2000 Hungarian Grand Prix
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| 2000 Hungarian Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 12 of 17 in the 2000 Formula One World Championship
| |||||
 Hungaroring (pre-2002 circuit) | |||||
| Race details[1][2] | |||||
| Date | 13 August 2000 | ||||
| Official name | XVI Marlboro Magyar Nagydíj | ||||
| Location | Hungaroring, Mogyoród, Pest, Hungary[3] | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 3.975 km (2.470 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 77 laps, 306.075 km (190.186 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Partially cloudy, very hot, dry | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||||
| Time | 1:17.514 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |
 Mika Häkkinen | McLaren-Mercedes | |||
| Time | 1:20.028 on lap 33 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| Second | Ferrari | ||||
| Third | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
|
Lap leaders | |||||
The 2000 Hungarian Grand Prix (formally the XVI Marlboro Magyar Nagydj) was a Formula One motor race held on 13 August 2000, at the Hungaroring in Mogyoród, Pest, Hungary, attended by 120,000 spectators. The race was the twelfth of seventeen in the 2000 Formula One World Championship and the 18th in Hungary. Mika Häkkinen, driving a McLaren-Mercedes, won the 77-lap race after starting third. Ferrari's Michael Schumacher finished second after qualifying on pole position in the one-hour qualifying session the day before the race. Häkkinen's teammate David Coulthard finished third.
Before the race, Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship from Häkkinen, while Ferrari led the World Constructors' Championship from McLaren. Häkkinen overtook Schumacher and Coulthard at the start and led every lap save the first round of pit stops. He won by eight seconds, with Schumacher holding off Coulthard for second. The win, Häkkinen's third of the season and his 17th in Formula One, moved him to the World Drivers' Championship lead for the first time in 2000, two championship points ahead of Schumacher and six championship points ahead of Coulthard, while McLaren took the World Constructors' Championship lead from Ferrari by one championship point with five of the season's races remaining.
On 13 August 2000, the 3.975 km (2.470 mi) clockwise Hungaroring in Mogyoród, Pest, Hungary hosted the 12th race of the 2000 Formula One World Championship, the 2000 Hungarian Grand Prix.[1][2] Sole tyre supplier Bridgestone delivered the Soft and Extra Soft dry compound tyres to the event,[5] the softest compounds available to teams.[6] Entering the race, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship with 56 championship points, ahead of McLaren teammates Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard, who were tied for second on 54 championship points. Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello was fourth with 46 championship points, while Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella was fifth with 18 championship points.[7] Ferrari led the World Constructors' Championship with 102 championship points, four more than second-placed McLaren. Williams was third with 22 championship points, with Benetton fourth with 18 championship points. British American Racing (BAR) were fifth with 12 championship points.[7]
Following the German Grand Prix on 30 July, teams prepared for the event by testing on circuits similar to the Hungaroring.[8] Six teams tested high-downforce, racing setups at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo for three days.[9] McLaren test driver Olivier Panis finished the first day ahead of Häkkinen. Pedro Diniz's Sauber car had an oil leak, restricting his team's testing time while the leak was rectified.[10] Coulthard was fastest on the second day and Fisichella led on the final day. Benetton's Alexander Wurz spun and struck the tyre barrier. His car's wishbone hit his right leg, and he was taken to the circuit's medical centre before being transferred to a local hospital.[11] Wurz was passed fit to compete in the race the day after his accident.[12] Ferrari tested for five days at the Fiorano Circuit, focusing on car development, practice starts, aerodynamic testing and race distance simulations with test driver Luca Badoer.[13] He was joined by Barrichello on the second day and Michael Schumacher from the fourth day onwards.[13][14] Badoer and Michael Schumacher spent two more days at the circuit shaking down the Ferrari F1-2000 car.[15]
After three consecutive retirements, including first-lap collisions in Austria and Germany reducing his points lead from 22 points to 2,[16] Michael Schumacher stated that his objective in Hungary was to avoid any incident on the first lap and finish in a points-scoring position. He was also confident that Ferrari would perform well on the track.[17] Despite Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo's comments to the press about Barrichello assisting Michael Schumacher's title aspirations, Barrichello revealed that he received backing from him to challenge for more victories and the championship.[18]
The event featured eleven teams (each representing a different constructor) and two drivers, with no changes from the season entry list.[19] Following tests, Prost's Jean Alesi was declared fit by his doctors and then by FIA medical delegate Sid Watkins in the days before the race.[20][21] At the previous race, Alesi was involved in a high-speed accident with Sauber driver Diniz, suffering from abdominal pains, dizziness and vomiting.[22] Prost had their test driver Stéphane Sarrazin ready if Alesi relapsed.[23] Alesi said he felt ready to race again: "It took a few days before I really started to recover, but now I sleep and feel much better".[24]
Some teams modified their cars for the event. The Hungaroring track's characteristics require teams to operate their car with a high load of aerodynamics, and special attention was paid to heat dissipation because high temperatures were recorded at the circuit.[25] McLaren improved the aerodynamics of their MP4/15 chassis in order to increase the amount of downforce, and thus grip, produced by the bodywork. They also brought revised nose wings.[26] McLaren additionally strengthened the steel rear suspension wishbones.[27] BAR outfitted their cars with one-off components designed to improve the performance of the monocoque's cooling systems.[28] Ferrari debuted an aerodynamic setup similar to that used at the Monaco Grand Prix,[29] as well as a modified version of the F1-2000's chimneys.[30] Minardi arrived with redesigned radiator intakes and exits to address temperature issues with their Fondmetal V10 engines.[29]
Practice
Before Sunday's race, there were two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday.[4] The Friday practice sessions took place in dry, hot weather;[31][32] when clouds obscured the track, the temperature dropped, but the ambient temperature remained constant.[33] Before any lap times were set nearly 20 minutes, 15 drivers completed out-laps to allow them to perform system checks.[21] The track was dirty due to a lack of activity for several months, and race organisers were unable to completely clean it.[6]
Michael Schumacher waited for other drivers to clean the dirty track before setting the first session's quickest time on his first fast lap, at 1 minute and 20.198 seconds, in the final moments of the session.[34][21] He was almost six-tenths of a second faster than teammate Barrichello. Jaguar's Eddie Irvine was third fastest, ahead of Williams' Ralf Schumacher. Fisichella, BAR's Jacques Villeneuve, Jordan's Jarno Trulli, Diniz, Mika Salo of Sauber and Williams' Jenson Button completed the top ten.[34] McLaren sat out first practice, preferring to save tyres.[35] Several teams concentrated on testing the high downforce aerodynamic packages fitted to their cars during the session.[6]
Coulthard set the day's fastest lap of 1:18.792 with about 15 minutes left in the second practice session;[36] the time was half a second slower than teammate Häkkinen's pole lap at the 1999 race. Häkkinen was second, Michael Schumacher third and Barrichello fourth. Trulli was faster, finishing fifth fastest, ahead of Fisichella and Williams drivers Ralf Schumacher and Button. Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Irvine completed the top ten.[37] Several drivers lost control of their cars during the session due to the low grip racing surface appearing to be problematic for racers.[32][36] Arrows' Pedro de la Rosa was unhurt in an accident against the tyre wall.[31]
The weather remained dry, hot and sunny for the two Saturday practice sessions,[38][39] with no indication of rain when the third session began.[40] With three minutes remaining in the third practice session, Barrichello set a time of 1:18.268.[40] Coulthard was second, a thousandth of a second slower than Barrichello. Frentzen was third, ahead of Michael Schumacher in fourth and Häkkinen and Ralf Schumacher in fifth and sixth, respectively. Salo, Button, Trulli, and Fisichella completed the top ten.[41] Three minutes in, De la Rosa almost lost control of his car at the final corner and Gastón Mazzacane's Minardi engine failed due to a differential fault.[38][40]
The final practice session took place on a marginally drier but still dusty circuit than the previous session. Teams were finalising car setups and scrubbing tyres. Michael Schumacher was quicker than the day before, lapping 1:17.395 with 20 minutes of the season remaining.[35][42][43] He was 0.630 seconds faster than second-placed Coulthard with Barrichello in the second Ferrari third.[39] Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher, Häkkinen, Trulli, Fisichella, Salo and Diniz followed in positions four to ten.[38] Diniz was briefly stuck at the pit lane entry as his engine stalled in first gear.[38][43]
Qualifying
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During Saturday's one-hour qualifying session, each driver was limited to twelve laps, with the starting order determined by their fastest laps. The 107% rule was in force during this session, which required each driver to set a time within 107% of the fastest lap to qualify for the race.[4] The session took place in dry, hot and clear weather,[44][45] similar to practice, but with a warmer track temperature.[46] The warm weather made the track more slippery.[47] Most of the faster teams used new rear tyres and front scrubbed compounds to reduce understeer when lapping quickly.[48] Michael Schumacher qualified on pole position for the 28th time in his career, and fifth of the season, with a lap of 1:17.514,[47] on his first fast lap midway through qualifying.[48] Coulthard, who was 0.372 seconds slower on his third and final run, joined Michael Schumacher on the grid's front row.[35][38] McLaren did not optimise Coulthard's vehicle for low fuel, and it oversteered in the circuit's first two sectors.[49] Häkkinen, third, made considerable car setup changes by altering the rear anti-roll bar and front torsion beams, which he tested early in qualifying to see if it improved his performance.[35][48] Ralf Schumacher qualified fourth with the newer Williams qualifying engine, his season-best qualifying result.[35][50] He was satisfied with revisions to his car's aerodynamics.[38] Barrichello, fifth, had car handling difficulties and said Coulthard prevented him from lapping faster. Frentzen, sixth, had excess oversteer in the track's final two sectors.[38]
Fisichella qualified seventh, claiming Michael Schumacher hindered his final lap.[47][51] Ferrari attempted to inform Schumacher about Fisichella behind him but Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn pressed the wrong radio button and mistakenly told Barrichello. Brawn apologised for the error and Benetton technical director Pat Symonds downplayed it.[35] Button was the slower of the two Williams drivers in eighth. Salo finished ninth, owing to cloud cover on his final run. Irvine finished tenth.[47][51] Wurz, 11th, failed to reach the top-ten by two-tenths of a second after switching to his teammate Fisichella's setup.[49] Trulli qualified 12th after experiencing oversteer that could not be corrected by car component and setup tweaks.[38][51] He was ahead of Diniz in 13th, who was hindered by traffic and had car setup problems.[38][49] Alesi was the faster of the two Prost drivers in 14th.[16] De la Rosa took 15th on the soft compound tyre and was the highest qualifying Arrows driver.[52] Villeneuve finished 16th when his BAR chassis failed to generate enough downforce.[47] Johnny Herbert, 17th for Jaguar, spun late in qualifying and had excess oversteer. He was followed in 18th by Zonta, who lacked downforce. For his fourth run, Nick Heidfeld switched to the spare Prost AP03 car and reported excessive oversteer en route to qualifying 19th.[38] Jos Verstappen, 20th, struggled to adapt to the high-downforce track with his Arrows car.[49] The Minardi drivers qualified 21st and 22nd in their underpowered cars;[47] Marc Gené outqualified teammate Mazzacane by two-tenths of a second after the latter went wide onto the grass during his fastest lap, losing nearly half a second.[51][53]
Qualifying classification
Warm-up
The drivers took to the track in hot, sunny weather at 09:30 Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) for a 30-minute warm-up session.[4][55] Rainfall the night before had cleaned the circuit.[6] Teams used the session to adjust and check their race and spare cars before the race.[56] With ten minutes remaining, Coulthard set the pace with a lap time of 1:19.261. Michael Schumacher outpaced teammate Barrichello and behind Coulthard by 0.120 seconds in the second and third-placed Ferraris. Ralf Schumacher's Williams finished fourth.[57] Due to traffic on his best lap, Häkkinen set the fifth-fastest time, 1.2 seconds behind teammate Coulthard.[58] Frentzen completed the top six drivers.[57] To clean his starting spot on the track's right-hand side, Coulthard completed one installation lap in the spare McLaren on the start-finish straight.[59] An engine failure caused Irvine to enter the pit lane with smoke billowing from his car.[55][58]
