2001 Italian Grand Prix
The 2001 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held before around 95,000 to 110,000 spectators on 16 September 2001 at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza near Monza, Lombardy, Italy. It was the 15th round of the 2001 Formula One World Championship and the 72nd Italian Grand Prix. Rookie Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya won the 53-lap race from pole position. Rubens Barrichello finished second in a Ferrari with Montoya's teammate Ralf Schumacher third.
Montoya maintained his start-line advantage and led until he exited a chicane slowly due to a tyre blister and was overtaken by Barrichello on the ninth lap. Barrichello pulled away from Montoya and held the lead until his first of two pit stops on lap 19 which proved problematic because of a faulty refuelling rig that had been reprogrammed. Montoya was put a one-stop strategy by his team and made a pit stop on lap 29, which allowed his teammate Ralf Schumacher to lead the race for six laps. Barrichello regained the lead on lap 36, and held it for six more laps until Montoya took over the position on lap 42 when Barrichello made a pit stop for the second time for fuel. Barrichello started to reduce the gap between himself and Montoya but was unable to challenge the Williams driver who achieved his maiden Formula One victory and the first for a Colombian driver.
The result meant Montoya moved into fifth position in the World Drivers' Championship, 83 championship points behind leader Michael Schumacher who clinched the title two races beforehand at the. Barrichello's second position finish allowed him to close the gap to David Coulthard in second place in the World Drivers' Championship. Williams' strong finish meant the gap between themselves and McLaren was reduced to eight championship points in the World Constructors' Championship with two races remaining in the season.
Background
The 2001 Italian Grand Prix was the 15th of the 17 round 2001 Formula One World Championship and occurred at the clockwise Monza Circuit close to Monza, Lombardy, Italy on 16 September. Before the race, both the World Drivers' Championship and World Constructors' Championship were already settled, with Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher having won the World Drivers' Championship two rounds earlier in the and Ferrari took the World Constructors' Championship at the same event, with McLaren too many championship points behind to be able to catch them.After the on 2 September, the teams conducted mid-season testing at various European race circuits between 4–7 September to prepare for the Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. Ferrari, Williams, British American Racing, Jordan and Minardi tested at Italy's Mugello Circuit. Rubens Barrichello for Ferrari set the fastest times on the first and second days. The second day of testing was disrupted on six occasions after BAR test driver Takuma Sato went off the circuit, suffered an electronic control unit failure and had a malfunctioning anti-stall system. BAR's Olivier Panis and Minardi driver Alex Yoong both had problems with their clutch and gearboxes. On the final day Michael Schumacher set the fastest lap of 1 minute, 24.226 seconds, four-tenths ahead of Panis. Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer spent three days at the Italian marque's private test track, the Fiorano Circuit, where he did practice starts as well as testing of launch control and traction control. Arrows did no testing during this period.
After the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington D.C., Formula One's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile announced that the Italian Grand Prix would go ahead as scheduled. Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said that his team would approach the race as a normal racing event instead of a traditional Ferrari festival. Furthermore, di Montezemolo stated Formula One should continue its normal schedule and not cancel races. Additionally, the Automobile Club d'Italia urged fans and spectators to behave "in keeping with the gravity of the situation and in collective participation in the pain of American citizens." Podium celebrations were also cancelled and all pre-race ceremonies including a flypast by the Italian Tricolour Arrows display team were called off. Three teams altered their car's liveries as a mark of respect. Ferrari stripped their cars of all advertising and painted their nose cones black. Jaguar fitted black engine covers to their R2 cars on Saturday morning, and Jordan sponsor Deutsche Post replaced its branding with the flag of the United States on the Jordan cars engine cover on Sunday morning. Michael Schumacher was reluctant to take part in the race and said in 2002 that he felt it was a "bad sign" to be driving after the 11 September attacks. His brother Ralf Schumacher also felt the event should not have gone ahead.
Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya felt Monza would suit his car's BMW engine, saying: "We should be really quick, but we will have to see what happens. The most important thing, as we have seen in qualifying in Spa, is to get the car right. If we get it right we should be very quick." Michael Schumacher was intent to help his teammate Barrichello finish second in the World Drivers' Championship and revealed that Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn had told him "it doesn't feel much difference this race to the others", adding, "That is because we are still trying to keep winning races and that means the emotions, the pressures and the nervousness is pretty much the same, whether or not we have won the world championship."
There were 11 teams each fielding two drivers for the Grand Prix with two driver changes. The Minardi team replaced regular driver Tarso Marques with Yoong, who received backing from the Magnum Corporation and was granted a super licence after a two-day test at the Mugello Circuit, becoming Malaysia's first Formula One driver. Marques was kept on as the team's test and reserve driver, and assisted with developing the Minardi PS02. Czech Formula 3000 driver and Prost test driver Tomáš Enge replaced Luciano Burti who had been recovering from a concussion and facial bruising he sustained in an accident at the previous race in Belgium.
Due to the configuration of the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, with its high average speed, the teams set up their cars to produce the minimum amount of downforce possible. Ferrari installed Carbon Industrie brake discs instead of the normal Brembo brake discs the team had used. Williams introduced a revised FW23 specification for Montoya after one was used by Ralf Schumacher in Belgium. Williams equipped the earlier aerodynamic package on Ralf Schumacher's car on Sunday morning. Benetton brought a new front wing and Ferrari debuted a new engine specification with improved aerodynamics. The Jordan team introduced a new front wing characterised with a single profile instead of the normal two.
Practice
There were four practice sessions preceding Sunday's race, two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday. Team principals agreed in a meeting the day before the first practice session that it would was moved from the usual start time from 11:00 Central European Summer Time to 10:50 to comply with a planned silence for one minute observed at midday throughout Europe and continued the rest of the race weekend as scheduled.Michael Schumacher paced the first practice session in dry weather conditions, at 1:25.524; David Coulthard and Barrichello were second and third. Nick Heidfeld was fourth. McLaren's Mika Häkkinen and Benetton's Jenson Button were fifth and sixth. Kimi Räikkönen, seventh, hit a barrier at Variante Goodyear chicane with half an hour remaining, removing his front-right wheel and his front wing after losing control of his Sauber car due to a brake lock-up and avoided Yoong's stationary car entering the Curva Grande corner. Räikkönen was uninjured. Ralf Schumacher, Jordan's Jarno Trulli and Arrows' Pedro de la Rosa were in positions seven through ten. Arrows driver Jos Verstappen set no laps after colliding with the tyre barrier at the Curva di Lesmo on his first quick lap after ten minutes.
In the second practice session, where a brief rain shower fell early on, Ralf Schumacher set the day's fastest time after 13 minutes, a 1:24.667; Montoya had the second fastest time despite going off the circuit and having to go through temporary barriers at the first chicane multiple times during the session. Michael Schumacher, De La Rosa. Barrichello, Häkkinen and Coulthard filled the next four positions. Despite not going onto the circuit, Heidfeld was the eighth fastest driver. The Jordan duo of Jean Alesi and Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen followed in the top ten. Eddie Irvine spun his Jaguar into the gravel at Ascari corner five minutes into the session due to brake problems and his session concluded prematurely.
Montoya recorded the third session's fastest lap of 1:25.558 with fewer than ten minutes remaining in clear weather conditions but on a damp circuit that was created by a thunderstorm on Friday night which meant the track was slow to dry. Most drivers used intermediate tyres to begin the session before a dry line appeared and dry compound tyres were used. Barrichello was 0.336 seconds slower in second. De La Rosa, BAR drivers Villeneuve and Panis, Räikkönen, Irvine, Verstappen, Enrique Bernoldi for Arrows and Heidfeld rounded out the top ten. Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella, Yoong, Button, Alesi, Michael Schumacher, Coulthard, Häkkinen and Minardi's Fernando Alonso set no laps during the session.
The circuit continued to dry up until it was completely dry for the final practice session where Michael Schumacher set the weekend's new fastest time at 1:23.178, faster than his 2000 pole lap; Barrichello had the quickest lap when circuit conditions improved but fell to fourth in the final ten minutes. The two Ferrari drivers were separated by Montoya and Trulli. Coulthard, Ralf Schumacher, Heidfeld, Häkkinen, De La Rosa and Räikkönen were in positions five to ten. Enge spun at Ascari turn but regained control of his car and resumed driving.