2001 Austrian Grand Prix
The 2001 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held before 76,000 spectators at the A1-Ring in Spielberg, Styria, Austria on 13 May 2001. It was the sixth round of the 2001 Formula One World Championship and the 24th Austrian Grand Prix as part of the series. David Coulthard driving for the McLaren team won the 71-lap race starting from seventh. Michael Schumacher of the Ferrari team finished second, with his teammate Rubens Barrichello third. McLaren would wait a further 24 years until their next win in Austria was secured by Lando Norris in 2025.
Going into the Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship from Coulthard as his team Ferrari led McLaren in the World Constructors' Championship. Michael Schumacher won the 37th pole position of his career by setting the fastest lap time in qualifying. The Williams pair of Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher overtook him at the start of the event. Montoya led the first 15 laps until Michael Schumacher attempted a pass on Montoya that put both drivers wide on lap 16. Montoya relinquished the lead to Barrichello, who held it until a pit stop on the 46th lap. Coulthard took the lead by staying on the circuit three laps longer than Barrichello. He maintained it for the rest of the race to win. Michael Schumacher finished second after Barrichello complied with team orders from Ferrari to cede the position on the final lap.
It was Coulthard's second victory of the season and the eleventh of his career. Due to the result of the race, Coulthard was left within four championship points of the leader of the World Drivers' Championship Michael Schumacher. Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher maintained third and fourth. Sauber's Nick Heidfeld kept fifth. Ferrari continued to lead McLaren by 18 championship points in the World Constructors' Championship and Williams maintained third – both Montoya and Ralf Schumacher failed to finish due to mechanical problems – with eleven races left in the season.
Background
The 2001 Austrian Grand Prix was the 6th of the 17 motor races of the 2001 Formula One World Championship and the 24th edition of the event as part of the series. It was held at the nine-turn A1 Ring, Spielberg, Styria on 13 May 2001. Redesigned by Hermann Tilke to comply with FIA Grade 1 Circuit License requirements for its Formula One return in 1997, the track is of average length and provides very few low-speed sections. It allowed teams to optimise their engines and ran with little downforce. Teams also ensured that brakes and cooling systems had no excess strain put upon them because of their heavy usage over a single lap. For the Grand Prix, 11 teams entered two race drivers each.Following the 2000 race, the Grand Prix organisers extended the length of the kerbs along the side of the track and the gravel traps beside it. An additional row of tyres was erected to improve driver safety. The line demoting the entry to the pit lane was moved from the entry to the final corner to the exit of turn eight. The changes were predicted to affect lap times since cars would have less on-track time and spend more time in their pit stalls.
After winning the preceding Spanish Grand Prix, Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship with 36 championship points, eight ahead of David Coulthard in the leading McLaren in second. The second Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello was third with 14 championship points and Williams' Ralf Schumacher was two championship points behind in fourth. With eight championship points, Sauber's Nick Heidfeld completed the top five in the standings. In the World Constructors' Championship, Ferrari led with 50 championship points; McLaren stood in second place with 32 championship points. Williams were third with 18 championship points, as Jordan with 13 championship points and Sauber on nine contended for fourth place.
In preparation for the race, all the teams conducted in-season test sessions at various circuits across Europe. Jaguar, Prost, Benetton, Williams and McLaren went to the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia from 1 to 3 May. Teams undertook tyre development on behalf of Michelin and Bridgestone, tested their aerodynamic packages; McLaren and Benetton developed the chassis of their MP4/16 and B201 cars. Jordan, Sauber, British American Racing and Arrows tested at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone from 1 to 3 May, which was disrupted on the first day when Kimi Räikkönen's Sauber was caught off guard by Jordan test driver Ricardo Zonta at the exit to Becketts corner. Sauber assessed launch control for the first time. Minardi tested launch control and a revised electronics package at the Fiorano Circuit in Italy with driver Fernando Alonso, joining Ferrari who utilised the track for car development and reliability testing.
At the previous round in Spain, Coulthard stalled on the starting grid and McLaren team principal Ron Dennis accused him of "brain fade", a remark he later retracted. While Dennis publicly apologised to Coulthard, the relationship between the two was still strained; Coulthard spoke of his hope of continuing to score championship points in every race of the season. The Daily Telegraph columnist Sarah Edworthy said the Austrian Grand Prix was where Coulthard had to demonstrate no driver errors. His manager Martin Brundle stated Coulthard needed to prevent emotions from disrupting his consistency. Michael Schumacher said his focus was to respond to McLaren's challenge and hoped to be competitive in Austria, "Last year I got pushed out of the race at the first corner which was very disappointing. This year I hope things will go better for me. The car should be competitive, the track characteristics are similar to those of the last race in terms of performance."
Practice
There were four practice sessions preceding Sunday's race, two each on Friday and Saturday. The Friday morning and afternoon sessions lasted an hour; the third and fourth sessions, on Saturday morning, lasted 45 minutes each. The Friday practice sessions took place in dry and overcast weather and on a slippery, dusty track. Several drivers spun during the session; all avoided damage to their cars. McLaren's Mika Häkkinen, unwell with the flu, set the first practice session's fastest lap of 1 minute and 11.751 seconds late on, almost three-tenths of a second faster than his teammate Coulthard in second. Barrichello, Räikkönen, Ralf Schumacher, Michael Schumacher, Arrows driver Enrique Bernoldi, BAR's Olivier Panis, the second Arrows of Jos Verstappen and Heidfeld rounded out the session's top ten quickest drivers. Jean Alesi's Prost had an engine failure on the start/finish straight, and Jordan driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen had his running curtailed with a power steering problem.In the second practice session, Coulthard recorded the day's fastest lap of 1 minute and 11.245 seconds on his final lap of practice. His teammate Häkkinen placed second and Barrichello was the highest-placed Ferrari in third, having been the fastest driver late in the session until both of the McLaren vehicles set their quickest laps. Ralf Schumacher, Michael Schumacher, Heidfeld, Frentzen, Räikkönen and the BAR duo of Panis and Jacques Villeneuve followed in positions four through ten. Jenson Button's Benetton B201 engine failed on the approach to turn two five minutes into practice. Verstappen later spun into the final turn gravel trap and his Arrows teammate Bernoldi lost control of his car returning to the pit lane.
The Saturday morning practice sessions occurred in clear and warm weather. With a time of 1 minute and 10.094 seconds, Michael Schumacher was fastest in the third practice session, ahead of Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya, Häkkinen, Barrichello, Coulthard, Frentzen, Panis, Villeneuve and the Sauber duo of Räikkönen and Heidfeld. Bernoldi ran into the grass by locking his brakes, and Coulthard approached the final corner too quickly, causing him to drive deep into the corner's gravel trap.
Coulthard led the final practice session with a lap of 1 minute and 10.010 seconds. The Ferrari cars were second and third – Michael Schumacher ahead of Barrichello – with Schumacher leading the time sheets until Coulthard's last lap. Häkkinen, Montoya, his teammate Ralf Schumacher, Frentzen, Jarno Trulli, Heidfeld and Villeneuve completed the top ten. Verstappen's right-rear suspension failed at the double left Niki Lauda bend turn, spearing into a gravel trap and a wall beside the track. Ralf Schumacher spun through 180 degrees at the turn two; he continued driving. Later, a deer emerged from the forests and caused Montoya to slow. The deer ran through a gravel trap and left the circuit via a trackside barrier.
Qualifying
Saturday afternoon's one hour qualifying session saw each driver limited to twelve laps, with the starting order decided by their fastest laps. During this session the 107% rule was in effect, requiring each driver to remain within 107 per cent of the fastest lap time to qualify for the race. The weather was warm and overcast with a headwind slowing drivers. As the circuit was low on grip due to a lack of usage, drivers waited for 21 minutes before driving on it, leading to heavy traffic. Notwithstanding a driver error at turn two, Michael Schumacher bettered Häkkinen's unofficial lap record from the 2000 race to take his fifth pole position of the season and the 37th of his career with a lap of 1 minute and 9.562 seconds. He was joined on the grid's front row by Montoya who took his maiden front row start. Traffic on his final timed lap, an error on his third, and a slower pace in the final two corners put Ralf Schumacher third. Barrichello in fourth adjusted his car's downforce set-up. Trulli changed his engine after it failed during practice and he drove the final 15 minutes to take fifth. Sixth-placed Heidfeld made minor alterations to his Sauber C20 and experimented with tyre pressures. The McLaren team were seventh and eighth in its worst qualifying performance since the 1997 French Grand Prix. Coulthard in seventh could not improve his lap because of the headwind and a car balance that created oversteer. A minor loss of water pressure in his engine at turn three and on the back straight slowed his teammate Häkkinen in eighth on his final attempt.Ninth-placed Räikkönen was slowed by Villeneuve on a timed lap and had a recurrence of gearbox shifting problems from the prior two practice sessions. Panis took tenth after confusion over tyre strategy. Frentzen in 11th accidentally engaged his pit lane limiter at his first attempt and his best lap was on his second timed run before his car's balance deteriorated. Multiple errors from an unbalanced setup and weight distribution on his BAR 003 restricted Villeneuve to 12th. Jaguar's Eddie Irvine swerved into the pit lane to avoid hitting Alesi's spun car on his first timed lap and traffic left him in 13th. His teammate Pedro de la Rosa took 14th on his second lap. Bernoldi in 15th was ahead of his teammate Verstappen 16th after a spin at the final corner, which caused Michael Schumacher to swerve into a gravel trap. Burti and Alesi qualified their Prost cars in 17th and 20th, both complaining of a lack of car grip. Alonso separated the two drivers in 18th. Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella in 19th had a misfiring engine and he used the spare car setup for his teammate Button. Car set-up issues and an understeer left Button in 21st. Tarso Marques in the second Minardi car was the final qualifier in 22nd; he spun into a gravel trap and took the team's spare car until a rear damper fault curtailed his running.