2000 Austrian Grand Prix
The 2000 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 16 July 2000, at the A1-Ring near Spielberg, Styria, Austria, attended by 85,112 spectators. The 24th Austrian Grand Prix was the tenth round of the 2000 Formula One World Championship. McLaren's Mika Häkkinen won the 71-lap race from pole position, with teammate David Coulthard second and Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello third.
Heading into the race, Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship, while his team Ferrari led McLaren in the World Constructors' Championship. He started in fourth, alongside teammate Barrichello. British American Racing's Ricardo Zonta collided with Michael Schumacher at the first corner, as five other drivers were involved in incidents during the opening lap. The crash forced Michael Schumacher to retire from the race, and the safety car's deployment. Following the withdrawal of the safety car after one lap, Häkkinen and Coulthard pulled away from the rest of the field. When Häkkinen made his first pit stop on lap 38, he rejoined behind Coulthard but in front of Barrichello. On lap 43, Coulthard made a pit stop, giving Häkkinen the lead, which he held for the rest of the race to earn his second victory of the 2000 season and his 16th in Formula One.
As a result of the race, Coulthard's second-place finish reduced his World Drivers' Championship lead over Michael Schumacher to six championship points, while Häkkinen's victory brought him to within two championship points of his teammate Coulthard. Following the race, McLaren was deducted ten championship points for a post-race technical infringement, allowing Ferrari to maintain a four-point lead in the World Constructors' Championship with seven races remaining.
Background
The A1-Ring hosted the tenth round of the 2000 Formula One World Championship, the 2000 Austrian Grand Prix, on 16 July 2000. It was the fourth time that the A1-Ring had hosted the Austrian Grand Prix since its alternation. The event featured eleven teams, each with two drivers, with no changes from the season entry list. Tyre supplier Bridgestone brought the Soft and Medium dry compound tyres to the event. Before the race, minimal safety upgrades were made to the A1-Ring. New kerbs were erected across the track, with flagstones inside to prevent dust from gathering on the circuit. At each corner, an additional row of tyres was installed to increase absorption in the event of a collision.Before the race, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship with 56 championship points, followed by McLaren's David Coulthard on 44 championship points and his teammate Mika Häkkinen on 38 championship points. Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello was fourth with 32 championship points and Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella was fifth with 18 championship points. Ferrari led the World Constructors' Championship with 88 championship points, six championship points clear of second-placed McLaren. Benetton were third with 18 championship points, Williams fourth with 17 championship points, and Jordan fifth with 11 championship points.
Following the on 2 July, six teams tested for three days at the Silverstone Circuit in Britain from 4 to 6 July in preparation for the Austrian Grand Prix at the A1-Ring. On the first day of testing, Heinz-Harald Frentzen led Sauber's Pedro Diniz. Alexander Wurz's car had a gearbox problem, limiting Benetton's testing time. Jaguar's Eddie Irvine was fastest on the second day. Arrows' Jos Verstappen was fastest on the final day of testing, although his car's front wing was damaged when his engine cover detached from its chassis. Ferrari and McLaren tested at the Mugello Circuit, concentrating on aerodynamic and suspension set-ups between 4 and 7 July. Ferrari spent an extra day at the Fiorano Circuit shaking down their cars with its test driver Luca Badoer. Williams and British American Racing tested at the Circuito do Estoril from 5 to 7 July, with tyre, engine, aerodynamic and set-up optimisation.
Some teams modified their cars for the event. McLaren brought an extractor profile that had not been utilised in qualifying or the race at the French Grand Prix, as well as a tweaked rear suspension and a new Mercedes-Benz engine. Ferrari tweaked their car's aerodynamic profile and continued to test chimney stacks in free practice. BAR completed its package of aerodynamic modifications developed with Honda in a wind tunnel and introduced in France. The Jordan team's plan to debut their new car, the EJ10B, in Austria was delayed because its bodywork needed to pass Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile safety tests. Jordan wanted to develop the car further and create more spare parts. However, this was the EJ10's final race before the EJ10B débuted at the next race.
Practice
There were four practice sessions before Sunday's race: two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday. Friday's practice sessions were held in dry conditions. Within the first five minutes of the first practice session, 17 drivers completed explanatory laps. After 15 minutes, teams determined that there was enough grip for cars to be sent onto the track for examination. Lap times fell as the track's conditions improved and drivers re-acquainted themselves with it. Barrichello led the first session at 1:13.603 seconds, soon before the session ended, two-tenths of a second faster than Jordan's Jarno Trulli. BAR's Ricardo Zonta was third, followed by Verstappen, Michael Schumacher, Coulthard, Fisichella, Jaguar's Johnny Herbert, BAR's Jacques Villeneuve, and Sauber's Mika Salo. Häkkinen's car had a mechanical fuel pump failure that prompted him to stop at Remus Kurve corner, limiting him to one out lap and was slowest overall.File:Eddie_Irvine_after_the_1999_Australian_Grand_Prix.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Eddie Irvine withdrew from the Grand Prix because of abdominal pain.
Coulthard lapped faster each time, setting the day's fastest lap, a 1:12.464, after running into the gravel during the second practice session. Häkkinen had a trouble free season and was second-fastest. Salo ran quicker during the session and was third-fastest. Michael Schumacher and Barrichello set the fourth and seventh quickest times, separated by Zonta and Trulli. Villeneuve, Diniz, and Fisichella rounded out the top ten. Ralf Schumacher's Williams car stopped five minutes into the session due to an electrical system failure that stalled his engine. Irvine slowed, entered Coulthard's path and the two drivers collided.
Irvine withdrew from the event after the second session. When he arrived at the circuit, he felt ill and was diagnosed with suspected appendicitis at the infield medical centre. On the advice of FIA medical delegate Sid Watkins, Irvine went to London for additional surgical consultation. According to hospital tests, Irvine experienced abdominal pain brought on by an enlarged intestine. He was replaced for the rest of the Grand Prix by Jaguar test driver Luciano Burti. Practice on Saturday morning sessions was held in dry weather, then later on a wet track with low grip, forcing some drivers onto the grass after sliding off the circuit. Häkkinen's time of 1:11.355 was the quickest in the third practice session, with Coulthard second. Both Ferrari drivers finished third and fourth, with Barrichello ahead of Michael Schumacher. Verstappen maintained his fast pace, finishing fifth fastest ahead of Fisichella and Villeneuve. Zonta, Trulli, and Herbert were ranked eighth to tenth. Burti was limited to one installation lap and would need to familiarise himself with the course during the final session.
Despite running a wheel on the grass exiting the uphill right-hand Jochen Rindt Kurve corner and getting beached in the gravel trap before the start/finish straight with ten minutes left in the final practice session, Häkkinen set the fastest lap, a 1:11.336, despite a brief heavy rain shower that barely affected proceedings 25 minutes in. His teammate Coulthard remained second-quickest. Michael Schumacher was third-fastest ahead of teammate Barrichello. Villeneuve was fifth-fastest, ahead of Herbert in sixth. Frentzen, seventh, was able to establish a comfortable setup after being one of the slowest drivers in the previous three practice sessions. Salo, Fisichella and Arrows' Pedro de la Rosa made up positions eight to ten. Zonta lost control of his vehicle and reversed back into the path of an incoming driver, who veered onto the grass to avoid him.
Qualifying
During Saturday's one-hour qualifying session, each driver was limited to twelve laps, with the starting order determined by their fastest laps. The 107% rule was in force in qualifying, requiring each driver to stay within 107% of the quickest lap time in order to qualify for the race. Qualifying took place in overcast weather, that saw no major incidents. All cars except the Jordans immediately exited the pit lane to set lap times before a brief rainstorm hit sections of the circuit. After 15 minutes, the sun emerged from the clouds, reducing lap times. Häkkinen, after taking time off to de-stress after winning two World Championships, took his fourth pole position of the season, his first since the more than three months earlier, and the 25th of his career with a lap of 1:10.410 with parts of his teammate's racing setup. Teammate Coulthard joined him on the front row of the starting grid, being outqualifed for the first time since the. Coulthard was three tenths of a second slower than Häkkinen. Coulthard believed he could have fought for pole position but lost time on his penultimate run after clipping a kerb entering Castrol Kurve. Both drivers were satisfied with their car's balance. Barrichello qualified third and briefly had pole position while using new tyres before the McLaren drivers recorded their best laps. He said that he altered his car's set-up of to enable him to lap faster. Michael Schumacher qualified fourth, six-tenths of a second behind Häkkinen, and observed uneven handling throughout the course due to a setup problem. During qualifying, he also had a high-speed spin at the second corner and aborted his final run after making a mistake at the exit of Gösser corner. Trulli qualified fifth, having set his quickest lap on soft compound tyres and the Jordan team determining no rain delay at the time.New car aerodynamic packages put Zonta and Villeneuve sixth and seventh respectively, both drivers spun during the session. Fisichella, eighth, lost a bargeboard when he went off the track. He felt he could have started fifth but was slowed by a yellow flag. Salo and Verstappen were ninth and tenth. Diniz missed qualifying in the top ten by two-thousands of a second and spun off while setting lap times, triggering a yellow-flag. De La Rosa, 12th, struggled with the conditions during the session. He qualified ahead of Prost driver Nick Heidfeld and Wurz. Frentzen, 15th, used hard compound tyres and set his laps early in qualifying before track conditions improved. Frentzen explained that he did so because he expected rain near the end of qualifying. Herbert started from 16th after stopping on one run due to a broken left rear suspension caused by a loose suspension bracket at the Niki Lauda Kurve. A back wishbone was also flexing. Jean Alesi qualified his Prost car 17th. Jenson Button, 18th, used the spare Williams car set up for Ralf Schumacher since Button's race car experienced an engine failure, balance issues on the low-grip circuit, and slow-speed corners when on the harder tyre compound. Button also had difficulty driving the spare car. Ralf Schumacher, his teammate, qualified 19th, the Williams team's worst qualifying performance of the season. The two Minardi drivers of Marc Gené and Gastón Mazzacane experienced a lack of grip and qualified 20th and 22nd. Burti in 21st separated the two in his first Formula One qualifying session.