2001 Malaysian Grand Prix

Coordinates: 2°45′39″N 101°44′18″E / 2.76083°N 101.73833°E / 2.76083; 101.73833

Malaysia  2001 Malaysian Grand Prix
Race details
Race 2 of 17 in the 2001 Formula One season
Date 18 March 2001
Official name III Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix
Location Sepang International Circuit
Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.543 km (3.444 mi)
Distance 55 laps, 304.865 km (189.435 mi)
Scheduled Distance 56 laps, 310.408 km (192.879 mi)
Weather Early Monsoon, Dry Later, Air Temp at start: 32°C
Pole position
Driver Ferrari
Time 1:35.220
Fastest lap
Driver Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes
Time 1:40.962 on lap 48
Podium
First Ferrari
Second Ferrari
Third McLaren-Mercedes

The 2001 Malaysian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Sepang International Circuit in Sepang, Malaysia on 18 March 2001 at 14:00 MST. The 55-lap race was won by Ferrari's Michael Schumacher. His teammate, Rubens Barrichello, finished second whilst McLaren driver, David Coulthard, completed the podium by finishing in third place.

Race report

The race began at 14:00 MST, Heinz-Harald Frentzen drastically slowed during the parade lap due to a computer-hardware error. It was thought he would fail to make the start; however, Giancarlo Fisichella bought the Jordan driver some time when he lined up on the incorrect side of the grid, and failed to take his correct grid point after attempting to cross the grid. This caused an aborted start, allowing both the Jordan and Benetton to take the restart.

That was not the end of the dramatic start however: Juan Pablo Montoya's Williams then broke down and refused to fire. The Colombian was forced to take to the T-Car and start from the pitlane.

Michael Schumacher had a great start from pole position to maintain a large gap after the first corner. Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello did not have such a start and had slipped from second to fourth by the approach to the first corner. Barrichello managed to overtake Jarno Trulli on the outside, but immediately after tapped the back end of Ralf Schumacher's Williams. This forced Ralf into a spin which put him from second to the back of the pack, after he had started fourth. The McLaren of David Coulthard had a great start, going from eighth to fourth within the first two corners. Kimi Räikkönen had a driveshaft failure which left him stuck on the grid. Jos Verstappen had a superb start, moving from eighteenth on the grid to sixth position after one lap.

Michael Schumacher recorded his sixth consecutive win from pole position.

On the third lap, rain began to fall and both Ferraris ran wide across the gravel allowing Trulli to take the lead. This may have been caused by the oil leak from Olivier Panis's BAR which retired on lap 1. Schumacher ran further across the gravel than Barrichello which meant he fell behind his teammate. Thus, the order became on lap 3: Trulli, Coulthard, Barrichello, Frentzen, Verstappen, Villeneuve, Schumacher and Häkkinen. The safety car came out on lap 4 to cope with the downpour which had suddenly occurred. Leader Trulli went off the track and slipped down the order soon after this. Barrichello pitted and endured a one-minute twelve second pit-stop, with Schumacher queueing behind. After the chaos of the safety car period and all the pit-stops which it included, the order had changed to: Coulthard, Frentzen, Verstappen, Häkkinen, Trulli, Alesi, Fisichella, and Ralf, when the race restarted on lap 10.

The two Ferraris had dropped to tenth and eleventh, and Barrichello was soon overtaken by Schumacher. Frentzen lost places to Verstappen, Häkkinen, and Ralf to fall to fifth within the next few laps. It was not long before the two Ferraris were on the back of Frentzen, and Schumacher pulled an overtaking move around the outside. Schumacher was going quickly and overtook Häkkinen, again around the outside, of the final corner. Barrichello soon overtook both Frentzen and Häkkinen too. Schumacher then overtook Verstappen and Coulthard to take the lead on lap 15 as the track began to dry. Barrichello elevated himself to second place as well – the performance of the Ferraris suggesting that they were on a different tyre compound. Many drivers then pitted, but Schumacher stayed out, stretching his lead to more than a minute over Barrichello and lapping at three seconds faster a lap on occasion.

Ferrari recorded a 1–2 finish with Schumacher winning and Barrichello finishing 23.6 seconds down the road. David Coulthard completed the podium by finishing in third place. Ralf overtook Häkkinen and Verstappen to take fifth place before the pair started a battle of their own which allowed Frentzen to overtake then both at once at the final corner; Verstappen just managed to edge back in front on the straight. Verstappen would however, slip down to seventh, when Häkkinen took the final point position of sixth place. Häkkinen was eventually sixth, only narrowly beaten by Ralf (fifth) and Frentzen (fourth).

Classification

Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Lap Gap
1 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:35.220
2 2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:35.319 +0.099
3 5 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:35.511 +0.291
4 3 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.040 +0.820
5 12 Italy Jarno Trulli Jordan-Honda 1:36.180 +0.960
6 6 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:36.218 +0.998
7 10 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1:36.397 +1.177
8 4 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.417 +1.197
9 11 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Honda 1:36.578 +1.358
10 9 France Olivier Panis BAR-Honda 1:36.681 +1.461
11 16 Germany Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 1:36.913 +1.693
12 18 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth 1:37.140 +1.920
13 22 France Jean Alesi Prost-Acer 1:37.406 +2.186
14 17 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Sauber-Petronas 1:37.728 +2.508
15 19 Brazil Luciano Burti Jaguar-Cosworth 1:38.035 +2.815
16 7 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Renault 1:38.086 +2.866
17 8 United Kingdom Jenson Button Benetton-Renault 1:38.258 +3.038
18 14 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Arrows-Asiatech 1:38.509 +3.289
19 23 Argentina Gastón Mazzacane Prost-Acer 1:39.006 +3.786
20 20 Brazil Tarso Marques Minardi-European 1:39.714 +4.494
21 21 Spain Fernando Alonso Minardi-European 1:40.249 +5.029
22 15 Brazil Enrique Bernoldi Arrows-Asiatech No time

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 55 1:47:34.801 1 10
2 2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 55 +23.660 2 6
3 4 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 55 +28.555 8 4
4 11 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan-Honda 55 +46.543 9 3
5 5 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 55 +48.233 3 2
6 3 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 55 +48.606 4 1
7 14 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Arrows-Asiatech 55 +1:21.560 18  
8 12 Italy Jarno Trulli Jordan-Honda 54 +1 Lap 5  
9 22 France Jean Alesi Prost-Acer 54 +1 Lap 13  
10 19 Brazil Luciano Burti Jaguar-Cosworth 54 +1 Lap 15  
11 8 United Kingdom Jenson Button Benetton-Renault 53 +2 Laps 17  
12 23 Argentina Gastón Mazzacane Prost-Acer 53 +2 Laps 19  
13 21 Spain Fernando Alonso Minardi-European 52 +3 Laps 21  
14 20 Brazil Tarso Marques Minardi-European 51 +4 Laps 20  
Ret 7 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Renault 31 Fuel Pressure 16  
Ret 10 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 3 Spun off 7  
Ret 16 Germany Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 3 Spun off 11  
Ret 15 Brazil Enrique Bernoldi Arrows-Asiatech 3 Spun off 22  
Ret 6 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 3 Spun off 6  
Ret 18 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth 3 Water Leak 12  
Ret 9 France Olivier Panis BAR-Honda 1 Oil Leak/Spun off 10  
Ret 17 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Sauber-Petronas 0 Driveshaft 14  
Source:[1]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 Germany Michael Schumacher 20
2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello 10
2 United Kingdom David Coulthard 10
4 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen 5
5 Germany Nick Heidfeld 3

Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 Italy Ferrari 30
2 United Kingdom McLaren-Mercedes 11
3 Republic of Ireland Jordan-Honda 5
4 Switzerland Sauber-Petronas 4
5 United Kingdom Williams-BMW 2

Notes

References

  1. "2001 Malaysian Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula1.com Limited. Archived from the original on 28 October 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2015.

External links

Previous race:
2001 Australian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
2001 season
Next race:
2001 Brazilian Grand Prix
Previous race:
2000 Malaysian Grand Prix
Malaysian Grand Prix Next race:
2002 Malaysian Grand Prix
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