2001 German Grand Prix


The 2001 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 29 July 2001 at the Hockenheimring in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was the 12th round of the 2001 Formula One World Championship and the 63rd German Grand Prix. Williams driver Ralf Schumacher won the 45-lap race starting from second. Rubens Barrichello finished second for Ferrari with BAR driver Jacques Villeneuve third scoring his last F1 podium finish.
Ferrari's Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship from David Coulthard of McLaren with Ferrari atop the World Constructors' Championship over McLaren. Juan Pablo Montoya began from pole position alongside Ralf Schumacher after recording the quickest qualifying lap. Michael Schumacher started fourth, behind Mika Häkkinen of McLaren. The race was marked by an airborne accident going into the first corner involving Michael Schumacher and Luciano Burti for Prost, which caused the track to be scattered with shreds of carbon fibre and the race restarted as a result. Both Williams drivers retained their positions at the end of the first lap, with Michael Schumacher passing Häkkinen for third. Over the course of the race, Montoya extended a considerable lead over Ralf Schumacher. Montoya lost the lead on lap 24 when an issue with a refuelling rig caused him to be stationary for more than 20 seconds. Ralf Schumacher thus inherited the lead and held it to achieve his third victory of the season.
As a consequence of the final race order, Michael Schumacher retained his championship points advantage in the World Drivers' Championship over second-placed Coulthard as both drivers retired from the Grand Prix. Ralf Schumacher moved ahead of Barrichello to take over third position. In the World Constructors' Championship, Ferrari with 124 championship points retained their lead, while Williams reduced the deficit to McLaren by ten championship points, with five races of the season remaining. This was the last Grand Prix to be held on the layout; the race would be held on a shorter reconfigured track starting in. This race was also on then rookie Fernando Alonso's 20th birthday, and saw him achieve a then career-best finish of 10th.

Background

The 2001 German Grand Prix was the 12th of 17 rounds in the 2001 Formula One World Championship and took place on the Hockenheimring in Hockenheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany on 29 July 2001. Before the race, Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship with 84 championship points, ahead of McLaren's David Coulthard on 47 championship points and Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello with 34 championship points. Ralf Schumacher of Williams was fourth on 31 championship points, and McLaren's Mika Häkkinen was fifth on 19 championship points. Ferrari led the World Constructors' Championship with 118 championship points, 52 ahead of second place team McLaren. Williams were third on 46 championship points, while Sauber with 19 championship points were fourth and Jordan were fifth on 15 championship points.
After the on 15 July, eight teams conducted mid-season testing at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza between 17 and 20 July to prepare for the upcoming German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring. Ricardo Zonta set the fastest times on the first day, ahead of McLaren test driver Alexander Wurz. Michael Schumacher lost control of the rear-end of his car at the Seconda Variante chicane, causing him to slide along the barriers and his car rested in the tyre barriers. Testing was suspended for one hour for the barriers to be repaired. Ferrari later found the crash occurred by a broken diffuser from riding on the kerbs which created a loss of downforce under braking. Michael Schumacher took a medical check and was declared fit to race. Ralf Schumacher was fastest on the second day where it was held in wet weather conditions during the afternoon. Sauber and BAR went to Circuit Ricardo Tormo for three days where aerodynamic and set-up testing was undertaken. Coulthard was scheduled to join Wurz during the session but withdrew because of food poisoning. Irvine was quickest on the third and final days of testing. Arrows elected not to perform any testing and concentrated on work on aerodynamics at their headquarters at Leafield.
A total of 11 teams each entered two drivers for the event. There was one driver change heading into the race. Having driven for Jordan since the season-opening, Heinz-Harald Frentzen was sacked by Jordan and was replaced by its third driver Zonta. Frentzen announced he would take legal action against Jordan and team principal Eddie Jordan said that Frentzen's management was unhappy with Jordan's current performance but denied rumours that a heated row occurred. The Schumacher brothers were sympathetic towards Frentzen who felt unhappy about the manner in which he was sacked. Irvine came to Jordan's defence and said that he believed the decision was influenced by problems Jordan had with World Champion Damon Hill who had similar poor performances like Frentzen. In an interview with The Sunday Independent in 2005, Jordan later claimed that Frentzen was sacked because engine supplier Honda wanted Japanese driver Takuma Sato to race for Jordan in and to retain Honda's engine supply.
Some teams made modifications to their cars in preparation for the Grand Prix. Williams, Jaguar, Ferrari, Sauber and Prost all brought updated front wings. Ferrari also introduced a new underfloor and brought more powerful versions of their V10 engines for qualifying and the race. Williams installed extra cooling on their cars to combat high temperatures in qualifying. Minardi planned to introduce a new revision to their cars aerodynamic package which included a new engine cover, a titanium gearbox and rear suspension geometry. The team decided to only test the gearbox during the first free practice session.

Practice

There were four practice sessions preceding Sunday's race—two one-hour sessions on Friday, and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday. The Friday practice sessions were held in dry and hot weather. Barrichello lapped fastest in the first session, at 1 minute and 41.953 seconds, late on, going three-tenths of a second quicker than early pace setter, Jaguar's Pedro de la Rosa. Coulthard was third fastest despite going off the circuit at the Clark chicane. Michael Schumacher, fourth, went off at the Senna chicane. Ralf Schumacher, Häkkinen, Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya, Eddie Irvine, Giancarlo Fisichella and Jordan's Jarno Trulli followed in positions five through ten. Other drivers went off the circuit during the session.
In the second practice session, Irvine reset the circuit lap record at 1:41.424 25 minutes in. He was ahead of Montoya in second who had extra wing and a stiffer rear-end to deal with an understeer he had been affected by. Häkkinen ran with a heavy fuel load and was the highest-placed Bridgestone-shod entrant in third, with Barrichello fourth. Michael Schumacher took fifth place, running wide at the circuit's chicanes which prevented him from setting a quicker lap. De La Rosa, whose car developed an engine hydraulics issue, Coulthard, Prost's Jean Alesi, Trulli. and Ralf Schumacher, who collided with the Sudkurve tyre barrier after going wide in the stadium section and hitting a kerb during his first time lap after five minutes, followed in the top ten. Tarso Marques lost control of his Minardi car at the Ostkurve corner and his teammate Fernando Alonso drove into the gravel in avoidance. Both cars sustained no major damage.
The weather remained hot and dry for the Saturday practice sessions. Michael Schumacher was quickest in the third session, with a time of 1:39.937. Barrichello was second quickest, almost half a second slower than Michael Schumacher. The two Williams drivers were third and fourth; Ralf Schumacher ahead of Montoya. Coulthard secured the fifth fastest time, two-tenths of a second faster than teammate Häkkinen in sixth. Sauber's Nick Heidfeld, Jacques Villeneuve of British American Racing, Irvine and Sauber's Kimi Räikkönen rounded out the top ten. Benetton driver Jenson Button did not set a time. Häkkinen understeered wide into the gravel and grass at Agip turn during his first quick lap and he was delayed in the pit lane while gravel was removed from his car.
In the final practice session, Ralf Schumacher lapped fastest at 1:39.188 that he recorded 22 minutes into the session, almost three-tenths of a second quicker than teammate Montoya in second. Montoya attempted to better his teammate's lap but slowed and set his best lap on his next attempt. Michael Schumacher was unable to better his lap time from the preceding session and he fell to third. Häkkinen was fourth-fastest; Heidfeld fifth; Barrichello sixth; Irvine seventh and Panis eighth. Coulthard, who beached his McLaren in the Agip corner gravel trap and spent most of the session in the pit lane after pushing his car back to that area, was ninth and Trulli tenth.

Qualifying

Saturday's afternoon one hour qualifying session saw each driver limited to twelve laps, with the starting order decided by the drivers' fastest laps. During this session, the 107% rule was in effect, which necessitated each driver set a time within 107 per cent of the quickest lap to qualify for the race. The session was held in dry and hot weather conditions; conditions were expected to be warmer for qualifying. Montoya clinched his first pole position of his Formula One career, with a track lap record of 1:38.117. Although he was pleased with his starting position, he was surprised at his team's performance in qualifying; Montoya lost two-tenths of a second in the second sector and found time in the stadium section. He was joined on the grid's front row by teammate Ralf Schumacher whose lap was 0.019 seconds slower than Montoya who displaced Schumacher from pole just after halfway through qualifying. It marked the first time since the 1997 British Grand Prix that both Williams cars began a Formula One race from the first two starting positions. Häkkinen used three sets of tyres in qualifying third and praised the handling of his car for his good performance. Michael Schumacher secured fourth and was disappointed not to be ahead of the two McLaren cars. Coulthard, fifth, had tyre blistering caused by a loose rear and conserved his tyre use by abandoning his final run. Barrichello managed sixth having been unable to improve his time because of a spin. Behind the leading six, the two Sauber cars were seventh and eighth, Heidfeld qualifying in front of Räikkönen, with both drivers having their cars modified helping them to run faster.
De La Rosa and Irvine qualified in ninth and eleventh positions respectively for Jaguar; the pair were separated by Trulli whose engine failed on his third run and could not return to the pit lane to use his team's spare car. The three drivers were ahead of Villeneuve in the faster BAR car, who in turn, was ahead of teammate Panis; both drivers struggled to find grip throughout qualifying. Alesi qualified 14th, more than four-tenths of a second in front of Prost teammate Luciano Burti due to a setup change by Burti for his first run; the latter spun off in the circuit's stadium section and hit the barrier backwards which caused a yellow flag to be shown and prevented any lap time improvement. The two were split by Zonta's slower Jordan car who mounted a kerb at the Senna chicane on his third run, which lost him time and he encountered Panis in the stadium section. Fisichella took 17th and his teammate Button was 18th. Button's car had its gearbox changed in the morning and he pulled to the side of the track with a failed engine on his final timed lap. Fisichella encountered a slower car on his final lap. Behind them, the Arrows drivers managed to qualify in 18th and 19th because their cars lacked power; Enrique Bernoldi qualifying ahead of Jos Verstappen. Bernoldi improved his car's handling although his potential best run was disrupted because of Button's engine failure and Verstappen spun on his final timed lap. The starting order was completed by Alonso and Marques in the Minardi cars due to them being underpowered; Marques first run was affected by a gear selection fault and came across a spun car during his final run.