Brazilian GP - Säo Paulo 1 April 2001

Barrichello's luck appeared to have run out before he even got to start his home GP. His car gave up the ghost during the warm-up lap and Barrichello had to run back to the pits as the Ferrari mechanics frantically worked to prepare the spare car, set up for M. Schumacher, for the Brazilian. As the cars set off on the formation lap, the mechanics around Irvine's car did not leave within the required time and the Jaguar driver came under investigation. As the lights changed M. Schumacher shot off to take the lead, but Häkkinen's car stayed stuck on the grid, causing the double yellow flags to be waived and the safety car to come out. As the pack went past the finishing line for the first time, Häkkinen's car was still on the starting grid. When the safety car went in Montoya, from second place, attacked M. Schumacher and managed to force the World Champion to lose composure, overtaking him for the lead. A few cars behind, Barrichello ran into the back of R. Schumacher, destroyed the front of his car and retired, forcing the German out too. On lap three Montoya, who had muscled his way past M. Schumacher, led the Ferrari driver who kept on putting pressure on the Colombian. Coulthard was in third place, Trulli in fourth, Frentzen in fifth and Villeneuve in sixth. On lap four Irvine, in ninth place, was given a 10 seconds stop-go penalty for the irregularities just before the formation lap. On lap six Irvine served his penalty. On the same lap Villeneuve overtook Frentzen for fifth place, but the German fought back, went round the BAR and retook his place from the Canadian. All the while, M. Schumacher had stayed glued to the back of Montoya's Williams, waiting for the change to go past. On lap eight the German got to have a good look to the inside as the Colombian seriously locked his wheels, but did not manage to convert the attempt into a pass. Coulthard kept the two leading cars well in his sight, looking for his own chance. R. Schumacher, in the meantime, had rejoined the race four laps down and with new wheels and front wing. On lap 12 Villeneuve came coasting into the pit lanes with a punctured tyre, letting Panis into the points. After 13.4 seconds the Canadian got out again on a fresh set of tyres. On lap 16 Bernoldi went back to the pits and retired. Panis managed what Villeneuve had not been able to do: he went past Frentzen and took fifth place. A few laps later he did the same thing to the other Jordan driver, Trulli, and moved into fourth place. On lap 24 Alesi was the first driver on a two-stopper strategy to have his first scheduled stop. On the same lap M. Schumacher had a pit stop too and the short time he stayed in, 9.6 seconds, suggested that the World Champion was on a two stop strategy and was actually running with a heavier fuel load than Montoya in the lead. M. Schumacher's stop put Coulthard into second place some three seconds behind the Williams. M. Schumacher, who had rejoined further back down the field, flew easily past Trulli to take fourth place. On the following lap Panis went in for his pit stop, letting M. Schumacher into third place. In the meantime Montoya had been pushing as much as he could to increase the lap in between himself and Coulthard. Two laps later Jenson Button drove to the pits and retired. On lap 30 Burti on Jaguar did the same thing. On lap 36 the rain, which had loomed on the horizon since before the start of the race, made its first very light appearance on the circuit, not heavy enough yet to warrant for wet tyres. On the following lap Button rejoined the race three laps down. On lap 40 Verstappen let Montoya lap him, then rammed him from behind, smashing both cars and taking the race leader ad himslef out. The accident caused the yellow flags to be displayed, as well as putting Coulthard in the lead who, on the same lap, went in for his pit stop with M. Schumacher 30.3 seconds behind. After a 9.8 seconds stop the Scot came out just as the current World Champion arrived and retained the lead. At this point in the race Coulthard led, followed very closely by M. Schumacher, then Trulli, Frentzen, Panis and Fisichella. On lap 42 Frentzen came into the pits, with the mechanics not ready for him. They managed to get the tyres and after a 10.6 seconds stop the German was out on the track again. On the following lap his team mate Trulli had his pit stop and, after losing a couple of seconds because the fuel nozzle would not come out (12.3 seconds overall), he rejoined the race. On lap 43 the rain started coming down and a few drivers came in for rain tyres. M. Schumacher came in for intermediate tyres (8.0 seconds) one laps before Coulthard (5.9 seconds), who paid dearly for the delay by losing precious time and eventually the lead to the German. Despite having his intermediate tyres M. Schumacher span on the water but kept the engine going and stayed in the race with Coulthard, on intermediate tyres too, closing on him. With 23 laps remaining, under pouring rain but with the sun shining at the same time, Coulthard took advantage of M. Schumacher being slowed by a Minardi backmarker, made his move and went back into the lead. Frentzen was in third position, Trulli in fourth, Heidfeld in fifth, Räikkönen in sixth and Irvine in seventh. With only 18 laps to go M. Schumacher went out into the gravel trap on turn six, but kept the car going and rejoined still in second place but over 15 seconds behind the Scot. On lap 57 Räikkönen span out and retired from the race, leaving his car parked on the side. Because of the several cars left stranded all over the circuit, the yellow flags were being displayed all over the place. With only six laps to go third-place driver Frentzen slowly drove off to the side and retired, putting Heidfeld into podium position and letting Alesi into the points. On the following lap Fisichella attacked the Frenchman, overtook him and moved into sixth place. One lap later Panis went easily past Trulli and took fourth place from the Italian. Coulthard went on unchallenged to win the Brazilian GP, followed by M. Schumacher, Heidfeld, Panis, Trulli and Fisichella. Montoya was the clear star of the Brazilian GP, taking on M. Schumacher and leading all the way until he was forced out by Verstappen. The Colombian showed off the power of the BMW engine when his Williams, on a full load, kept the Ferrari of M. Schumacher, on a lighter fuel load, at bay. Coulthard managed a brilliant drive on the wet and took advantage of M. Schumacher's mistakes to go into the lead and put himself quite clearly in second place in the Drivers Championship table, despite the penalising decision to stay out on the wet one lap too long. M. Schumacher himself had a less than ideal race, first being surprised by Montoya who took the lead from him and kept it, never relenting under the pressure the German put on him, then letting Coulthard go into the lead in wet conditions, that usually work to his advantage. M. Schumacher's second place put an end to his record series of wins. Heidfeld on Sauber managed to keep Jordan and BAR behind and enjoyed his very first (and Sauber's) Formula 1 podium, albeit on the lowest step. Panis ran a good race to give three points to BAR, their first points result this season. Jordan's performance was lacklustre in Brazil, yet they managed to bring back Trulli's two points after Frentzen was forced out. Fisichella managed to bring back a much awaited for first point for Benetton in the 2001 season. Formula 1 is coming back to Europe with the San Marino GP on 15 April.

Images from La Gazzetta dello Sport Online and Il Corriere della Sera