2001 European Grand Prix

The 2001 European Grand Prix (formally the XLV Warsteiner Grand Prix of Europe) was a Formula One motor race held on 24 June 2001 at the Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany. It was the ninth race of the 2001 Formula One season. It is also the last race held on this layout of the Nürburgring, 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.

2001 European Grand Prix
Race 9 of 17 in the 2001 Formula One World Championship
The Nürburgring (last modified in 1995)
Race details
Date 24 June 2001
Official name XLV Warsteiner Grand Prix of Europe
Location Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.556 km (3.199 mi)
Distance 67 laps, 305.252 km (189.675 mi)
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

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.

Report

Background

The Grand Prix was contested by 22 drivers, in eleven teams of two.[1] The teams, also known as constructors, were Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, Benetton, BAR, Jordan, Arrows, Sauber, Jaguar, Minardi and Prost.[1]

Before the race, Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher led the Drivers' Championship with 58 points; McLaren driver David Coulthard was second on 40 points. Behind them in the Drivers' Championship, Rubens Barrichello was third on 24 points in the other Ferrari, with Ralf Schumacher and Mika Häkkinen on 22 and 8 points respectively.[2] In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari were leading on 82 points and McLaren were second on 48 points, with Williams third on 28 points.[2]

Following the Canadian Grand Prix on June 10, the teams conducted testing sessions at the Silverstone circuit from June 12–14.[3] Jarno Trulli (Jordan) set the fastest time on the first day with Olivier Panis (BAR) topping the second day's running, setting a time of 1:22.803 and test driver Alexander Wurz (Benetton) was fastest on the final day, setting a time of 1:22.081, over six-tenths of a second faster than Häkkinen.[3]

There was one driver change heading into the race. Having missed the previous Grand Prix due to a headache and dizziness resulting from a crash at the Monaco 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. Similarly, Jaguar driver Eddie Irvine was suffering from a strained neck and Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld was suffering from headaches; both were passed fit to race.[4]

In technical developments, Benetton announced that the team would use traction control on both their cars, which were tested during the Friday practice sessions.[5]

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.[6] The Friday practice sessions were held in overcast conditions, clearing up later in the day. Coulthard was fastest in the first session, with a time of 1:16.888, one-tenth of a second ahead of his teammate Häkkinen. The two Ferrari drivers were third and fourth; Michael Schumacher ahead of Barrichello. Trulli set the fifth fastest time, with Kimi Räikkönen and Panis, sixth and seventh fastest respectively, their best times one-thousandth of a second apart. Panis' teammate Jacques Villeneuve was eighth fastest. Heidfeld and Ralf Schumacher, completed the top ten. Irvine's Jaguar car was afflicted with a problem on his out-lap; this prevented him from setting a timed lap.[7]

In the second practice session, Häkkinen set the quickest lap of the day, a 1:16.408; Coulthard finished with the second fastest time. The Williams drivers were running quicker—Ralf Schumacher in third and Juan Pablo Montoya in sixth—they were separated by the Ferrari pair of Michael Schumacher and Barrichello, in fourth and fifth respectively. They were ahead of Trulli, Heidfeld, Jean Alesi and Panis.[8]

The Saturday morning practice sessions were again held in overcast conditions, albeit with scattered sunshine. In the third practice session, 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 and Montoya rounded off the top six positions.[9] In the final practice session, Ralf Schumacher was fastest, setting a time of 1:15.355, almost four tenths of a second faster than 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 an hydraulic problem, thus limited his running.[10]

"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."

Michael Schumacher, following the qualifying session.[11]

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 per cent of the quickest lap to qualify for the race. Each driver was limited to twelve laps.[6] Michael Schumacher clinched his seventh pole position of 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.[12] 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.[13]

Race
Michael Schumacher, who took pole position and won the race by 4.1 seconds

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);[14] conditions were expected to remain consistent, although a 20% chance of rain was forecast.[15] The drivers took to the track at 09:30 (GMT +1) for a 30-minute warm-up session.[6] 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.[16]

The race started at 14:00 local time.[6] A total of approximately 150,000 spectators attended the race.[17] 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.[18] Tarso Marques, from 22nd on the grid, stalled his Minardi car at the start of the formation lap.[19] 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.[20] At the completion of the first lap, Michael Schumacher led from Ralf Schumacher, Montoya, Coulthard, Häkkinen, Trulli, Barrichello, Heidfeld, Räikkönen and Frentzen.[15]

Michael Schumacher and Ralf Schumacher were the first two lead drivers to make pitstops by coming in on Lap 28.[21] As Michael Schumacher entered the pitlane, he ran wide forcing him to cut in front of Ralf Schumacher.[15] As both drivers exited the pitlane, Ralf Schumacher cut to the left of the pitlane, crossing over the white line upon exiting.[21]

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.[15]

Post-race
"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."

Michael Schumacher, speaking during the post-race FIA press conference for the podium finishers.[22]

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.[22]

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.

Classification

Qualifying
PosNoDriverConstructorLapGap
1 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:14.960 -
2 5 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:15.226 +0.266
3 6 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:15.490 +0.530
4 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:15.622 +0.662
5 4 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.717 +0.757
6 3 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:15.776 +0.816
7 12 Jarno Trulli Jordan-Honda 1:16.138 +1.178
8 11 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Honda 1:16.376 +1.416
9 17 Kimi Räikkönen Sauber-Petronas 1:16.402 +1.442
10 16 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 1:16.438 +1.478
11 10 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1:16.439 +1.479
12 18 Eddie Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth 1:16.588 +1.628
13 9 Olivier Panis BAR-Honda 1:16.872 +1.912
14 22 Jean Alesi Prost-Acer 1:17.251 +2.291
15 7 Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Renault 1:17.378 +2.418
16 19 Pedro de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth 1:17.627 +2.667
17 23 Luciano Burti Prost-Acer 1:18.113 +3.153
18 15 Enrique Bernoldi Arrows-Asiatech 1:18.151 +3.191
19 14 Jos Verstappen Arrows-Asiatech 1:18.262 +3.302
20 8 Jenson Button Benetton-Renault 1:18.626 +3.666
21 21 Fernando Alonso Minardi-European 1:18.630 +3.670
22 20 Tarso Marques Minardi-European 1:18.689 +3.729
107% time: 1:20.207
Source:[23]

Race
PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 67 1:29:42.724 1 10
2 6 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 67 +4.127 3 6
3 4 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 67 +24.993 5 4
4 5 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 67 +33.345 2 3
5 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 67 +45.495 4 2
6 3 Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 67 +1:04.868 6 1
7 18 Eddie Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth 67 +1:06.198 12  
8 19 Pedro de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth 66 +1 Lap 16  
9 10 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 66 +1 Lap 11  
10 17 Kimi Räikkönen Sauber-Petronas 66 +1 Lap 9  
11 7 Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Renault 66 +1 Lap 15  
12 23 Luciano Burti Prost-Acer 65 +2 Laps 17  
13 8 Jenson Button Benetton-Renault 65 +2 Laps 20  
14 21 Fernando Alonso Minardi-European 65 +2 Laps 21  
15 22 Jean Alesi Prost-Acer 64 Spun off 14  
Ret 14 Jos Verstappen Arrows-Asiatech 58 Engine 19  
Ret 16 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 54 Driveshaft 10  
Ret 11 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Honda 48 Traction control 8  
Ret 12 Jarno Trulli Jordan-Honda 44 Transmission 7  
Ret 15 Enrique Bernoldi Arrows-Asiatech 29 Gearbox 18  
Ret 9 Olivier Panis BAR-Honda 23 Electrical 13  
Ret 20 Tarso Marques Minardi-European 7 Electrical 22  
Source:[24]

Championship standings after the race
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
gollark: The Bible is something like a million words if I remember right, and I would have to filter out the irrelevant historical things and arbitrary rules if I wanted to read it as philosophy or something. Strictly speaking, I have time but not the attention span or any actual desire.
gollark: Yes.
gollark: Which doesn't make them sensible *now*, when people can cook things and nobody cares about mixed fabrics.
gollark: Very approximately?
gollark: Oh, the arbitrary rules are arbitrary too.

References
  1. "2001 Entry List". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original on 4 June 2001. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  2. "Formula One - Results and Fixtures". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 11 June 2001. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  3. "2001 June Testing". Atlas F1. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  4. "Frentzen and Heidfeld both fit". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. 21 June 2001. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  5. "Benetton to use launch control for first time". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. 20 June 2001. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  6. "2001 Formula One Sporting Regulations". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. pp. 12–13, 19 & 22. Archived from the original on 4 June 2001. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  7. "Friday First Free Practice - European GP". Atlas F1. 22 June 2001. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  8. "Friday Second Free Practice - European GP". Atlas F1. 22 June 2001. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  9. "Saturday First Free Practice - European GP". Atlas F1. 23 June 2001. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  10. "Saturday Second Free Practice - European GP". Atlas F1. 23 June 2001. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  11. "Saturday's Selected Quotes - European GP". Atlas F1. 23 June 2001. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  12. "Schumachers book front row". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 23 June 2001. Archived from the original on 30 October 2001. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  13. "European GP Qualifying: Michael Heads All-Schumacher Front Row". Atlas F1. 23 June 2001. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  14. "Grand Prix of Europe". Gale Force F1. 25 June 2001. Archived from the original on 11 August 2006. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  15. "Grand Prix of Europe - Race Report". Gale Force F1. 24 June 2001. Archived from the original on 11 August 2006. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  16. "Grand Prix of Europe - Warm Up". Gale Force F1. 24 June 2001. Archived from the original on 11 August 2006. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  17. "Final News from the Paddock - European GP". The Daily Grapevine. Atlas F1. 24 June 2001. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  18. "Grand Prix Results: European GP 2001". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. 24 June 2001. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  19. "Lapwatch: European GP". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 24 June 2001. Archived from the original on 30 October 2001. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  20. "Schumacher Grabs Easy Win at the European GP". Atlas F1. 24 June 2001. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  21. Spurgeon, Brad (25 June 2001). "Penalty Dulls Brothers' Duel on Home Turf : This Time, Edge Goes To Older Schumacher". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  22. "Post-Race Press Conference - European GP". Atlas F1. 24 June 2001. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  23. "Grand Prix of Europe - Qualifying Times". Gale Force F1. 23 June 2001. Archived from the original on 11 August 2006. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  24. "2001 European Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 28 October 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  25. "Europe 2001 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
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2001 Canadian Grand Prix		 FIA Formula One World Championship
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2001 French Grand Prix
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