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2001
A quiet winter stop for Mika Hakkinen concerning his race activities. Being not the world champion anymore he had much less appearances and demonstrations to do than the past two years. Mika spent much of his time in Finland where his wife Erja gave birth to his first son Hugo (Boss?).
The
testing of the new McLaren MP4/16 was mostly done by the teams new test driver Alexander
Wurz. The rest of the package remained unchained: Mika is
McLarens first driver, driving car NR. 3. David Coulthard is still his teammate
driving car NR. 4. The MP4/16 is still powered by a Mercedes-Benz engine, the main sponsor
is still West.
Australia, 4 march ( www.grandprix.com.au )
A Broken front suspension Down Under
The first race of the
season shows how the teams have developed in the last few months. It appeared that the McLarens and the Ferrari´s are still the
fastest of the field, but behind those two the battle for third intensifies: Williams, Jordan and BAR are the main
contenders for third place. Sauber is doing very
well so far, but Benetton is much worse
than the past years. Jaguar, Arrows, Prost and Minardi
are struggling in the backfield.
Mika Häkkinen qu
alified third for the first race of the new 2001 season, behind the two worldchampion-Ferrari’s of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. Mika made a positive start and had gained a position by the first corner followed by Heinz- Harald Frentzen in the Jordan.On the fifth laphowever there is a massive coming together between Ralf Schumachers
Williams-BMW and Jacques Villeneuves BAR-Honda where the BAR became airborne and slammed
into the wall. A terrifying moment for all concerned but the 1997 champion is okay,
however both drivers are out of the race. "Yes I am okay," Villeneuve said after the event. "Ralf was in the middle of the track and I didn't know if he would
let me overtake him on the left or the right and he braked late." "I just saw
Jacques coming up behind me and then him crashing," added
Ralf Schumacher. As a result of the incident the safety car was deployed for the following
ten laps.
The race restarted on lap 16 and Mika, who was in second position, kept constant pressure
on Michael Schumacher until lap 25. Mika Hakkinen’s race
finished on lap 25 when his car had a front right suspension failure which caused him to
go off the track at Stewart corner. It was reported that the Finn had some marks on
his helmet and he was slightly concussed.
Mika: ‘Something broke on the car, which caused me to go off
the track and hit the barrier at the entry of Stewart. I hit the brakes and then lost
control of the car. I went to the medical centre for a check up as something hit my helmet
but I’m fine. It was a shame as we were looking good and in hindsight our strategy
might have given us a race win.’
By lap 32 David had closed in on Rubens Barrichello, and passed the second place car on
the outside in a superb manoeuvre at turn three to claim the position. During the closing
stages of the race, David traded lap times with eventual race winner Schumacher displaying
the speed of the MP4-16, and finished the race in second position less than two seconds
behind Schumacher.
The event was overshadowed by the death of a Marshall who lost his life when the BAR-Honda of Jacques Villeneuve and the Williams-BMW of Ralf Schumacher collided. Michael Schumacher took his 5th victiory in a row before David Coulthard and third Rubens Barrichello.
Malaysia, 18 march ( www.malaysiangp.com.my
)
Tropical thundershowers in Malaysia
Mika qualified fourth for the Malaysian GP at Sepang, near Kuala Lumpur.
The race began under hot and sunny conditions. Michael Schumacher had a good start, however his younger brother and Rubens Barrichello touch, sending the Williams spinning. Mika Hakkinen: ‘I got stuck at the first corner when Ralf Schumacher spun in front of me and lost four positions.’
David Coulthard is flew through the field from his eighth starting place to move into
fourth ahead of Mika Hakkinen. The Ferraris slide in the oil
deposited on the circuit from Panis BAR and they are both
off. The skies open up and heavy rain begins to pour onto the circuit to add to the
excitement. On lap three Jarno Trulli leads, followed by David Coulthard.
Utter chaos reigns as almost every car slides off the circuit. All cars pit for wets, but
it's disaster for Ferrari: The pit crew are a wheel short for
Rubens Barrichello and the stop takes over a minute and Michael is parked behind him the
entire time.The safety car was deployed when the heavy rain hit. David Coulthard leads
with Frentzen in second and Jos Verstappen in third. Villeneuve, Heidfeld, Bernoldi,
Montoya, Panis, Raikkonen have all retired by this stage and Michael Schumacher is down in
11th place behind Rubens Barrichello who sits in tenth. The McLarens
are at the front of the pack while the Ferraris are close to
the rear of the field.
When the rain has stopped, the brief downpour that played havoc on the track is replaced
with bright sunshine. Lap 10 and the safety car leaves the circuit and the race begins
again. Verstappen makes a move on Frentzen for second as David Coulthard pulls instantly
away, leaving the two drivers to battle. The Arrows gets past
the Jordan, Michael Schumacher moves up to ninth and Ralf is now fifth. Mika Hakkinen, now
in fourth, closes in on third placed Frentzen and takes the position. Michael Schumacher
passes both his brother and Hakkinen. Mika Hakkinen: ‘After the
safety car phase was over, I didn’t seem to be able to make any considerable progress
up the field. I was caught behind Verstappen, which lost me valuable time.’
Lap 14 and Michael is in third behind Verstappen and Coulthard. The German is 6 seconds
off the lead as his teammate also passes Mika Hakkinen. Michael's Ferrari is on
intermediate tyres apposed to the wets for everyone else and he is 3 seconds a lap faster
than his rivals. He attempts to pass Verstappen and fails, however he tries again and gets
through to claim second. The McLarens are losing a lot of
time on rain tyres. Schumacher continues to charge and passes Coulthard on the straight to
reclaim the lead.
Rubens Barrichello gets past Verstappen as well and closes in on Coulthard and the
Brazilian also gets past, making it a Ferrari one two once
again. Meanwhile, Michael has already pulled out a 6 second lead over third placed
Coulthard in just one lap. Mika Hakkinen and Ralf Schumacher pit for dry tyres on lap 19.
Thereafter Mika sets the fastest first sector time. Ralf Schumacher is on a charge and
passes Mika Hakkinen for fifth place. David is now in third, however he is 27 seconds
behind the second placed Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello. Mika Hakkinen tries to pass the Arrows, but the Verstappen is holding on. When Mika finally passes
Verstappen he runs too fast into the next corner and is passed by Verstappen and Frentzen
as well.
Ralf Schumacher pits as does Mika Hakkinen, Jarno Trulli and Rubens Barrichello. Mika
comes back out in 7th behind Ralf Schumacher while Rubens retains his second place with a
five second gap back to Coulthard. Jos Verstappen now pits, giving up his strong fourth
place to Frentzen. The Dutchman comes back out in 7th, the last driver on the lead lap. Mika sets the fastest lap of the race on lap 48 with a time
1:40.962. Mika closes in on Ralf desperately wanting that extra point that fifth place
will bring. He tries and tries to pass, but the younger Schumacher holds his own. Michael
Schumacher took his sixth successive win and a third victory for Ferrari
at the Sepang circuit.
The top 6 from the Malaysian Grand Prix: Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, David
Coulthard, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen.
Mika:’After my last pit stop, I was able to attack again and set a number of fastest race laps. I caught Ralf Schumacher in fifth during the closing stages but it’s easier to catch than it is to pass. At least I have scored my first point of 2001.’
Brazil, 1 April ( www.brazilgp.com )
Stuck on the grid
The lights go out and it's go in Brazil! But Mika Hakkinen stalls
on the grid! Other cars stream past the Finn and it's Juan Pablo Montoya that flies
through the pack to second place, his teammate Ralf Schumacher, who started from the front
row, drops back to fifth. The Safety car is deployed and Mika Hakkinen retires. MIKA
HAKKINEN:
‘Obviously I’m very disappointed and I’m not quite
sure what happened. The lights came on and I was getting ready to go but then the clutch
behaved so unpredictably and it cut the engine immediately and that was the end of my
Brazilian Grand Prix.’
The Marshalls push the McLaren off the grid and the race is
on. Juan Pablo Montoya takes to the lead passing Michael Schumacher into turn one. The Williams leads in Brazil. But it's disaster for his teammate as
Rubens Barrichello hits the back of the Williams and the day is over for both drivers.
Juan Montoya holds onto the lead, taking charge of the race while Michael Schumacher
fights to get past him.
David Coulthard sits in third with Jarno Trulli in fourth.
Montoya extends his lead over the Ferrari to one and half
seconds with and David Coulthard in third is also within striking distance, the Scot a
further one and a half seconds behind Schumacher. Juan Pablo Montoya laps Eddie Irvine,
the Colombian with a three second lead over David Coulthard.
Lap 30 and Montoya sets a new fastest lap of 1:16.629, a gap of 4.2 seconds ahead of
Coulthard. Michael Schumacher is now in third, 30 seconds behind the Colombian.
Rain starts to fall, however it is only light. Montoya looking very strong for his first
Formula One win in only his third event and as he laps the Arrows
of Jos Verstappen the Dutchman slams into the back of him and flies over the top of the Williams, with both drivers now out of the race. Disaster for Williams and Montoya.
David Coulthard, the new race leader, comes in for his first and only pit stop. The Scot
comes back out in the lead. Down comes the rain!
David Coulthard stays out a lap too long and Michael Schumacher takes the lead, but he
spins and loses several seconds to the Scotsman. Both drivers are on intermediates and the
gap comes down to just over half a second and the Scot goes for it and passes the German
in turn one, with the Minardi of Tarso Marques between them! What a brilliant display of
driving and David Coulthard leads once again with 22 laps remaining.
David Coulthard begins to stretch out a lead over Michael Schumacher.
Schumacher spins again! The Ferrari takes to the gravel but
he keeps it going and rejoins the circuit. This now gives Coulthard a 15 second lead.
David Coulthard puts a lap on Jarno Trulli, leaving only the first three drivers on the
lead lap. Michael Schumacher begins to eat in the Scotsman's lead, however at this stage,
the McLaren driver appears to have the race well in his
control.
Nick Heidfeld moves into the third step on the podium with his Sauber.
The laps tick down and Coulthard keeps it together to take his first victory of the
season, his first ever in Brazil and breaking Schumachers winning streak.
The top three from today's Brazilian Grand Prix were David Coulthard, Michael Schumacher
and Nick Heidfeld.
San Marino, 15 April ( www.autodromoimola.com )
Spain, 29 April ( www.circuitcat.com
)
Austria, 13 May ( www.gp.A1.com
)
Monaco, 27 May ( www.acm.mc
)
Canada, 10 june ( www.grandprix.ca
)
Europe, 24 june ( www.nuerburgring.de
)
France, 1 July ( www.magnyf1.com
)
England, 15 July ( www.silverstone-circuit.co.uk )
BRITISH GRAND PRIX
Silverstone, Sunday 15th July, 2001
Mika Hakkinen claimed victory in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone with a gap of
33.646 seconds. It was the first time Mika had won this Grand Prix. David Coulthard’s
race ended when Jarno Trulli’s car touched him at the first corner. David managed to
continue but the car sustained too much damage. David remains second in the Drivers’
Championship with 47 points and Mika moved to fifth with 19 points. McLaren is second in
the Constructors’ Championship with 66 points.
MIKA HAKKINEN
‘I feel really good - its been too long since I have been on the top step of the
podium. I’m happy to claim victory here at Silverstone as its one of the races I have
always wanted to win, and it’s the team’s home event. I believe we made a great
show today. The car was working well and we had the right strategy. I kept pushing as hard
as possible during the race but once I had taken the chequered flag, I slowed right down
to enjoy the feeling and wave to the enthusiastic spectators.’
RON DENNIS
‘An afternoon with mixed emotions. Of course we are delighted by Mika’s total
dominance of our home Grand Prix with the team contributing with a perfect and well
executed strategy.
NORBERT HAUG
‘Everybody was very happy with Mika’s win, which he achieved with a superb
drive. The team’s strategy was perfect and the speed was there to dominate the
race.’
Germany, 29 July ( www.hockenheim.de
)
Hungary, 19 August ( www.hungaroring.hu
)
Belgium, 2 September ( www.spa-francorchamps.be )
Spa-Franchorchamps, Sunday 2nd September, 2001
McLaren driver David Coulthard finished today's Belgian Grand Prix in second place whilst
team mate Mika Hakkinen claimed fourth. At the first attempt, the start was aborted when a
car stalled on the grid. At the restart Mika and David made their way to fifth and sixth
but the race was stopped after five laps following a heavy accident. The race was
restarted at 14.45 over 36 laps.
| David: | 1st pitstop: lap 10 - 7.1 seconds | Mika: | 1st pitstop: lap 7 - 8.5 seconds |
| 2nd pitstop: lap 24 - 7.2 seconds | 2nd pitstop: lap 23 - 7.4 seconds |
MIKA HAKKINEN
'This was a dramatic race. My second start was reasonably good off the line, and I could
get up to third place on the first lap. However then I lost two positions to David and
Rubens before I came in for my first stop. I had a good battle with Rubens afterwards
until he had to replace his damaged nose, which was not a result of contact between the
two of us. Unfortunately I couldn't charge the last part of the race to make inroads on
Fisichella because of a handling imbalance, so I had to settle for fourth.'
Italy, 16 September ( www.monzanet.it
)
Monza, Sunday 16th September, 2001
McLaren had a disappointing race as both David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen failed to
finish the 53 lap Italian Grand Prix at Monza. David retired on lap seven with an engine
failure whilst on lap 19 Mika had a drivetrain problem. Before his retirement David was
fifth whilst Mika was 10th. MIKA HAKKINEN
‘The pile up at the first corner after the start caused me to go straight on at the
chicane, which cost me several positions and I came out 13th. This was extremely
disappointing as us drivers had discussed that we should be particularly careful at the
start, as the first chicane is so tight. On lap 19 I got stuck in fifth gear and as I went
around the chicane I lost all the gears and that was the end of my race.’
USA, 30 September ( www.usgpindy.com
)
Indianapolis, Sunday 30th September, 2001
McLaren secured second place in the 2001 Constructors’ Championship after Mika
Hakkinen won, and David Coulthard finished third in today’s United States Grand Prix.
This win was Mika’s 20th Grand Prix victory.
Mika and David were both on a one-stop strategy and David came in on lap 43 and his pit
stop lasted 8.7 seconds whilst Mika came in on lap 46 and his stop was 9.6 seconds.
Mika took the lead on lap 38 for the first time and regained it on lap 50.
Following yesterday’s qualifying Mika was second on the grid but on Sunday morning
the Stewards of the Meeting deleted his fastest time and he was relegated to fourth place
after he was found to have exited the pit lane when the lights were red during the
morning’s warm up session.
MIKA HAKKINEN
‘What a weekend and to finish it by winning a race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is
very special indeed - one of my most important victories. The fans were so enthusiastic
and there was a super atmosphere. Today’s result is due to the efforts of the team.
The mechanics worked so hard to get my race car ready after I went off in the closing
stages of the warm up, and the engineers made a great car. I really enjoyed it. I was very
disappointed when I found out that had to start on the second rather than the front row
following the Stewards’ decision. However all the frustration is gone and I’m
very happy. I had a good race and we definitely used the right strategy today. We were
confident that the car and the Bridgestone tyres could cope with a one stop
strategy.’
DAVID COULTHARD
‘A great day for Mika and the team. I’m happy that we clinched the runner up
position in the Constructors’ Championship. To do well at Indianapolis is definitely
something every driver wishes. NORBERT HAUG
‘Mika had a fantastic race. The entire team has shown what it was capable of
doing.’
Japan, 14 October ( www.suzukacircuit.co.jp
)
Championship standings: (last update after GP Brazil)
1. Michael Schumacher,
Ferrari,
2. David Coulthard, McLaren,
3. Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari,
Mika has scored points.
Constructors table:
1. Ferrari
, points
2. Mclaren
,
points
3. Sauber , points
Teams, Drivers and car numbers for the 2001 season:
www.ferrari.it/ferrari/comsport.e/formula1.html
1 - Michael Schumacher - www.michael-schumacher.de
2 - Rubens Barrichello - www.barrichello.com.br
www.mclaren.com
3 - Mika Hakkinen - http://home.wxs.nl/~nijdame/hakkinen.htm
4 - David Coulthard - www.nevis.co.uk/coulthard
www.bmw.williamsf1.com and: www.williamsf1.co.uk
5 - Ralf Schumacher - www.ralf-schumacher.net
6 - Juan Pablo Montoya - www.jpmontoya.com
www.benettonf1.com and: www.jtnet.ad.jp/WWW/JT/Event/F1/Welcome_E.html
7 - Giancarlo Fisichella - www.giancarlofisichella.it
8 - Jenson Button - www.racecar.co.uk/jensonbutton
www.britishamericanracing.com
9 - Olivier Panis - www.olivier-panis.com
10 - Jacques Villeneuve - www.jacques.villeneuve.com
www.jordanf1.com
11 - Heinz-Harald Frentzen - www.frentzen.de
12 - Jarno Trulli - www.jarnotrulli.com
www.orangearrows.com
14 - Jos Verstappen - www.verstappen.nl
15 - Enrique Bernoldi - www.enriquebernoldi.com.br
www.sauber.ch or www.sauber-petronas.ch
16 - Nick Heidfeld - www.nickheidfeld.de
17 - Kimi Raikkonen - www.kimiraikkonen.com
www.jaguar-racing.com
18 - Eddie Irvine - www.exclusively-irvine.com
19 - Luciano Burti - www.lucianoburti.com
www.minardi.it
20 - Fernando Alonso -
21 - Tarso Marques -
www.prostgp.com
22 - Jean Alesi - www.jean-alesi.org
23 - Gaston Mazzacane - www.gaston-mazzacane.com
For the latest news and rumours visit: www.f1today.com
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