Ralf Schumacher Wins 2001 German GP

In a day of mixed results for German engine manufacturers Ralf Schumacher won his home Grand Prix for the first time driving a BMW powered Williams. It was his third victory of the season.

Unfortunately for Mercedes both McLarens failed to finish for the first time this year in their home GP. Mika Hakkinen pulled off with a fluid leak and David Coulthard’s engine failed just after his pit stop.

Juan Pablo Montoya started from his career first pole position and looked like he could also score his first win after comfortably leading the first half of the race but a lengthy pit stop caused by a faulty fuel rig ruined his chances and half a lap later his engine blew up and his day was over.

Such was the attrition — only 10 of the 22 entries finished — that for the first time this year both of the Benettons finished in the points.

Overwhelming crowd favourite Michael Schumacher almost went out on the first lap when his Ferrari slowed leaving the grid and Luciano Burti (Prost) crashed into the back of him, launched into the air, rolled over and bounced off the top of Enrique Bernoldi’s Arrows. Luckily for them no one was hurt and there was so much debris on the track that the race had to be red flagged giving them a chance to re-start in their spare cars. This reprieve didn’t last as Schumacher’s Ferrari was no match for the Williams and he stopped on the track after his first pit stop. With Coulthard — his only real competition in the title chase — also out of the race he chatted to course workers until the race finished.

Complete German GP results.

Posted: Sunday, July 29th, 2001

Heinz-Harald Frentzen Fired By Jordan

Heinz-Harald Frentzen was fired today by Jordan four days before his home Grand Prix.

Frentzen’s contract was terminated immediately and Jordan’s test driver Ricardo Zonta will replace him in Sunday’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim. This will be the second time Zonta has filled in for Frentzen as he also drove in Canada because Heinz-Harald was feeling dizzy after a heavy crash in practice. It is not known if Zonta will get to drive for the rest of the year or if Jordan will bring in another driver to replace Frentzen.

Frentzen is 11th in the Drivers’ Championship having scored points in three of the first four races of the season but he has only finished two races since then, both out of the points.

Jordan and British American Racing (BAR) are both running with Honda engines but there have been rumours that Honda would like to reduce this to just one team so Jordan owner Eddie Jordan is keen to get some good results to impress Honda.

Posted: Wednesday, July 25th, 2001

Mika Hakkinen Wins 2001 British GP

Mika Hakkinen finally won his first race of the season at Silverstone today. It was the first time he had ever won the British GP and will hopefully put an end to some of the rumours about his possible retirement and lack of motivation.

Starting beside pole-sitter Michael Schumacher — who was on a heavier fuel load one-stop strategy — Hakkinen quickly took the lead and never looked back. Setting one fastest lap after another he looked like the Mika of old and was cool and relaxed as he joked in the post-race press conference.

Ferrari teammates Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello were followed by Juan Montoya who had led the race several times during pit stops but who was let down by a bad strategy which left him held up behind his teammate Ralf Schumacher who took only a single stop and then retired with engine problems.

There was very little attrition with most of what there was coming on the first corner when David Coulthard (McLaren) and Jarno Trulli (Jordan) came together as did the BAR pairing of Jacques Villeneuve and Olivier Panis - Villeneuve was able to continue and salvage an eighth place finish. Two time defending winner Coulthard was especially unlucky to go out so early in front of his home crowd as it virtually removes whatever slim chance he had of challenging Schumacher for the drivers’ championship.

Complete British GP results.

Posted: Sunday, July 15th, 2001

Michael Schumacher Wins 2001 French GP

Michael Schumacher scored his sixth win of the season and the 50th of his career putting him one win behind all time leader Alain Prost.

Ralf Schumacher started from the pole — his first ever — but dropped to second after a long first pit stop and a poor second set of tyres.

Rubens Barrichello started eighth but finished third after a steady drive and a three pit stop strategy.

David Coulthard finished fourth but could probably have been second but for the ten second stop-and-go penalty he was handed for speeding in the pit lane.

An old racer’s saying says that, "To finish first, first you must finish" which must certainly be Juan Montoya’s motto as his engine died eighteen laps from the finish while he was running in a strong fourth place.

McLaren may be saying that, "To finish first, first you must start" as once again one of their cars failed — Mika Hakkinen’s this time — and didn’t even manage to start the formation lap.

Complete French GP results.

Posted: Sunday, July 1st, 2001