2001 German Grand Prix

Background

The 2001 German Grand Prix was the 12th of 17 rounds in the 2001 Formula One World Championship and took place on the 6.825 km 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. 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 representing a different constructor) 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. 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. 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 (BAR), 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 (Heidfeld adjusted his set-up while Räikkönen raised his ride height for his third run).

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. 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.

Qualifying classification

Warm-up

The drivers took to the track at 09:30 Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) for a 30-minute warm-up session in clear weather. Ralf Schumacher set the fastest time of the session at 1:42.621 on his final lap after leading for much of warm-up. His teammate Montoya finished with the second fastest time at the session's end. Coulthard was third quickest, and Michael Schumacher completed the top four, one-tenth of a second behind Ralf Schumacher. Alonso spun at the Sudkurve corner and skated across the gravel trap towards the tyre barriers. Trulli's engine failed exiting the Ostkurve corner during his third lap and he parked his car onto the grass before returning to the pit lane ten minutes later to drive the spare car. Not long after Zonta made contact with the tyre barrier at Sudkurve turn in the stadium section after spinning into the gravel. Alonso struck the tyre barrier sideways close to Zonta. His Minardi teammate Marques spun into the gravel at Ostkurve corner but avoided damaging his car; he narrowly avoided Burti.

Race

The weather conditions on the grid were dry before the race; the air temperature was 28 C and the track temperature 32 C. As all 22 drivers were preparing to begin the formation lap, Alonso and Marques began from the pit lane due to fuel leaking from the refuelling values. Alonso drove the spare Minardi car with Marques using his teammate's repaired vehicle. Michael Schumacher began to be affected by a gearbox selection problem while on the parade lap which the Ferrari team had hoped was slow-speed related.

Both Williams drivers maintained first and second entering the first turn. Further back, Michael Schumacher slowed due to his gearbox selection fault that prevented him from shifting out of first gear and he drove in a straight line in the middle of the circuit. This resulted in drivers being required to swerve to avoid Schumacher. As Panis was blocking his view and Zonta driving to the left, Burti was unable to view the Ferrari and struck it. Burti struck Schumacher's right-rear wheel and went five feet into the air. He barrel rolled to the right, over the top of Bernoldi's vehicle, struck the ground and landed upright after rolling. Burti landed upright between both Arrows cars; Schumacher's car was on the middle of the circuit. FIA race director Charlie Whiting deployed the safety car before he red-flagged the race because of the hazard of tyre punctures at high speed as the field entered the first turn to start the second lap. The safety car driver had reported the plethora of sharp carbon fibre composite strands that were scattered across the track that drivers had to drive around and marshals were needed to remove the debris.

Burti and Michael Schumacher were not injured but their cars had been damaged beyond repair, and raced their team's spare vehicles. The Minardi cars underwent further repairs and both drivers started on the grid for the restart at 14:24 local time. Both De La Rosa and Heidfeld retired from the Grand Prix. As the drivers completed lap one, Montoya led Ralf Schumacher by 1.4 seconds, who was followed in turn by, Michael Schumacher, Häkkinen, Barrichello, Coulthard, Räikkönen and Irvine.

Montoya began to gradually pull away from Ralf Schumacher. Bernoldi passed Fisichella for 15th on lap two. Trulli slipstreamed Panis before spinning at the Ostkurve corner trying to reclaim ninth. He fell to 17th.

Häkkinen retired from the Grand Prix with fluid leaking from his left-hand sidepod onto the circuit on lap 15. Räikkonen slowed on track with a driveshaft failure but returned to the pit lane to retire that same lap, while Irvine retired with fuel pressure problems. Two laps later, Burti lost tenth after spinning and Trulli and Panis passed him. Barrichello unsuccessfully attempted to pass Coulthard for fourth on lap 19.

On lap 24, Ralf Schumacher made his pit stop and rejoined with a 10-second advantage. Villeneuve, Button and Alonso all made their pit stops on that lap. Alonso encountered a problem when leaving his pit box: the Minardi refuelling valve had a problem, and his car's afterburner remained on, though the flames extinguished themselves when Alonso accelerated out of the pit lane. Montoya pulled over to the side of the track on lap 25, with smoke billowing from his engine, and retired. His retirement moved Coulthard to third. Fisichella made a pit stop from fourth on lap 27 and fell to fifth behind Villeneuve. Marques retired with a gearbox problem on the same lap. Coulthard made a pit stop on lap 28 and immediately became the race's next retirement when he accelerated away from his pit box with a blown engine. The resulting event saw him stop at the side of the circuit. Panis made his pit stop on the 32nd lap and emerged behind Button and Alesi. Barrichello became the final driver to make a scheduled pit stop a lap later and was delayed for 12 seconds because the Ferrari fuel hose closed itself. This meant Barrichello's team switched to a functioning refuelling rig.

At the completion of lap 33, with the scheduled pit stops completed, the race order was, Ralf Schumacher, Barrichello, Villeneuve, Fisichella, Button and Alesi. Trulli became the final retirement after stopping at the side of the circuit due to a hydraulic pump failure on lap 35. Ralf Schumacher began to reduce his pace by lap 37 but managed to lap quicker than Barrichello. He received a pit board message three laps later which advised him to refill his car's fluids. Fisichella went off the circuit on lap 43 while catching Villeneuve, and both Arrows drivers avoided a collision for eighth. With his closest challenger more than 46 seconds behind, Ralf Schumacher crossed the finish line on lap 45 to secure his third victory of the season and of his career in a time of 1 hour 18 minutes and 17.873 seconds, at an average speed of 235.351 km/h. Barrichello finished in second 46.1 seconds behind, ahead of Villeneuve in third for his second podium at Hockenheim. the attrition rate was high, with ten of the twenty-two starters finishing the race.

Post-race

The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and in the subsequent press conference. Ralf Schumacher said that it was "a great feeling" when he asked to describe how he felt by winning his "home" Grand Prix. He also revealed that he had brakes issues during the start of the race and that he was ensuring that his engine would last the full race distance. Barrichello said that he was "happy" with finishing in second and revealed that before the race he believed that he would finish no higher than third. Villeneuve stated that he was "surprised" that he achieved a podium position. Furthermore, he believed that more work was undertaken to improve his car than his previous third place in the .

Both Benetton drivers achieved their first double-points finish for the first time in the season. Fisichella said he was "very happy, for Jenson and myself" and thanked members of his team for his result. De La Rosa admitted to making an error by braking earlier than usual and said that he would apologise to Heidfeld after underestimating how close the latter was.

Montoya left the circuit without speaking to journalists. He admitted to being "so disappointed I cannot find the words to describe how I feel. Up to the pit stop the race was going perfectly for me." BMW Motorsport's technical director Mario Theissen surmised that the two starts and Montoya's delayed pit stop causing the engine temperatures to rise likely caused Montoya's engine failure. Williams technical director Patrick Head was unhappy with the refueling rigs supplied by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). One of the rigs was sent back to manufacturer Intertechnique who found no system faults.

After the crash between himself and Burti on the first lap, Michael Schumacher said that although he saw Burti in his rear-view mirrors, he did not know which line he wanted to take and he could not take avoiding action because of his gear selection problem. Coulthard questioned the decision to stop the race by saying: "Accidents or injury off the track is not normally a reason to stop the race. There's lots of races that would have benefited from being red-flagged to give people a show." He also said he felt consistency was needed but accepted that the organisers had the final say on stopping a race. Michelin Motorsport Director Pierre Dupasquier agreed with the FIA's view and stated he was concerned about cars hitting the strands of debris and catching a puncture.

The race result saw Michael Schumacher retain his World Drivers' Championship lead over Coulthard. Race winner Ralf Schumacher, on 41 championship points, moved to third and Barrichello's second-place demoted him to fourth.

Race classification

Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold.

;Notes

• – Fernando Alonso and Tarso Marques started the race from the pit lane.

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

Name_of_race = German Grand Prix | Year_of_race = 2001 | Previous_race_in_season = 2001 British Grand Prix | Next_race_in_season = 2001 Hungarian Grand Prix | Previous_year's_race = 2000 German Grand Prix | Next_year's_race = 2002 German Grand Prix

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