More so than most in recent years the 2000 Grand Prix Season could be described as a two horse race with Ferrari and McLaren sharing all of the glory. Even though Ferrari eventually won both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship titles McLaren was never far behind and they even had a few weeks in the lead until Michael Schumacher dominated the last quarter of the season with four straight wins from pole position.
Ferrari had 10 wins (Michael Schumacher 9, Rubens Barrichello 1 ) and 10 poles (Michael Schumacher 9, Rubens Barrichello 1) to McLaren’s seven wins (Mika Hakkinen 4, David Coulthard 3) and seven poles (Mika Hakkinen 5, David Coulthard 2).
Surprisingly — considering the emphasis placed on qualifying in first place due to the supposed difficulty in passing on today’s GP circuits — only seven races were won from the pole (Michael Schumacher 5, Mika Hakkinen 2) and in the other 10 the winner was not even from the same team as the pole-sitter.
Apart from wins and poles Ferrari and McLaren had most of the podium places tied up as well. Between the two of them they collected 43 of the 51 possible podium spots missing only one second place and seven third places. Those eight spots were shared by just three other drivers; Giancarlo Fisichella (Benetton) 1 second and 2 third places, Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Jordan) 3 third places and Ralf Schumacher (Williams) 3 third places.
Two teams (Minardi and Prost) failed to score a single point towards the Constructors’ Championship all season.
Six regular drivers (Johnny Herbert [Jaguar], Marc Gene and Gaston Mazzacane [Minardi], Jean Alesi and Nick Heidfeld [Prost] and Pedro Diniz [Sauber]) failed to score a single Drivers’ Championship point all season. Luciano Burti failed to score in his single start for Jaguar.
The average number of finishers in each race was 13.
There were no serious driver injuries all season. Eddie Irvine (Jaguar) was the only driver unable to start a race and that was due to some unexplained stomach pains before the Austrian GP.
Posted: Monday, October 23rd, 2000
Michael Schumacher extended his margin of victory in the 2000 Drivers’ Championship with a win from the pole in today’s Malaysian Grand Prix. After recovering from a mid-season slump it was his fourth straight win and brings his total of victories for the season to nine. The win also ensured that Ferrari would repeat their win in the Constructor’s Championship
Mika Hakkinen’s McLaren beat Schumacher away from the grid and both he and his teammate David Coulthard were ahead of Schumacher by the first corner.
On the second corner Pedro de la Rosa (Arrows), Nick Heidfeld (Prost) and Pedro Diniz (Sauber) were involved in several multi-car collisions and all three were out of the race. Jarno Trulli (Jordan) who was also in the action had to pit for a new front wing but was then able to continue. Ralf Schumacher managed to avoid most of the debris by taking avoiding action across the grass.
It was revealed a couple of laps later that Hakkinen had jumped the start and he was given a 10 second stop-and-go penalty which he served on lap six and which moved him to the back of the field.
Coulthard started to pull away from Schumacher but had to make an early pit stop to have some grass from an off-track excursion removed from his side-pod where it was blocking the air flow to his radiators on a very hot and humid day. Schumacher’s stop was quicker and, despite another stop for each of them and some intense pressure from Coulthard right up to the finish line, he was in the lead and it was all over bar the crying.
Rubens Barrichello brought the second Ferrari home in third place with Hakkinen in fourth after having fought his way through the rest of the field after his penalty.
Jacques Villeneuve scored two points for BAR in fifth place followed by Eddie Irvine in his Jaguar.
Alexander Wurz had an unexpectedly good weekend finishing seventh on his last drive for Benetton before becoming McLaren’s test driver next year.
Mika Salo was eighth on his last drive for Sauber before joining the Toyota test and development team next year.
Johnny Herbert’s last F1 outing was less successful as an engine problem in the pits dropped him from fourth to 11th and then his Jaguar suffered a massive rear suspension failure eight laps from the end which sent him crashing into the barrier at high speed while his rear wing and one of his rear wheels broke away in a different direction. He was placed on a stretcher and taken away in an ambulance but luckily the worst of his injuries were some severe bruises.
Jenson Button also had a day to forget as an engine failure left his Williams smoking at the side of the track. Next year he will be driving a Benetton and Juan Montoya will be hoping for better luck with the BMW powerplant.
Ricardo Zonta’s last drive for BAR — and maybe in Formula 1 — also ended with an engine meltdown.
Malaysian GP results.
Posted: Sunday, October 22nd, 2000
Michael Schumacher clinched his third Drivers’ Championship title — the first for Ferrari since Jody Scheckter in 1979 — with a steady drive to win a mostly uneventful Japanese Grand Prix.
Schumacher started from the pole and swept across the track to try to block Mika Hakkinen’s McLaren but the manoeuvre did not work and Hakkinen took the lead going into the first corner. Hakkinen kept the lead with Schumacher shadowing him a few seconds behind for most of the race until Schumacher turned a couple of quick laps when Hakkinen made his second pitstop and then returned to the track in first place after his own second stop.
There had been occasional spots of rain throughout the race and it started to rain a little harder around the time that Schumacher took the lead but it was too light to make much difference to any of the drivers.
Hakkinen followed Schumacher home in second place with his McLaren teammate David Coulthard in third. The second Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello was fourth ahead of Jenson Button (Williams) in fifth. Jacques Villeneuve scored a single point for BAR in sixth place to move them ahead of rivals Jordan in the Constructors’ Championship.
The Jaguar teammates Johnny Herbert and Eddie Irvine finished seventh and eighth which must have pleased their new boss Bobby Rahal who was present at the race.
Ricardo Zonta (BAR) was ninth followed by the Saubers of Mika Salo and Pedro Diniz.
Japanese GP results.
Posted: Sunday, October 8th, 2000
