2000 French Grand Prix
The 2000 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race contested on 2 July 2000 at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in Magny-Cours, Burgundy, Central France, attended by 112,112 spectators. It was the 86th French Grand Prix and the ninth round of the 2000 Formula One World Championship. McLaren's David Coulthard won the 72-lap race after starting second. His teammate Mika Häkkinen finished second with Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello third.
Before the race, Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship and Ferrari led the World Constructors' Championship. Coulthard started the race alongside Michael Schumacher, who started from pole position after setting the fastest qualifying lap. Barrichello started third and passed Coulthard entering the first corner. Michael Schumacher retained his early lead and led after the first round of pit stops. During the race's second stint, Michael Schumacher began to struggle with tyre wear, allowing Coulthard to reduce the deficit and pass him on lap 40. Coulthard won the race after retaining his lead during the second round of pit stops. Michael Schumacher retired on lap 59 due to engine failure, advancing Häkkinen to second place. Barrichello finished third, followed by British American Racing driver Jacques Villeneuve in fourth.
Coulthard won his third race of the season and his eighth in Formula One, reduced Michael Schumacher's lead in the World Drivers' Championship to 12 championship points. Häkkinen remained third with 38 championship points, six more than Barrichello in fourth place. McLaren's one-two result in the World Constructors' Championship allowed them to close the deficit on Ferrari to six championship points with eight races remaining in the season.
Background
The 2000 French Grand Prix was the ninth of seventeen rounds in the 2000 Formula One World Championship, contested on 2 July 2000 at the clockwise Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in Magny-Cours, Burgundy, Central France. Sole tyre supplier Bridgestone delivered the more balanced and less grippy Soft and the faster Extra Soft dry compound tyres to the event. Bridgestone technical director Yoshihiko Ichikawa urged teams to use extra soft compounds instead of soft tyres because they provided more car grip and understeer was less noticeable at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours than on rougher circuits. The event featured eleven teams with two drivers each, with no changes from the season entry list.Ferrari's Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship with 56 championship points before the race, followed by McLaren's David Coulthard on 34 and his teammate Mika Häkkinen on 32. Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello was fourth with 28 championship points, with Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella fifth with 18 championship points. Ferrari led the World Constructors' Championship with 84 championship points. McLaren and Benetton were second and third with 66 and 18 championship points, respectively, and Williams and Jordan were fourth and fifth with 15 and 10 championship points, respectively.
Following the on 18 June, the teams tested at the track between 21 and 23 June to prepare for the upcoming French Grand Prix. Coulthard led the first day from McLaren test driver Olivier Panis. Arrows' Jos Verstappen lost control of his car after a mechanical failure and crashed into the barriers at turn two. Verstappen suffered neck strain and withdrew from testing. He was later cleared to compete in the Grand Prix. Coulthard remained fastest on the second day. as Fisichella damaged the underside of his car's chassis, limiting his testing time while Benetton repaired his car. On the final day of testing, Häkkinen was fastest. Michael Schumacher stopped on track as his Ferrari engine failed, necessitating the installation of a replacement engine into the chassis. On 27 June, Ferrari went to their private testing facility, the Fiorano Circuit, where test driver Luca Badoer shakedown three Ferrari F1-2000 cars and practised pit stops.
File:Jackie Stewart speaking.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Jackie Stewart backed David Coulthard to win the World Drivers' Championship following Mika Häkkinen's recent sub-par results.
After the Canadian Grand Prix, where he stalled on the grid before the formation lap before receiving a ten-second stop and go penalty because his mechanics worked on his car 15 seconds before the race started, Coulthard said that Ferrari could still be caught in the season's nine remaining races. He commented: "We have to look towards Magny-Cours and put this race behind us. The championship is not over yet and although we cannot change what happened in Canada, we can try to close the gap." After Häkkinen's recent sub-par results, British Racing Drivers' Club president and former world champion Jackie Stewart backed Coulthard to win the championship. Michael Schumacher, who had won five of the season's first eight races, was optimistic that his car would perform well on the track. Flavio Briatore, Benetton's team principal, downplayed his team's chances, saying: "We need a miracle to finish on the podium."
Almost every team modified their cars for the event. Ferrari introduced chimney stacks on the F1-2000 during free practice for the first time and additional vents to extract warm air for aerodynamic efficiency. The team reverted to previous specifications for qualifying and the race. It also modified the axle construction at the car's bottom with composite materials designed to minimise friction when it touched the asphalt surface. McLaren installed a new extractor profile for free practice and qualifying but removed it for warm-up and the race. It also asymmetrically positioned the rearview mirrors, the right placed further forward and lower than the left for improved visibility in the track's final corner. Sauber modified the sides' opening and British American Racing installed a new body and ailerons. Peugeot provided Prost with an upgraded V10 engine for driver Jean Alesi, who slammed the engine's driveability. Jordan debuted a revised braking system.
Practice
Before the race on Sunday, there were two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday. The Friday morning and afternoon practice sessions were held in hot, dry weather. Michael Schumacher set the first practice session's fastest lap at 1:16.474, two tenths of a second faster than Häkkinen. Prost's Nick Heidfeld was third, ahead Williams' Ralf Schumacher. Jaguar's Eddie Irvine and Johnny Herbert were fifth and seventh. Fisichella came in sixth, separating the two. Alesi, Arrows' Pedro de la Rosa, and Williams' Jenson Button were seventh through tenth. Only four drivers set timed laps after two-thirds had passed and fourteen others set one timed lap before returning to the pit lane. Just four drivers set no laps: Coulthard's car experienced a mechanical fuel pump issue, Barrichello drove one installation lap to preserve tyre use and both Jordan drivers sat out the session.Coulthard led the second practice session with a lap of 1:16.253 despite losing 25 minutes due to an oil tank leak that his crew remedied by removing the engine in his car, limiting his running to four minutes; Häkkinen ended second fastest. Ferraris were second and fourth, with Michael Schumacher ahead of Barrichello. Sauber's Mika Salo was fifth fastest, ahead of Fisichella, Jordan's Jarno Trulli, Heidfeld, Ralf Schumacher and Trulli's teammate Heinz-Harald Frentzen in positions six through ten. The lack of grip at the tight last corner leading onto the pit lane straight caught out some drivers. The overall grip was poor around the course and BAR's Jacques Villeneuve and Ricardo Zonta beached their cars in the gravel trap. Trulli stalled attempting to simulate a standing start.
The weather remained dry and hot for the Saturday morning practice sessions. Every racer could drive on the circuit in preparation for qualifying later that day. Coulthard set the third session's fastest time, a 1:15.965, the first driver to lap faster than 1:16. Häkkinen was second fastest, almost two-tenths slower than Coulthard. Jordan teammates Trulli and Frentzen were both faster than the day before, with Trulli third and Frentzen fourth. Jaguar's Irvine was fifth and Herbert was eighth. Michael Schumacher and Button separated them. Barrichello and de la Rosa were ninth and tenth, respectively.
Coulthard was unable to improve his time in the last practice session due to an engine problem halfway down the track, forcing him to enter the pit lane with smoke billowing from his car, although remaining fastest overall. Because there was insufficient time to fix the problem during practise, Coulthard's mechanics replaced the engine in his vehicle for qualifying. Häkkinen lapped faster and remained second. Barrichello went quicker and was third fastest, ahead of Ralf Schumacher. Jordan drivers Trulli and Frentzen finished fifth and sixth, with best times two thousandths of a second apart. Irvine was seventh quickest, ahead of Michael Schumacher, who focused on qualifying setup. Button and Herbert were ninth and tenth.
Qualifying
Each driver was limited to twelve laps during Saturday's one-hour qualifying session, with the starting position determined by their fastest performance. The 107% rule was in force during this session, which required each driver to achieve a time within 107% of the fastest lap to qualify for the race. Qualifying was held in dry, hot weather, with temperatures periodically rising during the session. Michael Schumacher posted a time of 1:15.632, his fourth pole position of the season and the 27th of his career, around 25 minutes into the session. He was joined on the first row by Coulthard, whose fastest time was 0.102 seconds slower, and drove the spare McLaren vehicle for two laps while the team's mechanics replaced a defective fuel pump under the fuel tank. Coulthard was unable to lap quicker after spinning through 180 degrees, and the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile ordered him to undergo a car weight inspection in the pit lane. Barrichello secured third after changing his car's set-up in qualifying, which caused uncertainty over ride height changes. Häkkinen was demoted to fourth by Barrichello on the final lap due to difficulty in the slow speed turns from setup problems. Late in qualifying, Ralf Schumacher qualified fifth and was pleased with his starting position. He demoted Irvine to sixth place in the final phases of qualifying. Villeneuve qualified seventh.Jordan's Trulli and Frentzen were eighth and ninth. Both drivers were disappointed with their performance; Trulli went wide off the course and returned via the off surface, preventing him from lapping faster. Button qualified tenth. Herbert in eleventh failed to qualify in the top ten by nearly three-tenths of a second. Salo took twelfth, with his fastest time posted when cloud cover reduced air and track temperatures. He was ahead of de la Rosa in 13th position in the quicker of the two Arrows; he electronics system failed, and he returned to the pit lane to drive the spare Arrows car. Fisichella started 14th due to car balance and tyre wear, nearly one-tenth of a second faster than Benetton teammate Alexander Wurz; both drivers reported car grip issues. Pedro Diniz in the other Sauber and Heidfeld split the two. Alesi followed in 18th. Zonta, 19th, used BAR's spare car after his racing car's engine failed. A lack of grip left Verstappen in 20th. Minardi's Marc Gené and Gastón Mazzacane qualified at the back of the grid in places 21 to 22; both drivers were 2.4 and 2.6 seconds slower than the pole sitter, respectively, Minardi's best qualifying performance from first position up to that point in the season.