2001 Brazilian Grand Prix
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The 2001 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at the Interlagos on April 1, 2001.
The Grand Prix had three incidents that were generally noted as being notable, two of them being overtaking moves, both on Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher, and both taking place at the "Senna S" corner of the track.
The first of these overtaking manouvres took place very early in the race, after an early safety car was brought onto the track, when McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen stalled on the starting grid (he was later fined for not putting his steering wheel back on).
When the safety car came in, F1 rookie Juan Pablo Montoya overtook German racer, Michael Schumacher, almost forcing him onto the grass with what some commentators described as "Schumacher-like aggression".[citation needed] Some sports commentators suggested this aggressive technique may have been rooted in Montoya's confidence in handling restart situations due to his experience in Champ Car competition.[citation needed]
The home crowd though had little to cheer about when Reubens Barrichello who had problems before he even got on the grid and had to switch to the spare car. With him clearly not very focused, right after the re-start he slammed into the back of Ralf Schumacher causing Rubens to be out on the spot, Ralf Schumacher limped back for the pits, but was in for a long time replacing the rear-wing, he later spun off when it was wet.
Despite Montoya's move, he finished pre-maturely as he was hit by Jos Verstappen from behind.
Soon after Montoya's retirement it began to rain heavily, forcing everyone to change tyres, some went onto full-wets others chose the intermediates.
A compromised Michael Schumacher was right back in the hunt after he had pitted early, he needed to pit again for fuel, so then he had the fuel and tyres, Coulthard stayed out an extra lap which at that point looked costly.
But then Schumacher with a dry set up on the car, spun soon after exiting the pit lane allowing Coulthard right back on his tail.
This led to the second amazing overtaking move by David Coulthard where he took Schumacher with the aid of a backmarker, rather similar to his team mate's, Mika Häkkinen, move on Schumacher at the Belgian Grand Prix the previous season.
Coulthard stormed on to win, while Schumacher suffered another off on his way to second and a delighed Nick Heidfeld took his first ever podium driving for Sauber, it was also Sauber's first podium since Jean Alesi at the Belgium Grand Prix of 1998.
[edit] Classification
[edit] Notes
- Fastest Lap: Ralf Schumacher 1m 15.692s
- First podium: Nick Heidfeld
- Mika Häkkinen retired right at the start of the race as he stalled on the grid.
- Juan Pablo Montoya was on course for his first F1 victory, but he was hit by Jos Verstappen from behind.
- This race was run under heavy rain.
| Previous race: 2001 Malaysian Grand Prix |
FIA Formula One World Championship 2001 season |
Next race: 2001 San Marino Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2000 Brazilian Grand Prix |
Brazilian Grand Prix | Next race: 2002 Brazilian Grand Prix |
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