2001 Formula One World Championship


The 2001 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 55th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 2001 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 2001 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a seventeen-race series that commenced on 4 March and ended on 14 October.
Defending champions Michael Schumacher and Scuderia Ferrari were again awarded the World Drivers' Championship and World Constructors' Championship, respectively. Schumacher won the title with a record margin of 58 points over David Coulthard, after achieving nine victories and five second places. He also became the driver with the most wins thus far, with his victory at the Belgian Grand Prix marking his 52nd career win. The season saw the debut of two future world champions: Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen as well as race winner Juan Pablo Montoya. This was the last season for double world champion Mika Häkkinen. In addition, 2001 also saw French tyre manufacturer Michelin rejoin the sport for the first time since 1984 to provide competition for Japanese tyre supplier Bridgestone, beginning a tyre war between the two tyre companies that would last until the end of the 2006 season. The season also saw Renault rejoin the sport in an official capacity for the first time since 1997, with the French manufacturer purchasing the Benetton team which would be renamed Renault for 2002.

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers competed in the 2001 FIA Formula One World Championship.
† All engines were 3.0 litre, V10 configuration.

Driver changes

  • Olivier Panis left his test position with McLaren to take up a full-time drive with BAR. He took the place of Ricardo Zonta, with the Brazilian taking up the position of test driver with Jordan.
  • Still on contract to Williams, Jenson Button was loaned to Benetton for this season. He replaced Alexander Wurz, as the Austrian had fallen out of favour with team boss Flavio Briatore and moved on to become a test driver at McLaren. Button's place in the Williams was taken over by Juan Pablo Montoya. Montoya had been tied to Williams since 1998 but was loaned to Chip Ganassi Racing to drive in the CART series in 1999, where he took the title in his first attempt as well as a victory in the Indianapolis 500.
  • Marc Gené lost his seat at Minardi due to sponsorship problems. He signed a contract to become a test driver at Williams, where he remained until the end of 2004. His place at Minardi was replaced with Fernando Alonso. Gastón Mazzacane was replaced by Tarso Marques, returning after previously driving for the team in and.
  • Mazzacane beat CART driver Oriol Servià for the seat at Prost. He replaced Nick Heidfeld, who subsequently moved to Sauber. Kimi Räikkönen was signed alongside Heidfeld for a full drive from near obscurity. The Finn had performed some testing for Sauber in late 2000 after dominating the British Formula Renault series, and an impressed Peter Sauber offered him the full-time drive. Pedro Diniz did not return as a driver for Sauber, but instead purchased 40% of the Prost team and served in a management role there in 2001.
  • Johnny Herbert decided to leave the Jaguar team in an attempt to secure a drive in Champ Cars. The deal did not work out and he was forced to sign on with Arrows as a test driver for 2001. Luciano Burti stepped up from test driver to fill Herbert's slot at Jaguar.
  • Pedro de la Rosa lost his drive at Arrows to Enrique Bernoldi and signed on as a reserve driver with Prost.

    Mid-season changes

  • Gastón Mazzacane was fired by the Prost team after the San Marino Grand Prix. He was replaced with Jaguar's Luciano Burti, who, in turn, was subsequently replaced at Jaguar with Prost reserve driver Pedro de la Rosa.
  • Heinz-Harald Frentzen suffered injuries after a crash and was replaced for the Canadian GP by reserve driver Ricardo Zonta. After returning from his injuries, Frentzen's contract was terminated by Jordan after the British GP. The split was not a happy one, and the matter ended in court before the end of the season. Zonta once again took over Frentzen's seat for the German GP.
  • Jean Alesi left the Prost team after the German Grand Prix. Frentzen was then signed to Prost to take over Alesi's seat, before Jordan completed a straight swap by signing Alesi. Both drivers remained in their new seats for the rest of the season.
  • Alex Yoong was granted his FIA super-licence during the 2001 season and replaced Tarso Marques in the Minardi starting lineup at the Italian Grand Prix. Marques moved into a reserve/test role for the rest of the season.
  • Luciano Burti suffered serious injuries during a crash in the Belgian GP. He was forced to sit out the rest of the season and was replaced by Czech driver Tomáš Enge for the remaining races.

    Regulation changes

Technical regulations

  • The front wing had to be moved upwards by, to be at least above the "reference plane". This was done to reduce the ground effect and overall downforce at the front of the car.
  • The upper section of the rear wing could now only consist out of a maximum of three elements, and the lower point out of just one element.
  • The safety cell and cockpit opening were increased in size to reduce damage to drivers' legs, and the roll hoop structure had to withstand a four times larger force of impact compared to last year. The side impact test was conducted at a higher speed: instead of.
  • Tyres had to be connected to the suspension with two tethers, up from one.

    Mid-season changes

  • Several electronic driver-aid systems were reintroduced: traction control, launch control, and fully-automatic transmissions. They had been banned since. The Spanish Grand Prix was the first race where they were permitted.

    Sporting regulations

  • On 30 August 2000, the eleven teams held a meeting with members of the FIA at Heathrow Airport to discuss rule changes for the 2001 season. It was agreed that drivers would be allowed to use an extra three sets of tyres during Friday's two practice sessions.
  • Ten days later at the Monza Circuit, team bosses accepted to ban in-season testing during the month of August, from the 2001 season onwards. A three-week break would be implemented during that time period.

    Safety car

provided a new safety car: the SL55 AMG, which also performed its duty during and replaced the previous CL55 AMG. It was first deployed during the German Grand Prix.

Season summary

Pre-season

Three high-profile drivers made their debuts in 2001: future world champions Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen, and former CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya.
Renault returned to Formula One after three years to supply engines to the Benetton team. Meanwhile, fellow French car manufacturer Peugeot withdrew from the sport after seven years, following a disastrous season as engine supplier to Prost. The assets of Peugeot's Formula One programme were purchased by Asia Motor Technologies France. The 2000-spec powerplants were rebadged as Asiatechs and supplied to Arrows free of charge.
Michelin made a comeback as tyre supplier, providing competition to Bridgestone for the first time since Goodyear left the sport at the end of the 1998 season.

Rounds 1 to 4

started the new season where he had left off the year before, with a dominant win from pole position in the first race in Australia. Arch-rival Mika Häkkinen lost second after a suspension failure, giving second to his teammate David Coulthard, with Schumacher's teammate Rubens Barrichello completing the podium. Kimi Räikkönen finished his first F1 race in the points with sixth place. The race was marred by the death of Graham Beveridge, a track marshal who was hit by debris after a collision between Ralf Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve.
File:Heinz-Harald Frentzen 2001 Canada.jpg|thumb|left|Heinz-Harald Frentzen drove for the Jordan team at the start of the season, but later moved to Prost.
Schumacher and Barrichello started 1–2 in Malaysia and maintained their positions at the first corner, but there was a massive rain shower on the second lap, during which both Ferraris went off the track. After everyone pitted to change tyres, they were down in 10th and 11th, but they changed to intermediate tyres, while all others had changed to full wets. This masterstroke meant that the Ferraris were able to charge back up the order and get back first and second. Schumacher won, with Barrichello completing a Ferrari 1–2, and Coulthard was third.
Schumacher was on pole in Brazil, but a collision on the first lap brought out the safety car. When the race restarted, Williams rookie Juan Pablo Montoya shocked Schumacher by coming up the inside of him and taking the lead. Montoya was well set for a stunning maiden win until he got hit from behind by Jos Verstappen while lapping him. It began to rain and after everyone changed the tyres, Schumacher was leading, but then Coulthard passed him on the first turn when they were lapping Tarso Marques in a move reminiscent of the one made by Mika Häkkinen on Schumacher in Belgium last year. Coulthard went on to win, with Schumacher and Nick Heidfeld second and third.
In Ferrari's first 'home' race in San Marino, their main rivals McLaren stunned them by qualifying 1–2, with Coulthard on pole. Schumacher was fourth behind his brother Ralf. Ralf shot to the lead at the start, passing both McLarens before the first corner, and was never headed. Coulthard finished second, with Barrichello jumping Häkkinen in the stops to take third. Michael Schumacher had a miserable afternoon, suffering a gearbox glitch early on and then having to retire after a puncture that damaged the wheel rim and a brake duct.
After four races, Schumacher and Coulthard were level on the standings with 26 points, Barrichello and Ralf were third with 14 and 12 points respectively. Häkkinen had only 4 and was only seventh in the standings. In the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari led with 40, with McLaren second with 30. Williams was third with 12.