2001 European Grand Prix
2001 European Grand Prix | |||||
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Race 9 of 17 in the 2001 Formula One World Championship
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Race details[1][2] | |||||
Date | 24 June 2001 | ||||
Official name | 2001 Warsteiner Grand Prix of Europe | ||||
Location | Nürburgring, Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany | ||||
Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
Course length | 4.556 km (3.199 miles) | ||||
Distance | 67 laps, 305.252 km (189.675 miles) | ||||
Weather | Sunny, mild, dry, Air Temp: 21°C | ||||
Pole position | |||||
Driver | Ferrari | ||||
Time | 1:14.960 | ||||
Fastest lap | |||||
Driver | Juan Pablo Montoya | Williams-BMW | |||
Time | 1:18.354 on lap 27 | ||||
Podium | |||||
First | Ferrari | ||||
Second | Williams-BMW | ||||
Third | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
Lap leaders |
The 2001 European Grand Prix (formally the 2001 Warsteiner Grand Prix of Europe)[3] was a Formula One motor race held on 24 June 2001 at the Nürburgring, Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It was the ninth race of the 2001 Formula One World Championship. It is also the last race held on this layout, before the circuit was modified in 2002. The 67-lap race was won by Michael Schumacher driving for Ferrari after starting from pole position. Juan Pablo Montoya finished second driving for Williams, with David Coulthard third driving for McLaren.
The race was Michael Schumacher's fifth win of the season, his third at the Nürburgring, and the result meant that he extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship to 24 points over Coulthard and 42 ahead of Rubens Barrichello. Ferrari maintained their lead in the Constructors' Championship, 41 points ahead of McLaren and 57 ahead of Williams, with 8 races of the season remaining.
Background
[edit]The 2001 European Grand Prix was the ninth of seventeen Formula One races in the 2001 Formula One World Championship, held on 24 June 2001, at the 4.556 km (2.831 mi) clockwise Nürburgring, Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany,[1][2] the sixth time the European Grand Prix was held at the circuit.[4] Before the event, Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship with 58 points; McLaren driver David Coulthard was second on 40 points. Schumacher's teammate Rubens Barrichello was third with 24 points, with Williams's Ralf Schumacher and Coulthard's teammate Mika Häkkinen on 22 and 8 points respectively.[5] In the World Constructors' Championship, Ferrari were leading on 82 points and McLaren were second on 48 points, with Williams third on 28 points. Sauber were fourth with 15 points with Jordan fifth with 15 points.[5]
Following the Canadian Grand Prix on 10 June,[6] the teams tested car setups, car components and tyres at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire from 12 to 14 June to prepare for both the European Grand Prix and the British Grand Prix in July.[7][8][9] Jaguar's Eddie Irvine and Sauber's Nick Heidfeld withdrew from testing because of a neck pain and a minor headache, respectively.[10] Jarno Trulli (Jordan) set the fastest time on the first day,[6] with British American Racing's (BAR) Olivier Panis topping the second day's running.[11] Alexander Wurz, McLaren's test driver, was fastest on the final day, more than six-tenths of a second faster than Häkkinen.[12] Minardi cancelled a two-day test at the Fiorano Circuit in Italy to examine a driveshaft problem with their car.[9] Luca Badoer, Ferrari's test driver, tested electronic controls and engine plans at Fiorano and later shookdown three cars available to Ferrari for the European Grand Prix.[13][14]
With 90 points available in the remaining nine Grands Prix, pundits raised the possibility of McLaren employing team orders to favour Coulthard over teammate Häkkinen in the championship battle.[15][16] Coulthard said he was focused on winning individual races while Häkkinen stated McLaren expected him to win but acknowledged the complexity of the situation.[15][16] Michael Schumacher was the favourite to win the race,[17] and had won four out of the eight Grands Prix held thus far.[18] Despite this, he said he was cautious over winning a fourth world championship and believed his 18-point advantage over Coulthard was not big enough for him to be confident considering the large number of points still available.[19] Williams's Juan Pablo Montoya had finished only one race across the season and hoped to score points in Germany.[20]
The event featured eleven teams (each representing a different constructor) with two drivers each, with one change from the season entry list.[21] Having missed the previous event due to a concussion, a headache and dizziness resulting from a crash during Friday practice for the Canadian Grand Prix, Jordan driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen was declared fit to race by the FIA Medical Delegate Sid Watkins and returned to his seat taken over by temporary replacement Ricardo Zonta, the team's test driver. Zonta was on standby to replace Frentzen if required. Similarly, Irvine was able to recover from his strained neck and Heidfeld was suffering from headaches and dizziness after an accident in Canada; both were passed fit to race.[22][23][24]
Few teams introduced major technical developments to their cars for the race.[25] Ferrari, McLaren and Williams each installed the same rear wings onto their cars as they had done for the Monaco Grand Prix, while Williams introduced new aerodynamic side appendages in front of the air intakes, requiring the installation of rubber protections on the outer edges to prevent injury to mechanics when the cars are parked.[25][26] BAR introduced a revised front suspension and a new nose featuring aerodynamic appendages in the lower section.[25] Benetton tested a launch control system on both their cars to allow for a smoother and faster start during the Friday practice sessions.[27][28] Jaguar fitted its Monaco-specification front wing and curved sidepod winglets onto their R2 cars. Sauber revised their front wing endplates only for the day before the race and Minardi modified Tarso Marques's pedals for his large feet.[26] Arrows and Prost introduced no new major changes to their cars.[26]
Practice
[edit]The race was preceded by four practice sessions, two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday.[29] The first session on Friday morning took place in overcast and cool ambient and track conditions.[30][31] The circuit was dirty, causing some drivers to lose control of their cars and go into the gravel trap.[32] Coulthard was fastest with a lap time of 1:16.888 set late in the session, one-tenth of a second ahead of his teammate Häkkinen.[31][33] The Ferrari duo of Michael Schumacher ahead of Barrichello, Trulli, Sauber's Kimi Räikkönen, the BAR teammates of Panis and Jacques Villeneuve, Heidfeld and Ralf Schumacher followed in the top ten.[33] Irvine's Jaguar was afflicted with a fuel pump failure that caused his car to lose fuel pressure on his out-lap; this forced him to stop at the side of the track and was prevented from setting a lap.[31][34][35]
In the second practice session, which took place in sunny weather conditions that increased the ambient and track temperatures and lowered lap times,[36][37] Häkkinen set the day's quickest lap, a 1:16.408; Coulthard finished with the second fastest time.[37] The Williams drivers were running quicker—Ralf Schumacher in third and Montoya in sixth—they were separated by the Ferrari duo of Michael Schumacher and Barrichello, in fourth and fifth respectively. They were ahead of Trulli, Heidfeld, Prost's Jean Alesi and Panis in positions seven to ten.[37] Some drivers went off the track during the session.[30][35] Luciano Burti's Prost engine failed after ten minutes and he stopped on track. Barrichello slowed with a throttle issue that forced him to drive a slow lap to the pit lane 15 minutes into the session.[34][35][36]
The third practice session was held in sunny weather conditions, albeit with patchy clouds overhead.[38] Michael Schumacher set the session's fastest time with a lap of 1:16.308, almost three-tenths of a second faster than Ralf Schumacher. The McLaren drivers ran slower—Häkkinen ahead of Coulthard. Barrichello, Montoya, Villeneuve (who spun into the gravel at turn five with ten minutes remaining), Frentzen, Panis and Heidfeld occupied positions five to ten.[39]
It continued to be sunny for the final practice session,[40] and more drivers went off the track but no one crashed.[41] Ralf Schumacher was fastest, setting a time of 1:15.355 in the final minute of practice, almost four tenths of a second faster than teammate Montoya. Barrichello set the third fastest time, with Häkkinen and Coulthard fourth and fifth respectively. Michael Schumacher, who set the sixth fastest time, suffered from a minor hydraulic malfunction, thus limiting his running to only the first 15 minutes.[30][42][43] Trulli, Frentzen (who had to stop his car with an engine failure), Panis and Räikkönen completed the top ten.[26][42][43]
"After losing half the morning with a hydraulic problem, we were not sure what to expect in qualifying, as I did not have time to run new tyres in the morning. It turned out that the car was well set-up for qualifying. I do not expect to see a repeat of Canada tomorrow, as our tyres are very good and consistent here. I think we have the better tyre for the weekend, but we will have to see what happens. I am not ruling out McLaren, because we have seen them struggle in qualifying before and then they are strong in the race. We developed the car well in the morning and during qualifying we made a further set-up change in between the runs and that made me quicker."
Qualifying
[edit]Each driver was limited to twelve laps during Saturday's one-hour qualifying session, with the starting order determined by their fastest laps. The 107% rule was in force during this session, which required each driver to set a time within 107% of the fastest lap to qualify for the race.[29] Michael Schumacher clinched his seventh pole position out of the nine races held thus far in the season, with a time of 1:14.960. He was joined on the front row by Ralf Schumacher, who was two tenths of a second behind.[45][46] Montoya qualified in third ahead of Barrichello, who took fourth after struggling with his car's power steering early in the session. Coulthard and Häkkinen filled the third row of the grid, their best times six thousands of a second apart. The Jordan and Sauber drivers rounded out the top ten positions. Villeneuve qualified in 11th, was quicker than his teammate Panis in 13th. The Arrows and Minardi drivers qualified at the back of the grid, covering positions 18 to 22, with Jenson Button.[47]
Qualifying classification
[edit]Warm-up
[edit]The drivers took to the track at 09:30 (GMT +1) for a 30-minute warm-up session.[29] Both Ferrari cars maintained their good performance from qualifying; Barrichello had the fastest time of 1:18.209; Michael Schumacher was second in the other Ferrari car. Ralf Schumacher was just off Michael Schumacher's pace, with Irvine rounding out the top four.[49]
Race
[edit]The conditions were dry and sunny for the race with the air temperature ranging from 21 to 22 °C (70 to 72 °F) and the track temperature between 30 and 32 °C (86 and 90 °F);[50] conditions were expected to remain consistent, although a 20% chance of rain was forecast.[51] The race started at 14:00 local time.[29] A total of approximately 150,000 spectators attended the race.[52] Whilst on a reconnaissance lap, Michael Schumacher, driving a spare Ferrari car, failed to make the grid for which he commandeered a motor scooter back to the pit lane and took his racing car to the grid.[53] Marques, from 22nd on the grid, stalled his Minardi car at the start of the formation lap.[54]
At the start, Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher and Montoya all maintained their grid positions. Behind the leading trio, Barrichello made the worst start of the grid, moving from 4th to 7th place. Jos Verstappen, from 19th on the grid, made the best start, moving up five places to 14th position.[55] At the completion of the first lap, Michael Schumacher led from Ralf Schumacher, Montoya, Coulthard, Häkkinen, Trulli, Barrichello, Heidfeld, Räikkönen and Frentzen.[51]
Michael Schumacher and Ralf Schumacher were the first two lead drivers to make pitstops by coming in on Lap 28.[56] As Michael Schumacher entered the pitlane, he ran wide forcing him to cut in front of Ralf Schumacher.[51] As both drivers exited the pitlane, Ralf Schumacher cut to the left of the pitlane, crossing over the white line upon exiting.[56]
As Michael Schumacher extended his lead, the stewards informed the Williams team that Ralf Schumacher would be served with a 10-second stop-go penalty. Ralf Schumacher took his penalty on Lap 39 and dropped from 2nd to 4th position.[51]
Post-race
[edit]"Nothing better can happen than winning your home Grand Prix. We have had a superb weekend, we got pole position, we got the win, we had a nice race again together, Ralf and myself, until the stop and go, so it was quite an entertaining weekend - a tough weekend as well. Because in the end Juan Pablo was coming and pushing, so in this respect, we are very delighted to have finished where we did."
The top three drivers appeared on the podium and in the subsequent press conference. Michael Schumacher said was delighted with his race victory. He also revealed that Ferrari were doubtful about racing the spare car which was to be used for one installation lap.[57]
The race result left Michael Schumacher extending his lead in the Drivers' Championship with 68 points. Coulthard's was second on 44 points, eighteen points ahead of Barrichello and nineteen ahead of Ralf Schumacher. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari maintained their lead with 94 points, McLaren maintained second with 53 points, and Williams remained third on 37 points, with 8 races of the season remaining.
Race classification
[edit]Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold.
Championship standings after the race
[edit]
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
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