Canadian GP - Montreal 10 June 2001

R. Schumacher launched himself ahead as the lights changed to start the Canadian GP, but older brother Michael had the inside line and went ahead on the first corner. Barrichello, who had started from fifth place on the grid, soon went past Trulli and moved into fourth place behind Coulthard. Fisichella had the dubious honour of being the first casualty of the race before the end of the first lap. The Italian had a shunt with Bernoldi and then his brakes failed him, so that he drove into the back of his team mate Button, damaged his own car, went to the pits and retired. In a display of class he then gave an interview apologising to Button for any problem he might have caused him. On the second lap Irvine touched Heidfeld's car and both got out to the side and retired, causing the yellow flag to be displayed. On lap three Barrichello repeated the trick he had played on Trulli and went past Coulthard for third place on pure straight-line speed. By the end of lap four Barrichello was on R. Schumacher's tail and was looking for an opening to go past. Meanwhile race leader M. Schumacher had been building up a good gap in between himself and the rest if the pack. On lap six Barrichello's race suffered its first blow. The Brazilian lost the back of the car, went into a spin and out to the side, allowing Verstappen to move into the points. Barrichello managed to keep the engine running and rejoined the race in 14th place behind Bernoldi. A few laps later Button was handed a 10-seconds stop-go penalty for jumping the start. Button served his penalty on lap eight and dropped down several positions. That was only the beginning of his misfortune, in fact two laps later the young Briton had to go back to the pits for new tyres and lost even more time. On lap 10 Verstappen, on a two-stopper, decided to take advantage of his speed to attack Panis, who was not at all intimidated and closed the door on the Dutchman. By lap 12 Coulthard, who was in third place, was already some 10 seconds behind race leader M. Schumacher, a huge gap even allowing for massive difference in fuel load. Barrichello had been trying to move back up the field and by lap 14 the Ferrari driver had caught up with Montoya, who was involved in his own battle with Häkkinen for ninth place. At the front the other Ferrari driver was involved in a battle too, as younger brother R. Schumacher kept on pressing for the lead. On lap 19 Button's luck ran out for good and the Benetton driver went back to the pits and retired. At the same time Montoya made an unprovoked error and span, hitting the wall at the exit of the first chicane. Barrichello had to swerve to avoid the Williams, span and the two cars ended up at either side of the track, the Ferrari with its front on the tarmac. The accident caused the yellow flag to be displayed and the safety car to come into action, allowing Coulthard to recover the 13 seconds gap between himslef and the Schumacher brothers. At the end of lap 23 the safety car went back in and the race restarted. Verstappen miscalculated his timing and went into the pits from sixth just as the race restarted, with Räikkönen moving into the points behind Panis. M. Schumacher took advantage of his Bridgestone tyres, shot off and put 2.5 seconds in between himself and his younger brother, while Coulthard dropped over four seconds down. Bernoldi went in for a pit stop and problems with restarting meant that he stayed there and retired. As soon as the Michelin tyres warmed up R. Schumacher started pushing again, clocking new fastest lap after new fastest lap. His older brother immediately responded by setting another fastest lap time. Ralf pushed a bit more and clocked another fastest lap time and so on and so on until the two brothers were racing together again at the front, the older one ahead. By lap 33 the two leading drivers had left Coulthard almost 12 seconds behind, with Trulli on his tail looking for an opening. The next casualty of the GP was Villeneuve, whose car failed on lap 34. He tried to crawl to the pits to retire, but his car let him down completely and the Canadian parked his BAR on the grass and walked back to the pits in front of his home crowd on the track named after his father Gilles, pulling the final curtain on a weekend he later dubbed the worst of his life. On lap 38 Panis and Zonta, who had been battling for position, came into the pits at the same time and the race shifted from the drivers to the team mechanics. Panis was beaten and came out behind Zonta, only to come back to the pits one lap later and retire. On lap 43 Coulthard went in for an early pit stop and he was out again within 10 seconds into fifth place, still ahead of Trulli but behind Verstappen who had had one pit stop already. Häkkinen, who still had to stop at this point, was in third place and lapping at the pace of the two leaders. R. Schumacher never tired trying to go past his older brother, but Michael kept on closing the door on him every time the Williams came up alongside the Ferrari. On lap 47 M. Schumacher finally had to go in for his pit stop, letting his brother into the lead. After 8.4 seconds M. Schumacher was out on the track again in second place ahead of Häkkinen. The Ferrari driver now had to recover as much time as possible to take advantage of when his brother went in for his pit stop. On lap 50 R. Schumacher finally went into the pits for his fuel and tyres stop, but he had built more than enough advantage and rejoined the race in the lead four seconds ahead of his older brother. De La Rosa went in for his pit stop while on Coulthard's tail giving the Scot, who was obviously suffering from some sort of car problem, a bit of breathing space. On lap 55 Coulthard's car problems finally caught up with him and the engine went up in smoke. The Scot drove back to the pits, dropping oil all over the track, and retired. With his direct adversary out of the race M. Schumacher could relax and just cruise to the end of the race and by lap 60 he had fallen over 11 seconds behind his brother, but still 28 seconds ahead of Häkkinen in third place. With only six laps to go Räikkönen elbowed his way into fourth place past Trulli, who was having brake problems. Trulli's problems showed as Verstappen caught up with the Italian and went past him into fifth place. On the following lap the Jordan driver drove back to the pits and retired. On lap 67 it was Verstappen's turn to suffer from brake failure that caused the Dutchman to into a spin and crash into the tyre barrier. The retirements had put Alesi into fifth place for two Championship points. R. Schumacher went on unchallenged to win the Canadian GP ahead of brother Michael, Häkkinen, Räikkönen, Alesi and De La Rosa. Next race is at the Nürburgring on 24 June.

Images from Raisport and Il Corriere della Sera