Austrian GP - Zeltweg 13 May 2001

The start of the Austrian GP could easily have turned into a massive pile-us, as the launch control of both Jordans and of Häkkinen's and Heidfeld's cars failed, locking them on the grid like concrete chicanes when the lights changed. Amazingly nobody ran into the back of the stationary cars and the two Williams of Montoya and R. Schumacher took full advantage of their working electronics to leap into the first two positions, ahead of pole-position driver M. Schumacher. Track personnel managed push the Jordans and Heidfeld out of the way before the end of the first lap, but Häkkinen's McLaren wouldn't budge and the safety car had to come out. Montoya led the snake of drivers behind the safety car followed by team mate R. Schumacher, then M. Schumacher, Barrichello, Coulthard and Irvine, who had moved up from his 13th grid position. On lap four the safety car came in and the race started for good with Häkkinen rejoining the race from the pits in last position. Of the four drivers who stalled on the grid, only Frentzen had retired, but luck had deserted Jordan today, as Trulli soon made contact with Irvine, went out and retired. Taking advantage of Trulli and Irvine's shunt Verstappen moved into sixth place, attacked Coulthard and easily took fifth position then proceeded to harass Barrichello who had been unsuccessfully trying to go past team mate M. Schumacher. Irvine, who had lost positions after the come together with Trulli, had dropped back into eighth place behind Räikkönen. More retirements hit the race. Häkkinen had managed to stay out for one lap before driving back to the pits and retiring, putting a cross on his chances for this season's championship. On lap 12 the Williams electronics that had launched the two drivers into the top two positions failed R. Schumacher, who lost power, let the following cars through and slowly rolled back to the pits to retire. Trulli had tried to rejoin the race from the pits, but came out with the red light showing and was subsequently black-flagged and disqualified, putting a tombstone on Jordan's bad day. Fate made an effort to show that it definitely wasn't Irvine's day today in Austria, as the Jaguar driver got involved in another shunt with Villeneuve in a struggle for positions. Both Jaguar and BAR recovered and stayed on in their respective position. At the front of the pack the two Ferrari were increasingly putting pressure on Montoya, who was slowing down the race. Verstappen, who held the fastest lap time at this point, was in tow of Barrichello and the first four became involved in a four-way battle. M. Schumacher kept on coming up alongside Montoya on bends only to give up on the straight. Barrichello kept on trying to accelerate every time his team mate went alongside the Williams only to be forced to brake hard when he dropped back. Verstappen kept on looking hopefully for an opening to take on Barrichello. On lap 15 the situation was resolved when M. Schumacher tried to underbrake Montoya. The Colombian fought back and refused to give up after losing the racing line. In his effort not to give up the lead he lost the back of his Williams and caused his car and M. Schumacher's to touch and go out to the side. Both drivers kept their cars going and rejoined the race a few positions down. Barrichello found himself in the lead in front of Verstappen, Coulthard, Räikkönen, Panis, M. Schumacher and Montoya. The current World Champion immediately showed his intention to go back into the front of the pack by putting in the fastest lap of the race. On lap 23 Verstappen, on a two-stopper strategy, was the first driver to have his first pit stop. The Dutchman went into the pits from second position and rejoined in 10th place behind Villeneuve causing M. Schumacher, who seemed not to be able to go past Panis, to move up into fifth and Montoya into sixth. M. Schumacher finally managed to go cleanly past Panis on the inside of a bend and set off in the chase of Räikkönen, who was now in third place. Soon enough M. Schumacher had gone past the Finn and was looking ahead to battling Coulthard for second place. A few laps later Montoya, who had gone past a battling Panis and was closing up on Räikkönen, slowed right down and tried to limp back to the pits. The car however died on him so the Colombian stopped by the side of the track, got out of the cockpit, sat on the wing and coasted the Williams downhill. Around about this time the one-stoppers started coming in. The first was Panis from fifth, while the Ferrari mechanics put up a little show for McLaren's benefit, coming out as if to receive a car, then going back in. One lap later the Ferrari mechanics were out again and this time M. Schumacher did come in for real and was out again in less than nine seconds. At the same time Verstappen came in for his second pit stop. Räikkönen, who had come in at the same time as Verstappen, was delayed by wheel problems and lost his position to Panis. One lap after M. Schumacher Barrichello came in for a typically fast Ferrari pit stop and rejoined in second place, leaving Coulthard out in the lead. The Scot, finally having a clean run of the track, started pushing in order to build himself a comfortable gap. A couple of laps later the Scot came into the pits for his own one stop, racing against time. Luck was on his side and after eight seconds he restarted and came out in the lead ahead of Barrichello, who had been delayed by traffic in this crucial lap. Villeneuve, lapping outside the points, was handed a 10-seconds stop-go penalty for speeding in the pit lanes. On lap 54 M. Schumacher made a mistake and went out on the grass, as he had done already immediately after his pit stop, managed to recover and stayed in the race, but lost precious time and the hope to win the GP. His team mate Barrichello, meanwhile, was making life difficult for Coulthard who seemed not to be as fast as before on his new set of tyres. With a few laps to go Button finished his very non-descript race by spinning out to the side with flames gashing out of the back of his Benetton. Button had been almost constantly at the back of the pack throughout the weekend and his poor performance reflected that of the Benetton team as a whole, which appears not to be anywhere near finding a way out of the crisis that hit them. Fisichella performed slightly better than the young Briton, but he was noticeable mainly by his absence from any action that took place. As the three leading cars entered the final straight for the last time, Barrichello moved to the side and let team mate M. Schumacher go past him and finish second for precious championship points. As soon as it had become clear that Coulthard was going to win the race, all eyes had been fixed on the two Ferrari to see just when they would swap places. The fact that it only happened in the last 30 metres and Barrichello's face and comments afterwards made it very clear that not all is well in the Ferrari household and that the Brazilian is not happy of having to play second fiddle to the current World Champion. Ron Dennis was quick to comment on the issue after the race, saying that he would not have ordered either of his drivers to yield to the other this early in the season. Coulthard's victory lifted spirits a bit at McLaren, who are grieving for the death of Paul Morgan at the weekend. As a mark of respect the race winner did not open his champagne to spray it around. After the end of the race the team had still been unable to work out what had gone wrong with Häkkinen's car and they are reserving to point a finger to the cause after they complete their analyses. Räikkönen finished fourth and brought back home three points for the team, a good performance for a young driver in his first Formula 1 season. Panis again finished higher than his team mate and made sure that those who tried to pass him had a hard time, even if their names were M. Schumacher or Montoya. Verstappen finished sixth after having enjoyed a few laps in second place. Next race is in Monaco on 27 May.

Images from Raisport and Il Corriere della Sera