Michael Schumacher Wins 2001 Spanish GP

Michael Schumacher scores a lucky win when Mika Hakkinen’s race-leading McLaren expires with gearbox trouble on the last lap.

Juan Pablo Montoya finishes second in his fifth GP — the first he has actually finished — and Jacques Villeneuve finishes third to score the first ever podium for BAR and his first since 1998.

Complete Spanish GP results.

Posted: Sunday, April 29th, 2001

Driver Changes: Burti, de la Rosa and Mazzacane

In a surprise move Jaguar has announced that their test driver Pedro de la Rosa will be replacing Luciano Burti as their number two driver immediately instead of next year as was expected. This will give de la Rosa a chance to drive in his home [Spanish] Grand Prix at Barcelona next week. de la Rosa had driven for Arrows in the previous two seasons.

Burti — who was himself the Jaguar test driver last year — will not be out of a job as he has been signed to replace Gaston Mazzacane at Prost.

Mazzacane it seems will be unemployed, at least for a while — despite rumours that he could also be joining another team — due to problems with his personal sponsorship.

Posted: Friday, April 20th, 2001

Ralf Schumacher Wins 2001 San Marino GP

Ralf Schumacher’s first GP win also marks the first victory for Williams since BMW joined them as engine provider. It was also the first race won by a team other than Ferrari or McLaren since Johnny Herbert won the GP of Europe in a Stewart-Ford at the Nurburgring in September 1999.

Complete San Marino GP results.

Posted: Sunday, April 15th, 2001

David Coulthard Wins 2001 Brazilian GP

This victory — Coulthard’s tenth — ends Michael Schumacher’s string of six consecutive race wins, all of them won from the pole.

More exciting than most recent races the Brazilian GP had all of the elements of a good story with both of the major contenders suffering early setbacks – Mika Hakkinen’s McLaren stalled on the grid and did not even start the race and local favourite Rubens Barrichello ran his Ferrari into the back of Ralf Schumacher’s Williams soon after.

The real news of the weekend was the resurgence of Williams-BMW with Ralf Schumacher qualifying second and Juan Montoya fourth. Their finishing positions do not do them justice as Montoya pushed passed Michael Schumacher and led almost half of the race before Jos Verstappen ran into the back of him during a lapping and cornering mistake. Both Montoya and Ralf Schumacher set several fastest lap times and had the fastest straight-line speed of any of the teams. If they can repeat or better these performances in the future the elite club of top-level teams has just gained a new member.

Complete Brazilian GP results.

Posted: Sunday, April 1st, 2001