2000 Italian Grand Prix
The 2000 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 10 September 2000, at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza near Monza, Lombardy, Italy, in front of an estimated 110,000 to 120,000 people. It was the 14th round of the 2000 Formula One World Championship and the season's final event in Europe. Ferrari's Michael Schumacher won the 53-lap race from pole position. McLaren's Mika Häkkinen took second and Williams' Ralf Schumacher was third.
Before the race, Häkkinen led the World Drivers' Championship and McLaren led the World Constructors' Championship. Michael Schumacher maintained the lead and held off Häkkinen's attempts to pass him going into the first corner. An incident involving four cars further around the lap necessitated the safety car's deployment and fire marshal Paolo Gislimberti was struck by a flying wheel from Heinz-Harald Frentzen's car. When the safety car was withdrawn at the end of lap eleven, Michael Schumacher began to pull away from Häkkinen and maintained the lead until his pit stop on the 39th lap. When Häkkinen made his pit stop three laps later, Michael Schumacher regained the lead, which he held to earn his sixth victory of the season and the 41st of his career, tying him with Ayrton Senna; Häkkinen came in second 3.8 seconds later.
As a result of the race results, Schumacher cut Häkkinen's World Drivers' Championship lead to two championship points, with David Coulthard another 17 championship points back. Rubens Barrichello, who was involved in the first-lap accident, was mathematically ruled out of winning the championship. McLaren's eight-point lead entering the Grand Prix was down to four with three races remaining in the season. Gislimberti died later in hospital, prompting a review of Formula One safety standards.
Background
On 10 September 2000, the clockwise Autodromo Nazionale di Monza near Monza in Lombardy, Italy, hosted the 13th round of 17th in the 2000 Formula One World Championship. It was the season's final European race. The event featured eleven teams, each with two drivers with no changes to the season entry list. Control tyre supplier Bridgestone brought the hardest available compounds to the race, the medium and hard dry compounds. Because the Monza Circuit saw high average lap times, every team installed low incidence ailerons and the wings observed at the.McLaren's Mika Häkkinen led the World Drivers' Championship with 74 championship points going into the race, followed by Ferrari's Michael Schumacher on 68 championship points and Häkkinen's teammate David Coulthard on 61 championship points. Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello was fourth with 49 championship points and Williams' Ralf Schumacher was fifth with 20 championship points. McLaren led the World Constructors' Championship with 125 championship points, followed by Ferrari and Williams with 117 and 30 championship points, respectively, while Benetton were fourth with 18 championship points and Jordan were fifth with 13 championship points.
At the previous race in Belgium, the gap between Häkkinen and Michael Schumacher had grown to six points. Häkkinen began from pole position and led until the 13th lap, when he lost control of his car at Stavelot corner. He later lapped quicker than Michael Schumacher and passed him while both were lapping British American Racing driver Ricardo Zonta with four laps remaining to win the race. The overtake was hailed as "the best ever manoeuvre in grand prix racing" by the international press and many Formula One individuals. Michael Schumacher remained confident about his title chances: "With only six points between Mika and I and four more races to go, I am still optimistic about our chances. One win or a retirement before the end of the season can change the whole picture either way."
The track was modified by its management to try and allow more overtaking. The main straight was straightened in July, and the Prima Variante and Seconda Variante chicanes were reconfigured by the race organisers to form a series of narrow corners with the exit away from the entry of turn one. The run-off areas around the circuit's two sections were expanded, and its tight kerbs removed. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile requested those changes. Some drivers were dissatisfied with the changes, fearing a multi-car accident on the first lap. Coulthard said that the new corner would make braking more difficult and expressed concern about the number of penalties issued to other drivers. However, Michael Schumacher believed his and other teams would be less concerned about suspension damage. Prost's Jean Alesi, the first driver to test the new circuit, said that drivers would be able to leave the track more easily in the event of a technical issue.
Following the Belgian Grand Prix on 27 August, the teams conducted a four-day testing session at Monza and concentrated on optimising their car set-ups for low downforce. Arrows' Jos Verstappen set the first day's quickest times, ahead of Sauber's Pedro Diniz. Coulthard was quickest on the second day. Benetton driver Giancarlo Fisichella crashed at high speed into the Ascari chicane, bringing a brief halt to testing. He visited Rome for a medical examination and was diagnosed with an inflamed tendon in his right ankle; he was cleared to race after five days of recuperation. Jacques Villeneuve lapped fastest for BAR on the third day as rain shortened the team's running. Minardi's Gastón Mazzacane had a high speed accident at the Ascari chicane, forcing testing to be stopped. Ralf Schumacher was fastest on testing's fourth and final day. Michael Schumacher's car developed a malfunction and pulled off the race track, limiting Ferrari's testing time as the car's power unit was changed.
Practice
Two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday preceded Sunday's race. Drivers manoeuvred their cars on a hot track in dry weather. On Friday morning with ten minutes remaining, Barrichello set the first session's quickest time of 1:25.057 seconds on his final timed lap. He was three-tenths of a second faster than Jordan's Jarno Trulli in second. Michael Schumacher finished third, one-tenth of a second slower than Trulli, with Coulthard fourth. Pedro de la Rosa was fifth fastest, ahead of Arrows teammate Verstappen. Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Fisichella, Villeneuve, and Benetton's Alexander Wurz rounded out the top ten fastest drivers. Some drivers ran wide onto the Rettifilo chicane at least once during practice. Häkkinen did not set a timed lap due to a slipping clutch, which was rectified for the second session.It was sunny and warm for the second practice session. Barrichello was again fastest despite not improving his time from the first session; Michael Schumacher, Trulli, Häkkinen, Coulthard, Jaguar's Eddie Irvine, De La Rosa, Diniz, Verstappen and Sauber's Mika Salo completed the top ten drivers. Alesi's car developed a hydraulic leak, limiting him to three timed laps and placing him last overall. Wurz was stopped at the exit of the Parabolica turn due to a similar problem. Mazzacane spun off and missed the rest of the session. Coulthard spun off under braking into the second Lesmo right-hand curve and beached his car in the gravel, breaking the McLaren's left-rear suspension arm and ending his running early.
Following a series of crashes at the first corner in recent events, drivers agreed to take a cautious approach at the first chicane at the drivers' meeting on Friday. If they did not gain a position or an advantage after concerns were raised, they would not be penalised ten seconds. The Saturday practice sessions were again held in dry, sunny weather. Michael Schumacher set the third session's fastest lap, a 1:24.262. The Williams drivers were in the top five, with Jenson Button second after a late-session lap and Ralf Schumacher fifth, separated by Coulthard and Barrichello in third and fourth. Fisichella, Villeneuve, Häkkinen, Salo and Jaguar's Johnny Herbert completed the top ten. In a crash at the fast Parabolica corner tyre wall, Frentzen went wide onto the edge of some dust, damaging the car's front-left corner. Häkkinen ran onto the gravel and struggled to regain control of his car.
Michael Schumacher set the final practice session's quickest lap time, a 1:23.904; Barrichello was third. Häkkinen separated them, with teammate Coulthard fourth-fastest. Ralf Schumacher lapped faster to maintain fifth place, ahead of teammate Jenson Button, who was unable to reproduce his third session performance. Fisichella, Zonta, Villeneuve and Irvine rounded out the top ten. Mazzacane's engine ran out of air pressure and caused him to stop on the track again, while Wurz did not record any laps owing to a fuel pick-up issue. While his car was being repaired, Frentzen did not set any lap times.
Qualifying
Each driver was limited to twelve laps during Saturday's one-hour qualifying session, with the starting position determined by their fastest laps. The 107% rule was in effect during qualifying, which required each driver to record a time within 107% of the fastest lap to qualify for the race.. The session was held in dry weather. Michael Schumacher used his teammate's wing setup and undertray on his car to achieve his sixth pole position of the season and 29th of his career, with a time of 1:23.770. Despite being pleased with his car and tyres, he said that he did not have the best session due to a mistake at the first chicane during his first run. Michael Schumacher was joined on the front row by Barrichello, whose lap time was 0.027 seconds slower with ten minutes left and was happy to start alongside his teammate. Häkkinen qualified third following handling difficulties and his Mercedes V10 engine misfiring due to a fuel pressure fault, distracting him during his final two timed laps. Villeneuve recorded BAR's best qualifying result at the time and of his season, taking fourth on his final fast lap with 12 minutes remaining, nearly half a second behind Michael Schumacher. Despite a minor error on his first run, he was pleased with his performance. Häkkinen's teammate Coulthard took fifth after suffering traffic and car balance issues during qualifying. Frentzen blocked him leaving the Rettifilo chicane on his last run. Trulli and Frentzen were sixth and eighth respectively for Jordan; Trulli reported no problems while Frentzen was impeded by De La Rosa on his final quick run, losing him approximately four-tenths of a second. Ralf Schumacher, seventh, was disappointed with his performance, which saw him abort two runs owing to his braking position. Fisichella took ninth.De La Rosa's modified his car and he qualified tenth with a fast lap recorded with two minutes remaining. His teammate Verstappen qualified eleventh after having to drive two of his team's cars when they had hydraulic and engine problems, causing him to stop in the gravel at Ascari corner. Button qualified twelfth after overheating his tyres and lacking control of his car after decreasing downforce. Wurz, 13th, used the session to familiarise himself with Benetton's spare car after lacking practice. He was ahead of Irvine in the faster of the two Jaguars, whose best time was one-tenth of a second faster than his teammate Johnny Herbert in 18th; both were disadvantaged by a lack of straightline speed. Salo, 15th, was the Sauber team's fastest driver, ahead of his teammate Diniz whose car handled badly under braking for the Rettifilo and della Roggia chicanes. The pair were marginally faster than Zonta, who had gear selection issues in his race car and had to stop on the track before switching to his team's spare vehicle configured for Villeneuve. Alesi and Nick Heidfeld in the Prosts were 18th and 19th after driving with understeer. They qualified ahead of the Minardis of Marc Gené and Mazzacane, who were 21st and 22nd; Mazzacane's car stopped at the Lesmo corners due to an electrical problem. He returned to the pit lane to drive the spare car.