher. The commentators suspencted Schumacher was either driving conservatively or carrying a problem, it turned out to be the former. Montoya eventually got past Schumacher at around the 1/3 mark in the race.

Häkkinen was one of the first to stop and came out in 2nd behind Montoya and ahead of Schumacher. When Montoya pitted, he came out behind his team mate Ralf Schumacher who was scrapping with Rubens Barrichello in the Ferrari, neither of whom had done their first stops. This was the ruin Montoya's race. Ralf eventually pitted but the damage was done, a poor stop didn't help Montoya's situation and he came out behind Rubens Barrichello who stopped earlier. Schumacher (Michael), rather predictably came out in 2nd ahead of his teammate but was some 30+ seconds behind Häkkinen driving a superb race.

The order at the front continued like this until the end of the race when Häkkinen took his first win of the season, 33 seconds ahead of Schumacher who cruised one step further towards a fourth world title. Barrichello came third ahead of a disappointed Montoya and an astounding Kimi Räikkönen in 5th, in only 11th race which in turn was only his 34th single seater race. Heidfeld, Frentzen, Villeneuve, Irvine and Verstappen rounded off the top 10.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos No. Driver Constructor Lap Gap
1 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:20.477 -
2 3 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:20.529 + 0.082
3 4 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:20.927 + 0.480
4 12 Italy Jarno Trulli Jordan-Honda 1:20.930 + 0.483
5 11 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Honda 1:21.217 + 0.770
6 2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:21.715 + 1.268
7 17 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Sauber-Petronas 1:22.023 + 1.576
8 6 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:22.219 + 1.772
9 16 Germany Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 1:22.223 + 1.776
10 5 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:22.283 + 1.836
11 9 France Olivier Panis BAR-Honda 1:22.316 + 1.869
12 10 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1:22.916 + 2.469
13 19 Spain Pedro de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth 1:23.273 + 2.826
14 22 France Jean Alesi Prost-Acer 1:23.392 + 2.945
15 18 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth 1:23.439 + 2.992
16 23 Brazil Luciano Burti Prost-Acer 1:23.735 + 3.288
17 14 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Arrows-Asiatech 1:24.067 + 3.620
18 8 United Kingdom Jenson Button Benetton-Renault 1:24.123 + 3.676
19 7 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Renault 1:24.275 + 3.828
20 15 Brazil Enrique Bernoldi Arrows-Asiatech 1:24.606 + 4.159
21 21 Spain Fernando Alonso Minardi-European 1:24.792 + 4.345
107% time: 1:26.078
22 20 Brazil Tarso Marques Minardi-European 1:26.506 + 6.059

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 3 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 60 1:25:33.770 2 10
2 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 60 +33.646 1 6
3 2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 60 +59.281 6 4
4 6 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 60 +1:08.772 8 3
5 17 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Sauber-Petronas 59 +1 Lap 7 2
6 16 Germany Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 59 +1 Lap 9 1
7 11 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Honda 59 +1 Lap 5  
8 10 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 59 +1 Lap 12  
9 18 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth 59 +1 Lap 15  
10 14 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Arrows-Asiatech 58 +2 Laps 17  
11 22 France Jean Alesi Prost-Acer 58 +2 Laps 14  
12 19 Spain Pedro de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth 58 +2 Laps 13  
13 7 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Renault 58 +2 Laps 19  
14 15 Brazil Enrique Bernoldi Arrows-Asiatech 58 +2 Laps 20  
15 8 United Kingdom Jenson Button Benetton-Renault 58 +2 Laps 18  
16 21 Spain Fernando Alonso Minardi-European 57 +3 Laps 21  
Ret 5 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 36 Engine 10  
Ret 23 Brazil Luciano Burti Prost-Acer 6 Engine 16  
Ret 4 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 2 Suspension 3  
Ret 12 Italy Jarno Trulli Jordan-Honda 0 Collision 4  
Ret 9 France Olivier Panis BAR-Honda 0 Collision 11  
DNQ 20 Brazil Tarso Marques Minardi-European

Notes

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 Germany Michael Schumacher 84
2 United Kingdom David Coulthard 47
3 Brazil Rubens Barrichello 34
4 Germany Ralf Schumacher 31
5 Finland Mika Häkkinen 19

Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 Italy Ferrari 118
2 United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 66
3 United Kingdom Williams-BMW 46
4 Switzerland Sauber-Petronas 19
5 Republic of Ireland Jordan-Honda 15

Previous race:
2001 French Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
2001 season
Next race:
2001 German Grand Prix
Previous race:
2000 British Grand Prix
British Grand Prix Next race:
2002 British Grand Prix

References

  1. "Formula One results and fixtures". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2000-07-03. Retrieved 25 June 2009.
  2. Benson, Andrew (15 July 2001). "Hakkinen halts Schumacher charge". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 23 June 2009.
  3. Benson, Andrew (14 July 2001). "Schumacher grabs pole". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 23 June 2009.
  4. "Frentzen sacked by Jordan". Telegraph Online (Telegraph Publishing Group). 25 July 2001. Retrieved 23 June 2009.
  5. "Frentzen: The man behind the wheel". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 25 July 2001. Retrieved 23 June 2009.
  6. Allsop, Derick (14 July 2001). "Brawn's brain fires the Ferrari revival". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2009-07-22. Retrieved 25 June 2009.

External links