San Marino GP - Imola 15 April 2001

On a hot, bright and dry Imola day the lights changed and Schumacher shot past the McLaren to take the lead. Schumacher Ralf, that is, while brother Michael unceremoniously dropped down from fourth to fifth. Coulthard went into second while Trulli went alongside Häkkinnen, outbraked the Finn and went into third place. Montoya did his Brazil trick again, overtook M. Schumacher after a mistake from the World Champion and relegated the German to sixth place, only for Panis to shoot past him as well in the Colombian's trail. Soon enough Ferrari's Barrichello too went past his team mate, putting M. Schumacher in eighth place. M. Schumacher's handling suggested problems of some sort with the car, possibly gearbox. Meanwhile the race stewards had announced that one of the cars was under investigation for jump-starting the race, but did not reveal who it was and nothing came of it. The first casualty of the race was Alonso, who went straight into the tyre barrier on lap seven and ripped a wheel off his Minardi. On lap eight Barrichello put one Ferrari back into the points by sidelining Panis and then outbraking him. M. Schumacher failed to follow in his team mate's trail and stayed stuck being the BAR, though making his intentions clear by taking looks at all possible points. Half a lap later the German performed the same exact manoeuvre as Barrichello and stole seventh place from Panis. Both Ferrari were out on hard compound, having been fooled by the ever-changing weather during the Friday practice into gambling for a wet race. Both cars were also handling heavily on corners, suggesting a high fuel load and a probable one-stop strategy. In the meantime Verstappen, who had stolen the limelight for opposite reasons in the last two races, limped out to the side and retired, arguably to the relief of Montoya. R. Schumacher in the lead was the fastest driver out, suggesting to onlookers that he was likely to be on a light-fuel two-stopper strategy, while team mate Montoya was covering the rear on a one-stopper and a heavier fuel load. Further down the field Villeneuve was putting on a lacklustre performance when compared to team mate Panis'. Around lap 21 the first car on a one-stopper started coming in, including Button (who stopped twice within two laps), Alesi and Fisichella. All eyes were on race leader R. Schumacher, who was leading Coulthard by four seconds, to see whether he really was on a two-stopper as expected. On lap 23 M. Schumacher suffered from a tyre puncture and had to limp his way back to the pits for new tyres, losing precious time and positions. After 12.8 seconds M. Schumacher rejoined the race in last position with new tyres and a full tank of fuel. On lap 25 Trulli, who had been holding up Häkkinnen and the rest of the pack, had his pit stop, releasing the following cars into the chase of the leading two drivers. On the following lap M. Schumacher drove back to the pits and retired, putting a gravestone on a disastrous afternoon. Montoya had a 9.5 seconds stop on lap 27, while R. Schumacher was still out putting in fastest lap after fastest lap. On the same lap Coulthard pitted from second place (8.6 seconds), while Barrichello was hot on Häkkinnen's tail trying to rescue some points for Ferrari. On lap 28 Montoya just flew past Panis to put himself in the lowest points position. On the same lap R. Schumacher finally went for a clean pit stop (7.9 seconds). On lap later Häkkinnen too had his pit stop (8.2 seconds), releasing the position to Barrichello. On lap 31 Mazzacane's Prost went up in flames and he retired, with the marshals rushing to put out the fire. On the following lap Villeneuve suffered a blown engine, stopped by the side, slammed the steering wheel in frustration and retired. With 30 laps to go Barrichello had his pit stop and managed to retain his third place behind Coulthard. Fisichella came into the pits as Barrichello left, but had problems with the car, just stepped out of it and retired. The series of blown engines continued on lap 45 with Irvine's Jaguar. The Irishman stepped out of the car as fire came out of the rear and the marshals rushed to put it out. Coulthard had his second pit stop (9.2 seconds) on the following lap, retaining second place behind R. Schumacher and in front of Barrichello. On the following lap the race leader came in for his second pit stop (8.2 seconds) and came out back into the lead. The pit stops continued with second McLaren driver Häkkinnen (8.7 seconds), while the Ferrari mechanics got ready to receive Barrichello. Sure enough the Brazilian came in on the following lap (8.2 seconds) and stayed in third place. Montoya was next, but the fuel pipe got stuck and his car became stuck in gear. After 1.08.8 minutes the unlucky Colombian finally got going, but Trulli had already moved on into fifth place, with Frentzen in sixth. One lap later he was called in by the team, returned to the pits and drove straight into the garage, retiring. Nothing exciting happened until the end, with the set positions staying the same and R. Schumacher crossing the finishing line in the lead for the first time ever in front of the ecstatic crowd of Williams mechanics. Coulthard moved into the lead of the Drivers Championship on equal point with M. Schumacher by finishing second, just ahead of Barrichello who rescued some point for Ferrari. Häkkinnen topped up the point result for McLaren, while Trulli and Frentzen made Eddie Jordan happy by finishing fifth and sixth. M. Schumacher probably wished he had spent the whole Easter weekend in bed after a disastrous GP where almost everything went wrong since the weather turned dry. His brother Ralf, on the other hand, will remember Easter Sunday 2001 for the rest of his life as the day of his first GP victory since he started his Formula 1 career. It also was the first race in 23 not to be won by a Ferrari or a McLaren. The Williams driver started off as Michael's younger brother and had to prove his way up to real driver status, but today he sealed his image as a GP winner in his own right. Team mate Montoya, who stormed his way into Formula 1 fans' attention in the Brazilian GP, was out of the picture today. Coulthard settled for second place in the knowledge that it took him into the lead of the Drivers' Championship table, at equal points with rival M. Schumacher. Barrichello sailed to third place, pretty much unchallenged by Häkkinnen, who was there simply because he was driving a McLaren. Trulli was better than Frentzen today, as he has been in each race this season despite their points in the Championship table, and probably deserved to finish perhaps one position higher. Other drivers were hit by retirements for no fault of their own, such as Fisichella and Villeneuve, but their role in the race up to that point had been inconsequential anyway. Next race is in Spain on 29 April.

Images from Raisport and Il Corriere della Sera