2001 Spanish Grand Prix
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| 2001 Spanish Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 5 of 17 in the 2001 Formula One World Championship
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| Race details[1][2] | |||||
| Date | 29 April 2001 | ||||
| Official name | Gran Premio Marlboro de Espana 2001 | ||||
| Location | Circuit de Catalunya, Montmeló, Catalonia, Spain | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 4.730 km (2.939 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 65 laps, 307.323 km (190.962 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Overcast, Mild, Dry, Air Temp: 18°C | ||||
| Attendance | 91,000 | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||||
| Time | 1:18.201 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |
 Michael Schumacher | Ferrari | |||
| Time | 1:21.151 on lap 25 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Ferrari | ||||
| Second | Williams-BMW | ||||
| Third | BAR-Honda | ||||
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Lap leaders | |||||
The 2001 Spanish Grand Prix (officially the Gran Premio Marlboro de Espana 2001)[3] was a Formula One motor race held on 29 April 2001, at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmeló, Catalonia, Spain, before 91,000 spectators. It was the fifth round of the 2001 Formula One World Championship, and the circuit hosted its 11th Spanish Grand Prix. Ferrari's Michael Schumacher won the 65-lap race from pole position. Williams's Juan Pablo Montoya finished second for his first Formula One podium finish and British American Racing's (BAR) Jacques Villeneuve finished third.
Going into the race, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher and McLaren's David Coulthard shared the lead of the World Drivers' Championship, but Ferrari led McLaren in the World Constructors' Championship. Michael Schumacher set the fastest lap in the one-hour qualifying session, securing pole position. He held the lead until the two pit stop cycles, when Coulthard's teammate Mika Häkkinen took the lead each time round due to his longer stints than Schumacher's. Häkkinen took the lead after the second round of stops because McLaren told him to push to get ahead of Schumacher, whose rear tyres began to vibrate. Häkkinen led the race and appeared set to win until his clutch failed on the final lap due to a hydraulic leak. Michael Schumacher took the lead and won by 40 seconds over Montoya.
Electronic driver aids including traction control, fully automatic gearboxes, and launch control became legal for the first time since the 1993 season at the Spanish Grand Prix. Schumacher's win was his third of the season and his 47th overall. As a result, he led the World Drivers' Championship by eight championship points over Coulthard and 22 over Rubens Barrichello. With 12 races left in the season, Ferrari expanded their lead in the World Constructors' Championship to 18 championship points over McLaren and 32 championship points over Williams.
The 2001 Spanish Grand Prix was the fifth of seventeen Formula One races in the 2001 Formula One World Championship, held on 29 April 2001, at the 4.730 km (2.939 mi) clockwise Circuit de Catalunya in Montmeló, Catalonia, Spain,[1][2] the track's 11th Spanish Grand Prix.[4] Before the race, Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher and McLaren driver David Coulthard were tied for the World Drivers' Championship lead with 26 championship points each. Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello was third on 14 championship points, followed by Williams's Ralf Schumacher and Sauber's Nick Heidfeld with 12 and 7 championship points.[5] Ferrari led the World Constructors' Championship with 40 championship points, and McLaren were second with 30. Williams were third with 12 championship points, followed by Jordan on 10 and Sauber on 8.[5]
Two months before the start of the Grand Prix weekend, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; Formula One's governing body) and all the teams agreed to legalise electronic driver aids such as traction control, fully-automatic gearboxes, and launch control from the Spanish Grand Prix to end long-standing rumours of cheating by teams in Formula One, because of the extreme difficulty of policing such systems and to clarify which electronic systems were legal.[6][7] The FIA previously prohibited these devices at the end of 1993, fearing that technology would reduce driver abilities.[7][8] Several drivers voiced displeasure with the systems' return, but engineers and manufacturers observed that it provided an opportunity for them to demonstrate their technical skills.[8] Drivers tried the new technology as they left the pit lane during free practice.[9]
Following the San Marino Grand Prix on 15 April, all teams tested aerodynamics, electronic driver aids, engines, mechanical car components and tyres at various European racing circuits to prepare for the Spanish Grand Prix.[10][11][12] The British-based teams of Benetton, British American Racing (BAR), Jaguar, Jordan, McLaren and Williams and the Paris-based Prost team tested at England's Silverstone Circuit from 17 to 19 April.[10][13][14] Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen set the first day's fastest lap time,[12] while McLaren's Mika Häkkinen led on the final two days.[14][15] Sauber, Ferrari and Minardi tested at Italy's Mugello Circuit between 18 and 20 April.[11][16][17] Luca Badoer, Ferrari's test driver, topped the first day's running,[16] while Michael Schumacher led the second and final days.[18][17] Arrows did two days of private straight-line speed aerodynamic testing at Italy's Vairiano Circuit with former Indy Lights driver Jonny Kane, followed by regular driver Jos Verstappen. Sauber's Kimi Räikkönen joined them.[10][11] Badoer and Barrichello tested several Ferraris for the race at the team's private testing facility, the Fiorano Circuit.[19][20][21]
Häkkinen had scored four championship points in the season's first four races due to unreliability and sub-par performances,[22][23] achieving a then-best result of fourth at Imola.[23][24] He hoped to extend his winning streak in Spain to four successive victories, adding, "No one is too far ahead and there are still plenty of points to be scored. I hope my championship starts here."[25] His teammate Coulthard said he would be prepared for the race,[26] but was aware of Häkkinen's performance at the circuit and that a victory for the latter would return him to championship contention.[27] Following two subpar races, Michael Schumacher stated that he was not concerned after retiring from the San Marino Grand Prix, but believed Ferrari might regain competitiveness and win in Spain.[28] Williams's Juan Pablo Montoya anticipated a difficult Grand Prix due to his car's pace in recent circuit tests, saying, "I am sure when we get there we will figure it out and hopefully be competitive. It will be quite interesting. For me I am really looking forward to getting to the end of a race to score some points."[29]
The event featured eleven teams (each representing a different constructor) with two drivers each, with two changes from the season entry list.[30] Luciano Burti, who had driven for Jaguar from the beginning of the season, was released and replaced by Pedro de la Rosa, the team's test driver. Burti joined Prost as the second driver change, replacing Gastón Mazzacane, who was sacked by Prost for breaching a performance clause in his contract after being off teammate Jean Alesi's pace.[31][32] Prost attempted to replace Mazzacane with Jordan test driver Ricardo Zonta, among others, but they declined to join a smaller team.[32] Benetton's Jenson Button had been nursing a shoulder injury for more than a month but entered the race after visiting specialists.[33]
Some teams did not use some electronic driver aids in their cars because of reliability issues, and there was less emphasis on cooling the brakes.[34][35]: 538–539 Teams disputed the legality of the Williams FW23's diffuser after learning of it, but FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer declared it legal.[35]: 538–539 [36] Ferrari employed temperature sensors inside the F2001's wheels to monitor their temperatures and the identical front wing as at the San Marino Grand Prix. McLaren used smaller and cleaner front brake ducts to cool the disc and caliper during qualifying and the race. Sauber's C20 cars remained without power steering because it was deemed too unreliable during testing. BAR tried upward-exiting exhausts on both Olivier Panis and Jacques Villeneuve's 003 cars, as well as a triangular fin behind the front wheels and small gurney flaps on the front wing. Jaguar again installed a revised front wing as seen at Imola. Arrows's spare car included a new front suspension, various steering locations for improved geometry and weight reduction, and redesigned front wing endplates with horizontal flip-up winglets. Benetton, Minardi, Prost and Williams made no external changes to their cars.[35]: 538–539
Practice
The race was preceded by four practice sessions, two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday.[37]: 220–221 The quickest lap times were recorded early in both Friday sessions' one-hour periods,[38] and the abrasive track surface resulted in heavy tyre wear.[39] The first practice session was held in the morning, in dry and sunny weather following early morning rain.[40][41] Drivers reported low grip and oversteer, so teams adjusted their traction control systems.[42]
Coulthard led the opening session with a lap of 1:20.107, half a second faster than Barrichello. Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher, Häkkinen and Panis, Montoya, Jordan's Jarno Trulli, his teammate Frentzen and Heidfeld completed the top ten.[42][43] Montoya spun his car entering turn seven after locking his front-left wheel. Frentzen lost control of his vehicle's rear, skidded into the turn seven gravel trap and collided with the tyre barrier.[40][42][43] Villeneuve pulled over to the side of the pit lane exit, with flames erupting from his car after an engine failure,[39][40] probably caused by an electronic driver aid, while performing a standing start with ten minutes remaining.[35]: 240 [44] Engine components penetrated Villeneuve's undertray and punctured the tarmac.[45] Jaguar's Eddie Irvine missed most of the session with two hydraulic gearbox leaks.[44][46]
The weather remained sunny and dry for the second practice session later in the afternoon.[47] Coulthard went quicker than in the previous session and led with a time of 1:20.107,[48] ahead of Irvine, Barrichello, Panis, Michael Schumacher and Häkkinen, who were within a second of Coulthard's time, De la Rosa, Ralf Schumacher, Villeneuve and Trulli.[38][49] Minardi's Tarso Marques locked his brakes and spun into the gravel 20 minutes in.[35]: 370 Montoya stopped at the side of the circuit at turn four when his engine failed for unknown reasons.[46][48][49] Häkkinen nearly understeered in turn ten early in the session, spun late on the uphill turn 11, and continued driving.[46][48]
The third practice session to setup cars for qualifying took place on Saturday morning in sunny and cool weather.[50] Michael Schumacher was the fastest in the third practice session, at 1:18.634; Häkkinen was second, despite locking his tyres and running off into turn one's gravel trap before returning to the race track en route to the pit lane late in the session.[50][51][52] Coulthard, Barrichello, Trulli, Frentzen, Heidfeld, Räikkönen, Ralf Schumacher and Panis followed in positions three to ten.[51][52]
Michael Schumacher failed to lap quicker in the final session later in the morning, but stayed fastest overall,[53] four hundredths of a second ahead of teammate Barrichello in second. Coulthard, Räikkönen, Heidfeld, Trulli, Panis, Häkkinen, Ralf Schumacher and Villeneuve rounded out the top ten.[54] After ten minutes,[55] De la Rosa was on the pit lane straight with the speed limiter on when his Jaguar unexpectedly veered to the right and into the barrier at the pit lane exit owing to a power steering failure, removing the front-right wheel.[53][56] De la Rosa's car was stranded,[55] but he was unhurt in the accident.[54][57]
Qualifying
Each driver was limited to twelve laps during Saturday's one-hour qualifying session, 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.[37]: 220–221 It was sunny but breezy for qualifying,[58] and with softer tyre compounds and traction control, the quickest lap was six seconds faster than Häkkinen's pole position time in 2000.[59] Michael Schumacher increased downforce in his Ferrari and completed eight of his twelve laps on three sets of soft compound tyres.[35]: 110 [59][60] He secured his fourth pole position in five races of the 2001 season and the 36th of his career with a lap of 1:18.201,[61][62] a new track lap record set with 15 minutes left on his third set of tyres.[58] Häkkinen turned off traction control to limit understeer,[59] and his quickest lap late in qualifying was 0.085 seconds slower for second.[35]: 136 [58][63] Coulthard took third after being demoted from second by teammate Häkkinen. He could not lap quicker owing to car balance concerns and Heidfeld bulking his final run.[56][63] Barrichello qualified fourth, setting the same time as in Saturday morning practice.[58] He battled both McLaren drivers for position late in the session.[64] Ralf Schumacher was the highest-placed Michelin-shod entrant in fifth.[63] Jordan's drivers Trulli and Frentzen took sixth and eighth, respectively, on the soft Bridgestone tyre compounds.[35]: 214 Trulli had slower cars on his quickest lap while Frentzen improved with each lap despite losing time in the final sector.[65] Villeneuve, seventh, spun into the gravel trap at the end of the pit lane straight due to disconnected rear brakes.[9][35]: 240 [41] He was sent out with his car 10 kg (22 lb) overweight due to ballast that should have been removed for a run with low fuel, and had a slight brake issue during qualifying.[41][45][56] The Sauber cars of Räikkönen and Heidfeld were ninth and tenth.[63] Räikkönen regretted not changing his car's setup from practice, but Heidfeld drove the spare C20 car, which had been setup to suit him instead of his teammate due to a driveshaft problem with his race car while on an installation lap for his opening run.[35]: 188 [41][56]
Panis in 11th was slowed by De la Rosa and Barrichello on two separate laps. The presence of other cars around him prevented him from setting another fast lap. Montoya, 12th, lost time after Verstappen spun ahead of him and was hampered by other cars.[56][65] Irvine slipstreamed pole sitter Michael Schumacher down the pit lane straight, allowing him to go faster to qualify 13th.[35]: 292 [63] Burti, in his first Formula One qualifying session for Prost,[64] was 14th after the wind hampered his car's balance, making it difficult to record a quick lap.[35]: 310 [65] Alesi, his teammate, struggled to find balance and pace in his car, qualifying 15th.[35]: 310 Arrows teammates Enrique Bernoldi and Verstappen secured 16th and 17th for the third consecutive race. Bernoldi made no significant alterations to his car's setup and he experienced a minor loss of control.[35]: 344 Verstappen spun into the turn four gravel trap on his third run due to a lengthy brake pedal, causing undertray damage.[35]: 344 [64][65] Fernando Alonso was the fastest Minardi driver in 18th place after having his engine replaced due to an oil system issue in morning practice.[56][65] Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella took 19th when slow cars hampered his final runs. De la Rosa qualified 20th due to rear brake issues on his final run in the spare Jaguar R2 set up for teammate Irvine while his race car was being repaired following his fourth practice session crash.[35]: 266, 292 [56] Button continued to nurse his shoulder injury,[62] and took 21st as the slower Benetton driver because late-qualifying car setup alterations took longer than expected, and he missed the final run.[35]: 266 [56] Marques completed the starting order in 22nd.[62][66] He could not find a proper chassis balance because of excess oversteer in some turns and he lost a lot of time approaching a slower car on his final run, in which he almost spun.[35]: 370 [65]
Qualifying classification
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Lap | Gap | Grid | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Michael Schumacher |
Ferrari | 1:18.201 | — | 1 | |
| 2 | 3 |  Mika Häkkinen |
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:18.286 | +0.085 | 2 | |
| 3 | 4 |  David Coulthard |
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:18.635 | +0.434 | 3 | |
| 4 | 2 |  Rubens Barrichello |
Ferrari | 1:18.674 | +0.473 | 4 | |
| 5 | 5 | Ralf Schumacher |
Williams-BMW | 1:19.016 | +0.815 | 5 | |
| 6 | 12 |  Jarno Trulli |
Jordan-Honda | 1:19.093 | +0.892 | 6 | |
| 7 | 10 |  Jacques Villeneuve |
BAR-Honda | 1:19.122 | +0.921 | 7 | |
| 8 | 11 | Heinz-Harald Frentzen |
Jordan-Honda | 1:19.150 | +0.949 | 8 | |
| 9 | 17 | Kimi Räikkönen |
Sauber-Petronas | 1:19.229 | +1.028 | 9 | |
| 10 | 16 | Nick Heidfeld |
Sauber-Petronas | 1:19.232 | +1.031 | 10 | |
| 11 | 9 |  Olivier Panis |
BAR-Honda | 1:19.479 | +1.278 | 11 | |
| 12 | 6 |  Juan Pablo Montoya |
Williams-BMW | 1:19.660 | +1.459 | 12 | |
| 13 | 18 | Eddie Irvine |
Jaguar-Cosworth | 1:20.326 | +2.125 | 13 | |
| 14 | 23 | Luciano Burti |
Prost-Acer | 1:20.585 | +2.384 | 14 | |
| 15 | 22 | Jean Alesi |
Prost-Acer | 1:20.601 | +2.400 | 15 | |
| 16 | 15 | Enrique Bernoldi |
Arrows-Asiatech | 1:20.696 | +2.495 | 16 | |
| 17 | 14 |  Jos Verstappen |
Arrows-Asiatech | 1:20.737 | +2.536 | 17 | |
| 18 | 21 |  Fernando Alonso |
Minardi-European | 1:21.037 | +2.837 | 18 | |
| 19 | 7 | Giancarlo Fisichella |
Benetton-Renault | 1:21.065 | +2.864 | 19 | |
| 20 | 19 | Pedro de la Rosa |
Jaguar-Cosworth | 1:21.338 | +3.137 | 20 | |
| 21 | 8 | Jenson Button |
Benetton-Renault | 1:21.916 | +3.715 | 21 | |
| 22 | 20 | Tarso Marques |
Minardi-European | 1:22.522 | +4.321 | 22 | |
| 107% time: 1:23.675 | |||||||
Source:[67] | |||||||
Warm-up
A 30-minute warm-up session was held in warm, breezy conditions on race morning.[68] Most drivers practiced their launch control systems with a standing start.[69] Both Ferrari cars maintained their good pace from qualifying; Barrichello set the fastest time of 1:20.680 on his second run.[70] Michael Schumacher was fourth in the other Ferrari car; Häkkinen and teammate Coulthard were second and third, respectively. Frentzen and Panis completed the top six fastest drivers with identical lap times.[71] With two minutes remaining,[68] Coulthard's engine failed because of a hydraulics failure, resulting in a full shutdown of his McLaren's essential systems exiting the final turn. He moved off the racing line and stopped at the side of the track after the pit lane.[69][70]
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