Mika Hakkinen Wins 2001 United States GP

After his announcement that he would be taking a sabbatical next year Mika Hakkinen looked like all of the pressure had been lifted from him this weekend. In today’s United States Grand Prix it seemed that his competitors were doing their best to add to that feeling.

The day didn’t start out too well for Hakkinen — who had qualified second behind Michael Schumacher yesterday — when he was demoted to fourth on the grid this morning after going through a red light in the early morning warm-up session.

Once the race got underway Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya pulled away from the rest but it was not long before Rubens Barrichello — who was clearly on a two-stop strategy and thus quicker because of a lighter fuel load — passed them both for the lead.

Barrichello pitted first and soon after Montoya swept past Michael Schumacher and into the lead.

Just before half-distance Ralf Schumacher spun his Williams into a gravel trap and ended his race having never been particularly happy with his setup all weekend. A lap later Montoya pitted and then coasted to a halt with a hydraulic failure on the next lap to end a dismal day for the Williams team who had been expecting much better after their previous win in Monza.

From then on Hakkinen seemed to be favourite for the win as Barrichello — his only real competition at that point — would have to make one more stop before the finish. It turned out to be even easier as Barrichello’s Ferrari began smoking five or six laps from the end and even though he began short-shifting to lower the engine revolutions it gave up in a cloud of smoke with just two laps remaining.

Michael Schumacher finished barely a second in front of David Coulthard followed by Jarno Trulli, Eddie Irvine and Nick Heidfeld. Trulli’s Jordan was later disqualified when it was found that the skid plank on the bottom of his car had worn down below the legal limit which moved everyone else up a place and ironically enabled his teammate Alesi to move into the points and score a single point for sixth place.

Complete U.S. GP results.

Posted: Sunday, September 30th, 2001

Juan Pablo Montoya Wins 2001 Italian GP

Juan Montoya added his name to the record books by winning his first GP at Monza today. It was also the first ever win by a Colombian but the event and the podium ceremony after it were predictably subdued in the aftermath of Tuesday’s tragic events in the U.S. and yesterday’s career-ending injuries to Alex Zanardi.

Rubens Barrichello was a close second and could well have won the event for the home Ferrari fans had it not been for a sticking fuel nozzle which wasted several seconds on his first pit stop and negated his two-stop strategy. His six points for second still enabled him to gain ground on David Coulthard in the points chase as neither of the McLarens finished the race.

Montoya’s Williams team-mate Ralf Schumacher completed the podium but he had not had a good weekend and had been unable to keep up with the leaders.

Michael Schumacher had what was for him a lackluster weekend having been out qualified and outrun by his team-mate. This could have been a part of his strategy to help Barrichello now that he had locked up all of the titles but was more likely just a reaction to the previous few days’ events. Before the race he had been so concerned over the possibility of a first corner incident that he had asked if they could have a rolling start instead of the usual standing start and, when that was refused, had asked his fellow drivers to be extra careful.

Two new drivers started the event, Tomas Enge from the Czech Republic substituted for Luciano Burti at Prost and Malaysian Alex Yoong has replaced Tarso Marques at Minardi. Burti who was concussed in a savage crash into a tyre barrier in the Belgian GP two weeks ago is recovering and out of hospital but whether or not he will return to racing this year is unknown. Enge is the fifth driver to start a GP for Prost this year which must be approaching a record.

Complete Italian GP results.

Posted: Sunday, September 16th, 2001

Alex Zanardi In Critical Condition Following Racing Accident

Two-time CART champion and former F1 driver Alex Zanardi is in critical condition following an accident at the inaugural American Memorial CART race in Lausitz, Germany.

Zanardi, 34, of Bologna, Italy, was airlifted to Klinikum Berlin-Marzahn hospital following a two-car accident with Alex Tagliani which occurred as Zanardi exited the pit lane following his final fuel stop on the 142nd of 154 laps. He underwent a three-hour procedure that resulted in the traumatic amputation of both legs above the knee.

In 1996 Alex Zanardi, following in the footsteps of Nigel Mansell another ex-Lotus driver, left Formula 1 to race Indy Cars and became the Rookie of the Year. Of course Mansell, who left as the reigning F1 World Champion, took double Indy Car honours by winning the World Championship as well as the Rookie award!

Not to be outdone Zanardi, driving for the Chip Ganassi Target Indy Car team, improved on his 1996 Rookie of the Year Award and overall 3rd place finish in the drivers’ championship by clinching the 1997 PPG Cart Drivers Championship with a 3rd place finish at the Toyota Monterey GP with one race still to be run.

In 1998 Alex dominated the renamed CART FedEx Championship Series and clinched his second successive championship title at Vancouver with four races remaining. Fans all over America were treated to a display of his signature doughnuts as he spun his car in tyre destroying clouds of smoke after almost every race victory.

His single minded, occasionally over aggressive, driving style won him many races along with a few fines and periods of probation. After the race his combination of good humoured exuberance and humility in victory was a welcome change and it was hoped that it would bring some relief to a Formula 1 paddock that was woefully short on personality.

Zanardi’s second spell in F1 was in 1999 with the Williams team. Unfortunately a lot had changed since Alex was last in F1 and he was unable to get comfortable with the current cars that now had narrower chassis and grooved tyres. Zanardi sat out the 2000 season and was then tempted back to CART this year by Mo Nunn, his former race engineer at Team Ganassi, who now has his own team.

Despite several fine performances this year Alex had not shown the winning form that he used to possess and this, along with quite a few mechanical DNF’s, kept him from achieving the results that his many fans hoped he would. Ironically this could have been Alex’s best result of the year as he was leading the race before his pit stop and he had been second fastest in yesterday’s qualifying.

Around the world Alex was one of the most recognizable and popular drivers and our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family at this tragic time.

Posted: Saturday, September 15th, 2001

Ecclestone Threatens Schumacher’s Title

Following the tragic events of September 11th neither of the Schumacher brothers is keen to race in the U.S. in two weeks time and Michael has commented to the German press that it is "unlikely" that he will be there. In what appears to be a heavy-handed move to prevent any disruption of his circus F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has made some not too veiled threats that Michael Schumacher has not yet won this year’s Drivers’ Championship.

As Schumacher already has an unassailable points lead this must be inferring that he could be penalized some of those points if he does not go to the U.S. GP.

Posted: Saturday, September 15th, 2001

Michael Schumacher Wins 2001 Belgian GP, Breaks Record

Michael Schumacher won his 52nd Grand Prix — his eighth of this season — and pulled one clear of Alain Prost to become the most successful F1 driver of all time. Apart from attempting to win the last three races of the season this doesn’t leave very much more for Schumacher to achieve this year as he has already clinched his fourth Drivers’ World Championship and the Constructors’ Championship for Ferrari.

For a change there was no rain during this year’s race but just about everything else went wrong for some of the teams. Heinz-Harald Frentzen qualified in a superb fourth position in his second race for the Prost team but then stalled at the start of the race and was moved to the back of the grid for the restart. On the seventh lap Luciano Burti in the other Prost came together with Eddie Irvine (Jaguar) and his car minus front wing and downforce careered off the track and buried itself in a tyre barrier in what seemed to be a very serious accident. The race was red-flagged and after much work by the track workers — and Irvine — Burti’s car was pulled out of the tyres and luckily, despite first appearances to the contrary, he seemed to have nothing more serious than concussion and some bruises.

David Coulthard finished second and extends his lead to nine championship points over Rubens Barrichello who was fifth. McLaren team-mate Mika Hakkinen was fourth which helped pull McLaren 22 points ahead of Williams in the Constructors’ fight.

Giancarlo Fisichella was an unexpected third — his best result this year — just a couple of days after announcing that he would be leaving Benetton and returning to Jordan next year.

Jean Alesi finished sixth and scored a championship point in just his second drive for Jordan.

Juan Pablo Montoya had scored his second pole of the year for Williams but stalled on the grid during the second attempt at starting the race and eventually suffered an engine failure after a strong drive through the field from the back. To add to the misery for the Williams team his team-mate Ralf  Schumacher — who was originally second on the grid — also had to move to the back of the grid when his mechanics left his car up on jack stands when the field moved off for the third attempt at starting after the red flag for Burti’s accident.

Complete Belgian GP results.

Posted: Sunday, September 2nd, 2001

Germany Clinches 2001 F1Page Nations’ Cup

With Michael Schumacher’s win in Belgium today Germany have clinched the 2001 F1Page Nations’ Cup. They currently have a 102 point lead over Great Britain (165-63) and with a maximum of 78 points available in the final three events of the year their lead is unassailable.

The German competitors — who also won the F1Page Nations’ Cup last year — are Heinz-Harald Frentzen (6), Nick Heidfeld (11), Michael Schumacher (104) and Ralf Schumacher (44).

Posted: Sunday, September 2nd, 2001

U.S. Grand Prix On ABC

The U.S. Grand Prix on September 30th will be shown live on ABC in the U.S. and then tape-delayed coverage of the event will air later the same day on Speedvision. The Speedvision broadcast will apparently contain extra content which will not be seen in ABC’s live broadcast and will also benefit from having their regular F1 broadcasting team.

Posted: Sunday, September 2nd, 2001