2001 Australian Grand Prix
The 2001 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 4 March 2001 at the Albert Park Circuit in Albert Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, before a crowd of 128,500 people. It was the first round of the 2001 Formula One World Championship and the 16th Australian Grand Prix that counted towards the Formula One World Championship. Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher won the 58-lap race from pole position. David Coulthard of the McLaren team finished second and Schumacher's teammate Rubens Barrichello third. It was Schumacher's fifth consecutive victory in Formula One and the 45th of his career.
Michael Schumacher won the 33rd pole position of his career by recording the fastest lap in qualifying. He maintained the lead until a major accident on lap five involving Williams' Ralf Schumacher and British American Racing driver Jacques Villeneuve resulted in the death of spectator marshal Graham Beveridge, who was struck in the chest by Villeneuve's right-rear wheel. The incident necessitated deploying the safety car. The race restarted eleven laps later with Michael Schumacher in first place until the pit stop phase for fuel and tyres. Coulthard led for three laps until his stop before Michael Schumacher regained the lead which he maintained to win the race.
Graham Beveridge was the second marshal to die from injuries sustained during a Formula One race after Paolo Gislimberti at the 2000 Italian Grand Prix just under six months before. His death was investigated by the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, who concluded it was a "freak accident". A coroner's report concluded the organisers of the race, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, were responsible for the accident and it was "avoidable".
Following this, Michael Schumacher left Australia as the leader of the World Drivers' Championship with ten championship points. Coulthard was four championship points behind in second and Barrichello a further two adrift in third. Nick Heidfeld of Sauber and Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen were fourth and fifth. In the World Constructors' Championship, Ferrari led with fourteen championship points and McLaren were second with eight championship points. Sauber and Jordan followed in third and fourth with sixteen races left in the season.
Background
The 2001 Australian Grand Prix was the first of the 17 rounds in the 2001 Formula One World Championship and the 16th Formula One Australian race. It took place on 4 March at the 16-turn Albert Park Circuit in the Melbourne suburb of Albert Park, Victoria. The track is a semi-permanent road course. Due to the dust laid on it by road traffic all year round, it offers drivers a low amount of grip. Engineers set up the cars to extract the maximum amount of downforce at the rear and to be stable in high-speed corners. This puts a strain on traction and braking and prompted teams to install cooling devices on the brakes' rotor and calipers.File:Kimi Raikkonen at Mengjia Longshan Temple 20020319.jpg|thumb|upright|alt= A photograph of Kimi Räikkönen wearing McLaren overalls in 2002. He was one of four drivers to make their Formula One debut in Melbourne.| Kimi Räikkönen was one of four drivers to make their Formula One debut in Melbourne.
Of the 22 drivers on the starting grid, four made their debut. The 1999 Championship Auto Racing Teams champion and 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya joined the Williams team to partner Ralf Schumacher, replacing Jenson Button, who was loaned to the Benetton team on a two-year deal. At the Arrows team, International Formula 3000 participant Enrique Bernoldi replaced Pedro de la Rosa, who lost his race seat and joined the Prost team as test and reserve driver. IF3000 driver Fernando Alonso was promoted from a test driver role at Minardi to a race seat. Kimi Räikkönen, the 2000 Formula Renault 2.0 UK champion, drove for the Sauber team in Melbourne, partnering Nick Heidfeld. Many observers, including Jaguar's Eddie Irvine, Button and the president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, Max Mosley, criticised Sauber's choice to sign Räikkönen because he had competed in 23 car races prior to his debut and no F1 experience. He took part in a test session at the Circuito de Jerez before 25 FIA commission members for performance analysis in December 2000. Räikkönen was granted a super licence by a vote of 24 to 1 at a FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting on 7 December.
At the front of the field, the press considered the 2000 champion Michael Schumacher of Ferrari the favourite to take his fourth World Drivers' Championship. Mika Häkkinen of the McLaren team was predicted to be his nearest challenger. Michael Schumacher arrived with the physiological advantage as Ferrari exceeded its target of completing more than in pre-season testing. He said he was confident about his chances in Australia: "The F2001 has behaved very well from the first to last day of testing. It has performed brilliantly at Fiorano and Mugello. I can say again that never before have I been able to carry out such a preparation in my career and that sends me to Melbourne full of confidence." Häkkinen said the pressure he felt at the start of 2000 increased his desire to win the World Drivers' and Constructors' Championships in 2001 and intended to do his best to help McLaren achieve both titles.
The race saw the return of Michelin as a tyre supplier for the first time since the 1984 season; the company supplied tyres to the Williams, Benetton, Prost, Jaguar and Minardi teams in 2001. They provided Formula One's existing tyre supplier Bridgestone with competition for the first time since Goodyear left following the 1998 season. The competition led to the development of a tyre where more of its surface area came into contact with the road surface providing the driver with more grip. This increased the top speeds of cars during pre-season testing and drivers set lap times below 2000-levels to nullify the effect of the reduction in aerodynamic performance and downforce. It raised concerns within the sport about grooved compounds becoming illegal slick tyres; the FIA declined to enforce a regulation mandating Michelin and Bridgestone to restrict the wear of their tyre compounds.
Several teams introduced major changes to their cars compared to the models shown at the official presentations and pre-season testing. Ferrari introduced multiple aerodynamic appendages, with the most conspicuous being fins mounted on the external side section. The team also fitted revised air intakes onto the brakes for improved cooling and air flow deviation around the wheels. The Williams squad vertical bulkheads under the front wing by using the within the wing to allow it to run lower to the ground.
Practice
A total of four practice sessions preceded Sunday's race—two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday. The Friday practice sessions were held in hot and clear weather. In the morning session, Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello was fastest with a lap of 1 minute 29.056 seconds, 0.312 seconds quicker than his teammate Michael Schumacher in second. The two McLarens were third and fourth—Häkkinen ahead of David Coulthard. Ralf Schumacher, Jos Verstappen of the Arrows team, Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Montoya, Heidfeld and British American Racing driver Olivier Panis were in positions five to ten. While the session was relatively uneventful, Ralf Schumacher and his teammate Montoya ran off the circuit; both drivers avoided sustaining damage to their cars.Barrichello set the day's fastest lap in the afternoon session at 1 minute 28.965 seconds. Jarno Trulli for Jordan, Michael Schumacher, Coulthard, Häkkinen, Ralf Schumacher, Heidfeld, Frentzen, Prost's Jean Alesi and Panis followed in positions two to ten. Tarso Marques' engine failed after seven minutes and laid oil on the track. Both Irvine and Button sustained separate punctures. Red flags were shown after 35 minutes when Jaguar's Luciano Burti locked his tyres into the first corner and spun. He damaged the front-left corner of his Jaguar R2 car in an impact with a concrete barrier at the corner's exit. Burti was unhurt. Frentzen beached his car in the turn six gravel trap with six minutes remaining, and Heidfeld damaged his front wing in an off-track excursion.
Shortly after, Michael Schumacher did not see waved yellow flags in turn five to alert drivers to Heidfeld. He accelerated and saw the yellow flags in the braking area for turn six. Schumacher lost control of the rear of the car on oil laid on the approach to the right-hand turn six while braking. He spun backwards after hitting the inside kerb and speared into the gravel trap at. The wheels dug into a ridge in the gravel on the outside of the turn and the Ferrari lifted airborne. Schumacher somersaulted and barrel rolled twice before landing upright against a tyre barrier. He was unhurt, and he returned to the area later that day to discuss possible changes to turn six after raising concerns the day before.
In the third session, Michael Schumacher was fastest in his rebuilt car with a lap of 1 minute 28.134 seconds. The McLarens of Coulthard and Häkkinen were second and third. Trulli was fourth-fastest with Jacques Villeneuve of BAR fifth and his teammate Panis sixth. Frentzen, Barrichello, Montoya and Irvine followed in the top ten. Barrichello stopped at the side of the track with an engine failure and Verstappen was affected by a transmission fault caused by an electrical problem. Frentzen spun late in the session and avoided damaging his car. Coulthard led the final session with a lap of 1 minute 27.540 seconds, followed by Michael Schumacher, Häkkinen, Frentzen, Trulli, Panis, Räikkönen, Irvine and Heidfeld. A brake problem caused Marques to spin into the gravel trap and Michael Schumacher stopped at turn six with debris in his left-front brake duct.