2000 Hungarian Grand Prix

Background

On 13 August 2000, the 3.975 km (2.470 mi) clockwise Hungaroring in Mogyoród, Pest, Hungary hosted the twelfth race of the 2000 Formula One World Championship, the 2000 Hungarian Grand Prix. Sole tyre supplier Bridgestone delivered the Soft and Extra Soft dry compound tyres to the event, the softest compounds available to teams. Entering the race, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship with 56 championship points, ahead of McLaren teammates Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard, who were tied for second on 54 championship points. Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello was fourth with 46 championship points, while Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella was fifth with 18 championship points. Ferrari led the World Constructors' Championship with 102 championship points, four more than second-placed McLaren. Williams was third with 22 championship points, with Benetton fourth with 18 championship points. British American Racing (BAR) were fifth with 12 championship points.

Following the on 30 July, teams prepared for the event by testing on circuits similar to the Hungaroring. Six teams tested high-downforce, racing setups at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo for three days. McLaren test driver Olivier Panis finished the first day ahead of Häkkinen. Pedro Diniz's Sauber car had an oil leak, restricting his team's testing time while the leak was rectified. Coulthard was fastest on the second day and Fisichella led on the final day. Benetton's Alexander Wurz spun and struck the tyre barrier. His car's wishbone hit his right leg, and he was taken to the circuit's medical centre before being transferred to a local hospital. Wurz was passed fit to compete in the race the day after his accident. Ferrari tested for five days at the Fiorano Circuit, focusing on car development, practice starts, aerodynamic testing and race distance simulations with test driver Luca Badoer. He was joined by Barrichello on the second day and Michael Schumacher from the fourth day onwards. Badoer and Michael Schumacher spent two more days at the circuit shaking down the Ferrari F1-2000 car.

After three consecutive retirements, including first-lap collisions in Austria and Germany reducing his points lead from 22 points to 2, Michael Schumacher stated that his objective in Hungary was to avoid any incident on the first lap and finish in a points-scoring position. He was also confident that Ferrari would perform well on the track. Despite Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo's comments to the press about Barrichello assisting Michael Schumacher's title aspirations, Barrichello revealed that he received backing from him to challenge for more victories and the championship.

The event featured eleven teams (each representing a different constructor) and two drivers, with no changes from the season entry list. Following tests, Prost's Jean Alesi was declared fit by his doctors and then by FIA medical delegate Sid Watkins in the days before the race. At the previous race, Alesi was involved in a high-speed accident with Sauber driver Diniz, suffering from abdominal pains, dizziness and vomiting. Prost had their test driver Stéphane Sarrazin ready if Alesi relapsed. Alesi said he felt ready to race again: "It took a few days before I really started to recover, but now I sleep and feel much better".

Some teams modified their cars for the event. The Hungaroring track's characteristics require teams to operate their car with a high load of aerodynamics, and special attention was paid to heat dissipation because high temperatures were recorded at the circuit. McLaren improved the aerodynamics of their MP4/15 chassis in order to increase the amount of downforce, and thus grip, produced by the bodywork. They also brought revised nose wings. McLaren additionally strengthened the steel rear suspension wishbones. BAR outfitted their cars with one-off components designed to improve the performance of the monocoque's cooling systems. Ferrari debuted an aerodynamic setup similar to that used at the , as well as a modified version of the F1-2000's chimneys. Minardi arrived with redesigned radiator intakes and exits to address temperature issues with their Fondmetal V10 engines.

Practice

Before Sunday's race, there were two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday. The Friday practice sessions took place in dry, hot weather; when clouds obscured the track, the temperature dropped, but the ambient temperature remained constant. Before any lap times were set nearly 20 minutes, 15 drivers completed out-laps to allow them to perform system checks. The track was dirty due to a lack of activity for several months, and race organisers were unable to completely clean it.

Michael Schumacher waited for other drivers to clean the dirty track before setting the first session's quickest time on his first fast lap, at 1 minute and 20.198 seconds, in the final moments of the session. He was almost six-tenths of a second faster than teammate Barrichello. Jaguar's Eddie Irvine was third fastest, ahead of Williams' Ralf Schumacher. Fisichella, BAR's Jacques Villeneuve, Jordan's Jarno Trulli, Diniz, Mika Salo of Sauber and Williams' Jenson Button completed the top ten. McLaren sat out first practice, preferring to save tyres. Several teams concentrated on testing the high downforce aerodynamic packages fitted to their cars during the session.

Coulthard set the day's fastest lap of 1:18.792 with about 15 minutes left in the second practice session; the time was half a second slower than teammate Häkkinen's pole lap at the 1999 race. Häkkinen was second, Michael Schumacher third and Barrichello fourth. Trulli was faster, finishing fifth fastest, ahead of Fisichella and Williams drivers Ralf Schumacher and Button. Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Irvine completed the top ten. Several drivers lost control of their cars during the session due to the low grip racing surface appearing to be problematic for racers. Arrows' Pedro de la Rosa was unhurt in an accident against the tyre wall.

The weather remained dry, hot and sunny for the two Saturday practice sessions, with no indication of rain when the third session began. With three minutes remaining in the third practice session, Barrichello set a time of 1:18.268. Coulthard was second, a thousandth of a second slower than Barrichello. Frentzen was third, ahead of Michael Schumacher in fourth and Häkkinen and Ralf Schumacher in fifth and sixth, respectively. Salo, Button, Trulli, and Fisichella completed the top ten. Three minutes in, De La Rosa almost lost control of his car at the final corner and Gastón Mazzacane's Minardi engine failed due to a differential fault.

The final practice session took place on a marginally drier but still dusty circuit than the previous session. Teams were finalising car setups and scrubbing tyres. Michael Schumacher was quicker than the day before, lapping 1:17.395 with 20 minutes of the season remaining. He was 0.630 seconds faster than second-placed Coulthard with Barrichello in the second Ferrari third. Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher, Häkkinen, Trulli, Fisichella, Salo and Diniz followed in positions four to ten. Diniz was briefly stuck at the pit lane entry as his engine stalled in first gear.

Qualifying

During Saturday's one-hour qualifying session, each driver was limited to twelve laps, with the starting order determined by their fastest laps. The 107% rule was in force during this session, which required each driver to set a time within 107% of the fastest lap to qualify for the race. The session took place in dry, hot and clear weather, similar to practice, but with a warmer track temperature. The warm weather made the track more slippery. Most of the faster teams used new rear tyres and front scrubbed compounds to reduce understeer when lapping quickly. Michael Schumacher qualified on pole position for the 28th time in his career, and fifth of the season, with a lap of 1:17.514, Häkkinen, third, made considerable car setup changes by altering the rear anti-roll bar and front torsion beams, which he tested early in qualifying to see if it improved his performance. He was satisfied with revisions to his car's aerodynamics. Barrichello, fifth, had car handling difficulties and said Coulthard prevented him from lapping faster. Frentzen, sixth, had excess oversteer in the track's final two sectors.

Fisichella qualified seventh, claiming Michael Schumacher hindered his final lap. Ferrari attempted to inform Schumacher about Fisichella behind him but Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn pressed the wrong radio button and mistakenly told Barrichello. Brawn apologised for the error and Benetton technical director Pat Symonds downplayed it. Button was the slower of the two Williams drivers in eighth. Salo finished ninth, owing to cloud cover on his final run. Irvine finished tenth. Wurz, 11th, failed to reach the top-ten by two-tenths of a second after switching to his teammate Fisichella's setup. Villeneuve finished 16th when his BAR chassis failed to generate enough downforce. Johnny Herbert, 17th for Jaguar, spun late in qualifying and had excess oversteer. He was followed in 18th by Zonta, who lacked downforce. For his fourth run, Nick Heidfeld switched to the spare Prost AP03 car and reported excessive oversteer en route to qualifying 19th. Jos Verstappen, 20th, struggled to adapt to the high-downforce track with his Arrows car. The Minardi drivers qualified 21st and 22nd in their underpowered cars; Marc Gené outqualified teammate Mazzacane by two-tenths of a second after the latter went wide onto the grass during his fastest lap, losing nearly half a second.

Qualifying classification

Warm-up

The drivers took to the track in hot, sunny weather at 09:30 Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) for a 30-minute warm-up session. Rainfall the night before had cleaned the circuit. With ten minutes remaining, Coulthard set the pace with a lap time of 1:19.261. Michael Schumacher outpaced teammate Barrichello and behind Coulthard by 0.120 seconds in the second and third-placed Ferraris. Ralf Schumacher's Williams finished fourth. Frentzen completed the top six drivers. To clean his starting spot on the track's right-hand side, Coulthard completed one installation lap in the spare McLaren on the start-finish straight. An engine failure caused Irvine to enter the pit lane with smoke billowing from his car.

Race

The 77-lap race was held over 306.075 km began at 14:00 local time before 120,000 spectators, (with 30,000 from Finland). The event saw hot and partially cloudy weather; the air temperature was 32 C and the track temperature ranged between 34 and; conditions were expected to remain consistent throughout the race. It was warmer than the morning warm-up session, and drivers needed to drink a lot of water to cope up with the physical demands of cockpit temperatures and the circuit. Except for De La Rosa, all drivers began on the extra soft tyre compounds. Mazzacane suffered a gearbox issue and had to start in his spare car while the grid was assembling. Herbert also intended to drive his backup car because his regular car suffered a leak that was repaired before the start. When the race began, Coulthard made a slow poor start on the dirty inner part of the start-finish straight. Michael Schumacher slowed to avoid colliding with Häkkinen and avoided retiring from the opening lap for the third successive race.

Ralf Schumacher's attempts to pass Coulthard for third on the inside the opening two turns were unsuccessful. Villeneuve and De La Rosa collided into the chicane and both cars (which lacked mechanical grip) sustained damage. Villeneuve made a pit stop for a new front wing assembly followed by De La Rosa for a new set of tyres since he sustained a left rear puncture. At the first lap's conclusion, Häkkinen led from Michael Schumacher, Coulthard, Ralf Schumacher, Barrichello, and Frentzen. Michael Schumacher was close behind Häkkinen but not close enough to overtake him for the lead. On lap 12, Fisichella ran wide into a gravel trap and was passed by Herbert for 13th. Fisichella took his first pit stop for brake repairs three laps later and rejoined the track in 19th. On that lap, Alesi became the race's first retirement after a series of pit stops by mechanics failed to repair a broken left-rear suspension that had been exacerbated by a change in wheel alignment.

Häkkinen had a seven-second lead over Michael Schumacher by lap 19. Coulthard was three seconds behind Michael Schumacher owing to an incorrect tyre pressure setting and was pulling away from Ralf Schumacher. Three laps later, Irvine made his first pit stop from seventh and fell to 11th. At the end of lap 27, Brawn asked Michael Schumacher to enter the pit lane for the first of two scheduled stops, which lasted 7.3 seconds. He rejoined the track in fifth, behind his teammate Barrichello. On the 29th lap, Barrichello relinquished third to teammate Michael Schumacher at the first corner. Barrichello entered the pit lane on the 30th lap and completed the stop in 6.7 seconds. He returned to the circuit in sixth, ahead of Ralf Schumacher, whose own pit stop was hampered by a jammed wheel nut.

Race leader Häkkinen, whose drink bottle failed roughly a third of the way into the race and he became exhausted, made a seven-second pit stop on lap 31 for a new set of tyres, falling behind teammate Coulthard. Häkkinen reclaimed the race lead after Coulthard's 6.9-second pit stop for fuel and tyres on the following lap. Coulthard returned to the track in third, behind Michael Schumacher but ahead of Schumacher's teammate Barrichello. Häkkinen set the race's fastest lap, a 1:20.028 on lap 33, as he continued to pull away from Michael Schumacher. Fisichella retired on the 36th lap as his car became difficult to drive owing to bargeboard damage. Coulthard on a new set of tyres, lapped faster and was two seconds behind Michael Schumacher by lap 37 as Schumacher's cautious pace preserved his tyres since they wore quickly on the Ferrari. However, aerodynamic turbulence impeded progress.

When Coulthard was delayed by Genè on lap 47 and lost more than a second, Michael Schumacher increased the gap. Häkkinen completed his final pit stop on the 53rd lap, having built a 21-second lead over Michael Schumacher. Frentzen became the last driver to make a scheduled pit stop on lap 56. The top six in the running order at the end of lap 57, with all scheduled pit stops completed, were Häkkinen, Michael Schumacher, Coulthard, Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher, and Frentzen. Herbert spun while battling Villeneuve for 13th position.

On lap 65, Diniz's car stopped between turns nine and ten due to engine failure. Häkkinen slowed his pace to lap within the 1:24 minute range, Ralf Schumacher took fifth and Frentzen completed the points scorers in sixth. Trulli, Irvine, Button, Salo, and Wurz finished one lap behind the winner. The final classified finishers Villeneuve, Verstappen, Zonta, Gené, and De La Rosa. There were six retirements during the event.

Post-race

The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and in the subsequent press conference. Häkkinen said that modifications to his car's engine caused his good start. Norbert Haug, Vice President of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, complimented his victory. "Mika had a great race," he said. "His victory may have looked easy, but it was tough to achieve and in my view this was one of his best drives ever." Although he was unable to catch Häkkinen, Michael Schumacher expressed satisfaction with finishing second. Coulthard believed his car had balance issues prior to his first pit stop, which accounted for his lack of place. He also said that time spent behind backmarkers during the second stint hampered his attempts to overtake Michael Schumacher, but that third was the best possible result he could have achieved.

Following Ferrari's previous race victory, Brawn stated, "Our pitstops and our race strategy went well, but we just weren't quick enough.", while Di Montezemolo urged Ferrari's mechanics and engineers to focus on resolving the issue of wheel-spin and praised Häkkinen for his recent trend of good starts. Barrichello blamed his fourth-place finish on a poor qualifying performance. "I don't understand why the blue flags weren't waved because it was plain for all to see." said Anderson.

As a result of the race result, Häkkinen's victory saw him claim the lead in the World Drivers' Championship for the first time in the season, with 64 points, putting Michael Schumacher two points behind him. Coulthard was third with 58 points, nine points ahead of fourth-placed Barrichello and 40 points ahead of fifth-placed Fisichella.

Race classification

Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold.

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings

;Constructors' Championship standings

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
• Bold text and an asterisk indicates competitors who still had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion.

References

| Previous_year's_race = 1999 Hungarian Grand Prix | Next_year's_race = 2001 Hungarian Grand Prix

References

1. "2000 Hungarian GP". ChicaneF1.
2. "Hungarian Grand Prix 2000 results". ESPN.
3. "2000 Marlboro Hungarian Grand Prix". Racing-Reference.
4. Tytler, Ewan. (9 August 2000). "The Hungarian GP Preview". [[Autosport.
5. Makkaveev, Vladimir. (September 2000). "Полосатый рейс". Formula 1 Magazine.
6. Jones, Bruce. (2001). "The Official Grand Prix Guide 2001". [[Welbeck Publishing Group.
7. (3 August 2000). "Pre-Hungary testing hits top gear". [[Autosport]].
8. Gardner, John. (3 August 2000). "Valencia Test, Day 1 – Panis Leads the Way". [[Speed (TV network).
9. (3 August 2000). "Panis demonstrates ability in Valencia testing". GrandPrix.com.
10. (6 August 2000). "Wurz Injured on Third day of Valencia Testing". [[Autosport.
11. (6 August 2000). "Injured Wurz given the all-clear". [[BBC Sport]].
12. (3 August 2000). "Testing Fiorano July 31st and Aug 1st: Days 1 and 2". Formula1.com.
13. (4 August 2000). "Schumacher Joins Badoer at Fiorano". [[Autosport.
14. (7 August 2000). "Completed Shakedown at Fiorano". [[Ferrari]].
15. (2000). "Formula One – The 2000 Season". Mixing Medienprodukt.
16. (10 August 2000). "Schumacher Sets his Target after Mishaps". [[Autosport.
17. (10 August 2000). "Barrichello – I will fight". GrandPrix.com.
18. "Formula One 2000 Hungarian Grand Prix Information". Motorsport Stats.
19. (8 August 2000). "Alesi Declared Fit to Race in Hungary". [[Autosport.
20. (11 August 2000). "Hungarian GP Friday Practice 1". [[Autosport]].
21. (7 August 2000). "Alesi's head still spinning". GrandPrix.com.
22. (7 August 2000). "Alesi shrugs off illness". [[BBC Sport]].
23. (10 August 2000). "Alesi in better shape for Budapest". Formula1.com.
24. Piola, Giorgio. (21 August 2000). "Freni leggeri sulle MP4/15". Autosprint.
25. (5 August 2000). "New innovations for McLaren at Valencia". GPUpdate.
26. Henry, Alan. (11 August 2000). "Alan Henrys Hungarian Notebook Friday". [[Speed (TV network).
27. (9 August 2000). "New parts for BAR in Hungary". GPUpdate.
28. (4 August 2000). "Formula One Update: 4 August 2000". [[Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile]].
29. (8 August 2000). "Ferrari complete shake-down with chimneys". GPUpdate.
30. (2000). "Formula 1 Yearbook 2000–2001". Parragon.
31. Gardner, John. (11 August 2000). "Hungarian GP: Coulthard Fastest on Friday". [[Speed (TV network).
32. (11 August 2000). "Free Practice". [[Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile]].
33. (11 August 2000). "McLarens take Friday honours". F1Racing.net.
34. (11 August 2000). "Friday First Free Practice – Hungarian GP". [[Autosport.
35. Goodman, Louise. (2000). "Beyond the Pit Lane: The Grand Prix Season from the Inside". [[Headline Publishing Group]].
36. (11 August 2000). "McLaren hits back in Hungary". [[Autosport]].
37. (11 August 2000). "Friday Second Free Practice – Hungarian GP". [[Autosport.
38. Gardner, John. (12 August 2000). "Hungarian GP: Schumacher Blisters Saturday Practice". [[Speed (TV network).
39. (12 August 2000). "Free Practice three: Rubens on top". [[Autosport]].
40. (12 August 2000). "Saturday First Free Practice – Hungarian GP". [[Autosport.
41. (12 August 2000). "Free Practice four: Schumacher shines". [[Autosport]].
42. (12 August 2000). "Schumacher marks territory in Second Free". F1Racing.net.
43. (12 August 2000). "Free Practice + Qualifying". [[Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile]].
44. (13 August 2000). "Grand Prix of Hungary". Gale Force F1.
45. Evans, Ben. (13 August 2020). "Hakkinen’s flying start fires him into championship lead". RaceFans.
46. (12 August 2000). "Schu sweeps to Hungarian pole". F1Racing.net.
47. Gardner, John. (12 August 2000). "Hungarian GP: Schumacher Takes Pole". [[Speed (TV network).
48. (13 August 2000). "Schumacher takes dominant pole in Hungary". [[Autosport]].
49. (12 August 2000). "Schumacher on Pole; Qualifying Results – Hungarian GP". [[Autosport.
50. (2002). "Jenson Button: My Life on the Formula One Rollercoaster". [[Bantam Press]].
51. (13 August 2000). "Grand Prix Results: Hungarian GP, 2000". GrandPrix.com.
52. (26 August 2000). "Hungarian GP Saturday qualifying". [[Motorsport.com]].
53. ''[[F1 Racing]]''. September 2000.
54. (13 August 2000). "Coulthard leads morning warm-up". F1Racing.net.
55. Gardner, John. (13 August 2000). "Hungarian GP: Coulthard Fastest in Warm-Up". [[Speed (TV network).
56. (13 August 2000). "Coulthard pips Schumacher in warm-up". [[Autosport]].
57. (13 August 2000). "Sunday Warm-Up – Hungarian GP". [[Autosport.
58. (13 August 2000). "Warm-Up". [[Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile]].
59. D'Alessio, Paolo. (October 2000). "Formula 1 2000: World Championship Yearbook: The Complete Record of the Grand Prix Season". Voyageur Press.
60. (13 August 2000). "Report: Mika and McLaren in front". Gale Force F1.
61. (13 August 2000). "2000 Round 12 Hungary: Hungaroring". Formula1.com.
62. (10 August 2000). "Hot, hot, hot in Hungary". [[Autosport]].
63. (16 August 2000). "Hungaroring Race Analysis". [[Autosport]].
64. (14 August 2000). "Hakkinen leads points after Hungary win". [[Autosport]].
65. Elizalde, Pablo. (16 August 2000). "The Hungarian GP Review". [[Autosport.
66. (13 August 2000). "Lap-by-Lap: Grand Prix of Hungary 2000". Gale Force F1.
67. Gardner, John. (13 August 2000). "Hungarian GP: Hakkinen Leads the Parade". [[Speed (TV network).
68. Henry, Alan. (2009). "Jenson Button: A World Champion's Story". [[Haynes Manual.
69. Knutson, Dan. (13 August 2000). "Race Report: Hungarian Grand Prix: Hakkinen Takes Points Lead For First Time This Season After Dominating Victory". USGP Indy.
70. (13 August 2000). "Hakkinen moves into title lead after convincing Hungaroring victory". GrandPrix.com.
71. (13 August 2000). "Haug Hails Hakkinen's "Great Win"". [[Autosport.
72. (13 August 2000). "Schumacher admits best man won". [[Autosport]].
73. (14 August 2000). "Brawn Laments Lack of Speed". [[Autosport.
74. (15 August 2000). "Di Montezemolo urges team to rectify wheel-spin problem". GrandPrix.com.
75. Allsop, Derick. (15 August 2000). "Team ethic brings McLaren's momentum". [[The Independent]].
76. "2000 Hungarian Grand Prix". Formula1.com.