2000 Malaysian Grand Prix
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| 2000 Malaysian Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 17 of 17 in the 2000 Formula One World Championship
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| Race details[1][2] | |||||
| Date | 22 October 2000 | ||||
| Official name | II Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix | ||||
| Location | Sepang International Circuit, Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 5.543 km (3.444[3] miles) | ||||
| Distance | 56 laps, 310.408 km (192.879[3] miles) | ||||
| Weather | Overcast, Very hot, Dry | ||||
| Attendance | 88,775 (Weekend)[4] | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||||
| Time | 1:37.397 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |
 Mika Häkkinen | McLaren-Mercedes | |||
| Time | 1:38.543 on lap 34 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Ferrari | ||||
| Second | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| Third | Ferrari | ||||
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Lap leaders | |||||
The 2000 Malaysian Grand Prix (formally the II Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 22 October 2000, at Sepang International Circuit in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. It was the 17th and final race of the 2000 Formula One World Championship, and the second Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix. Ferrari's Michael Schumacher won the 56-lap race from pole position. McLaren's David Coulthard finished second, with Michael Schumacher's teammate Rubens Barrichello finishing third.
McLaren's Mika Häkkinen, started second alongside Michael Schumacher. Häkkinen, on the other hand, was handed a ten-second stop-and-go penalty for being deemed to have jumped the start. Häkkinen was able to return to fourth, his ultimate finishing position. Coulthard, who started third, took the lead until the first round of pit stops. During their second stops, Michael Schumacher and teammate Rubens Barrichello traded the lead, with the former retaining it. Michael Schumacher won the race by holding off Coulthard in the final laps.
Michael Schumacher's victory was his ninth of the season, tying his own record set in 1995 and Nigel Mansell in 1992. Schumacher also tied Mansell's 108-point record. McLaren was unable to pass Ferrari's points total in the final race, confirming Ferrari as World Constructors' Champions. Coulthard's second-place finish helped him beat Barrichello to third in the World Drivers' Championship. Pedro Diniz's and Johnny Herbert's final race was at the Grand Prix; the Englishman retired after 161 race starts.
The 2000 Malaysian Grand Prix was the 17th and final race of the 2000 Formula One World Championship, held on 22 October 2000 at the 5.543 km (3.444 mi) clockwise Sepang International Circuit in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia.[1][2] It was the second Malaysian Grand Prix in the Formula One World Championship,[6] and the only one to host the final round of a Formula One season.[7] Sole tyre supplier Bridgestone brought the Soft dry compound and the Intermediate, Heavy Wet and Soft wet-weather compounds to the race.[8]
Before the event, Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher won the season's World Drivers' Championship at the preceding Japanese Grand Prix.[6] Schumacher led the championship with 98 championship points; McLaren's Mika Häkkinen was second on 86 points. With only 10 championship points available for the remaining race, Häkkinen was unable to catch Schumacher.[9] McLaren's David Coulthard was third in the Drivers' Championship, 67 championship points behind Michael Schumacher and Häkkinen, and 58 championship points ahead of Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello.[9] If Barrichello won the race and Coulthard finished outside the top six, he could still finish third.[10] Although the Drivers' Championship was decided, the World Constructors' Championship was not.[6][11] Ferrari led on 156 championship points, and McLaren were second on 143 championship points, with a maximum of 16 championship points available.[9] McLaren needed to finish first and second in the race to become Constructors' Champions, but Ferrari needed one of its two drivers to finish second or collect three championship points by finishing fourth to win the title.[6][12]
Protests against Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's imprisonment threatened to disrupt the race. The campaign group, known as Free Anwar,[13] were reported in the media that they would use the event to try to bid for Ibrahim's release. However, the campaign's director, Raja Petra Kamarudin, later announced that the event would be untouched.[14]
The weekend was the final race for Jaguar's Johnny Herbert and Sauber's Pedro Diniz. Herbert's switch to CART was publicised shortly before, and he acknowledged that he had turned down an offer to test for the Williams team.[15] Herbert said going into the weekend: "It's going to be a bit emotional getting out of the car for the last time and out of Formula One. But I'm really looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead of me."[16] Diniz's future was uncertain, as he was rumoured to be moving to Prost after extensive negotiations with the team.[17]
Following the Japanese Grand Prix on 8 October, six teams tested at European race tracks between 10 and 13 October to prepare for the upcoming race in Malaysia.[18] Ferrari spent the four days with Luca Badoer, their test driver, who tested new mechanical components on the F1-2000 car at the Fiorano Circuit on a wet/dry track.[19] He then moved to the Mugello Circuit where he tested brakes,[20] car set-ups, tyre evaluation,[21] endurance runs for the car's engines and continued trying out new car components.[20] McLaren tested tyres on its MP4/15 chassis at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo for three days with test driver Olivier Panis and were joined by the Arrows team running a modified A21 vehicle fitted with a Peugeot-derived Asia Motor Technic V10 engine.[18][22] Williams spent three days at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours testing a modified FW22 car with its test driver Bruno Junqueira.[18][23] British American Racing (BAR) tested a 002 car with their regular test driver Darren Manning for two days of aerodynamic testing at the Italian Variano circuit.[18][24] Benetton cancelled a test in Barcelona but ran at the Silverstone Circuit a week later using new Supertec engines angled at 110° degrees.[22] The Jaguar, Jordan, Minardi, Prost, and Sauber teams did not test during this period.[18]
Eleven teams (each representing a different constructor) entered the event with each team fielding two drivers.[25] Michael Schumacher was the bookmakers favourite to win the race.[26] There were few alterations to cars for the race since teams were focused on the design of their 2001 vehicles. Changes centred on the requirement to increase the cooling of each car's mechanical components in order to cope with Malaysia's humid climate.[27] Several teams opened additional slots on the rear of each vehicle's sides, while the Williams team installed chimneys used at the Hungarian Grand Prix for the Friday free practice sessions before returning to a conventional design model the following day. Benetton fitted a new engine specification and a changed weight distribution in Alexander Wurz's car.[27]
Practice
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There were two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday before Sunday's race.[5] The Friday morning and afternoon sessions were held in hot and dry weather.[28] Several teams reported poor radio reception, possibly caused by the large grandstands located around the track.[29] Michael Schumacher set the first session's fastest lap, at 1 minute and 40.290 seconds, seven-tenths of a second quicker than teammate Barrichello. Coulthard was third quickest despite spending most of the session dealing with a clutch problem. Häkkinen was fourth, ahead of Jaguar's Eddie Irvine and BAR's Jacques Villeneuve. Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella, Herbert, BAR's Ricardo Zonta and Wurz (in his final race driving for Benetton) placed seventh through tenth.[6][30] Some drivers went off the circuit and onto the grass during the session.[31]
Häkkinen set the day's quickest time in the second practice session, a 1:40.262; Coulthard, his teammate, was third fastest. The Ferrari drivers remained fast, with Michael Schumacher second and Rubens Barrichello fourth, despite the latter developing flu symptoms.[28] Jordan's Jarno Trulli was fifth quickest, ahead of Ralf Schumacher. Zonta ran quicker during the session and was seventh fastest. The Benetton drivers Fisichella and Wurz, along with Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen completed the top ten.[28] Coulthard temporarily drove onto the grass at the entry to KLIA Curve when he braked later than intended and went through the gravel to rejoin to the racing line. Mika Salo lost control of his Sauber car and went into the gravel trap at Sunway Lagoon Corner.[32][33]
The weather remained hot and dry for the Saturday morning practice sessions.[34] Lap times continued to fall prior to qualifying later in the day.[35] Wurz was the fastest driver in the third practise session, lapping at 1:38.318, three thousandths of a second faster than Häkkinen in second. Coulthard set the third-fastest lap. Michael Schumacher was fourth with Barrichello sixth. Irvine was fifth. Zonta, Villeneuve, and Ralf Schumacher completed the top ten.[36] An electronic engine sensor failure at the pit lane entry on his installation lap stopped Frentzen from setting a lap.[34][37]
In the final practice session, Coulthard lapped fastest at 1:38.109 despite going into the gravel traps in the session. Michael Schumacher, Wurz, Häkkinen and Barrichello were in positions two to five. Jaguar drivers Herbert and Irvine were sixth and seventh.[34] Jenson Button of Williams was eighth after changing his car's engine that had a hydraulic issue.[38] Villeneuve and Trulli were ninth and tenth.[34] Fisichella and Minardi's Gastón Mazzacane spun and stalled their cars after spinning. Frentzen lost control of his car, got beached in a gravel trap and stalled with five minutes left.[39] The top 19 drivers set laps within 1.879 seconds of Wurz's, indicating a competitive field for qualifying and race field.[40]
Qualifying
Each driver was limited to twelve laps during Saturday's one-hour qualifying session, with the starting position determined by their fastest performance. The 107% rule was in force during this session, which required each driver to achieve a time within 107% of the fastest lap to qualify for the race.[5] Qualifying was held in dry and hot weather. Michael Schumacher took his ninth pole position of the season and 32nd of his career with a lap time of 1:37.397 set with three minutes remaining after a second attempt with a rear wing change was cancelled owing to a flat-spotted tyre. Häkkinen, who finished 0.463 seconds behind than Schumacher due to a car imbalance, joined him on the grid's front row.[41][42] Coulthard qualified third and during a refueling pit stop when a fire caused by a loose fuel line on his McLaren saw petrol seet into his left eye. He said that the issue could have escalated if swift action had not been taken.[43] Barrichello, who still had the flu, qualified fourth having been demoted from second in qualifying's closing seconds.[34] Wurz qualified fifth, his best qualifying result of the season.[34] Although his car's engine was shut off due to a loss of power that caused him to slow down on the straights during his final run, Villeneuve set the sixth fastest lap time.[41][44]
Despite believing he could have been faster as he slowed through turn 15, Irvine made setup adjustments and took seventh.[34][41] Ralf Schumacher in eighth lost four-tenths of a second on his fastest lap.[34] Trulli and Frentzen were ninth and tenth for Jordan.[11] Zonta missed qualifying in the top ten by two-tenths of a second owing to braking issues. Herbert qualified twelfth in his final Formula One race and experienced understeer due to an engine change. He was ahead of Fisichella in 13th and Pedro de la Rosa in 14th, who set the fastest lap for the Arrows team on new tyres. Jos Verstappen, 15th, suffered from understeer, resulting in a driver error and damage to a radiator that leaked water in his race car. As a result, he drove Arrows' spare car.[41][44] Button qualified 16th after experiencing traffic during qualifying and being unable to lap faster as he could not scrub down his tyres.[38][41] Salo, 17th, had all four of his runs influenced by outside factors, and he lost downforce by following Irvine. Prost's Jean Alesi and Nick Heidfeld qualified 18th and 19th, respectively, due to climate-related performance issues. Diniz finished 20th due to understeer and a tyre mix-up.[42][44] Minardi's Marc Gené (21st) and Mazzacane (22nd) completed the starting order.[11]
Qualifying classification
Warm-up
The drivers took to the track at 10:30 Malaysian Standard Time (GMT +8) for a half hour warm-up session in warm, dry weather.[46] Lap times in the session were about two and a half seconds slower than in qualifying because vehicles were fitted with race-specific bodywork and radiators. Zonta set the quickest lap time, a 1:40.032, with two minutes left.[47] Both McLaren drivers finished in the top four—Häkkinen was second, slightly slower than Zonta, while Coulthard was fourth. Michael Schumacher, in third place, separated them.[46]
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