The 2001 Malaysian Grand Prix was the second round of the championship and followed Michael Schumacher’s controlled victory at the season opener in Australia two weeks earlier.
The German driver put his Ferrari F2001 on pole position by just under one tenth from team-mate Rubens Barrichello, but it was a far from straightforward start to the race – the third ever at the Sepang International Circuit.
Giancarlo Fisichella caused the first to be aborted after he failed to line up in the correct grid position. The second start gave the Benetton driver a chance to recover and also allowed Heinz-Harald Frentzen to catch up after he slowed on the parade lap due to a computer-hardware issue.
The drama continued when Juan Pablo Montoya was forced to swap to the T-car and start from the pitlane after his Williams FW23 broke down on the grid. When the race eventually got underway, Schumacher had a strong start but his team-mate fell to fourth. Fresh-faced rookie Kimi Raikkonen was stranded on the grid with a driveshaft failure.
As the field braked into turn one, Barrichello moved ahead of Jarno Trulli’s Jordan but hit the Williams of Ralf Schumacher. The German spun and was left facing the on-coming pack. Fortunately the other drivers managed to – somehow – avoid him, although Eddie Irvine was also sent spinning.
Just as the two Ferrari drivers had started to move away from the chasing Trulli, Coulthard and Frentzen, both of them surprisingly took to the gravel trap at the high-speed turn six on lap three. This was due to the combination of light rain and oil from Olivier Panis’ BAR Honda. Barrichello was able to re-join ahead of his team-mate but they dropped down the field.
The sudden downpour and extremely challenging conditions meant the safety car was deployed on lap four. Race leader Trulli had an off-track excursion - as did Jacques Villeneuve, Nick Heidfeld and Enrique Bernoldi - and fell to fifth. The teams faced a difficult situation with half of the track soaking wet and the rest a considerable amount drier. The majority of the field pitted for wet tyres but Ferrari made a late switch to intermediates (although Barrichello’s stop did last well over a minute).
The race restarted on lap 10, with Schumacher and Barrichello looking to make up ground after their earlier off-track excursions. Both Scuderia drivers soon moved through the field and had jumped to second and fourth by lap 15, with Coulthard the only driver ahead of Schumacher and Verstappen (who had jumped from 18th to sixth at the start) between them.
The leading McLaren was soon displaced by Schumacher, who then went on to eke out a considerable advantage over the rest. Many drivers decided to pit for fresh rubber but the previous years’ world champion decided to stay out. He eventually crossed the line 23 seconds clear of his team-mate to secure a dominant Ferrari 1-2.
Both drivers showed the superiority of the Maranello-based outfit’s 2001 car and put in strong recovery drives after the early trips through the gravel. Coulthard held on to third with Frentzen, Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen completing the point’s finishers. Versteppen and Trulli eventually slipped to seventh and eighth after starring early on.
 |
| © Ferrari |
Giancarlo Fisichella caused the first to be aborted after he failed to line up in the correct grid position. The second start gave the Benetton driver a chance to recover and also allowed Heinz-Harald Frentzen to catch up after he slowed on the parade lap due to a computer-hardware issue.
The drama continued when Juan Pablo Montoya was forced to swap to the T-car and start from the pitlane after his Williams FW23 broke down on the grid. When the race eventually got underway, Schumacher had a strong start but his team-mate fell to fourth. Fresh-faced rookie Kimi Raikkonen was stranded on the grid with a driveshaft failure.
As the field braked into turn one, Barrichello moved ahead of Jarno Trulli’s Jordan but hit the Williams of Ralf Schumacher. The German spun and was left facing the on-coming pack. Fortunately the other drivers managed to – somehow – avoid him, although Eddie Irvine was also sent spinning.
Just as the two Ferrari drivers had started to move away from the chasing Trulli, Coulthard and Frentzen, both of them surprisingly took to the gravel trap at the high-speed turn six on lap three. This was due to the combination of light rain and oil from Olivier Panis’ BAR Honda. Barrichello was able to re-join ahead of his team-mate but they dropped down the field.
 |
| © Ferrari |
The race restarted on lap 10, with Schumacher and Barrichello looking to make up ground after their earlier off-track excursions. Both Scuderia drivers soon moved through the field and had jumped to second and fourth by lap 15, with Coulthard the only driver ahead of Schumacher and Verstappen (who had jumped from 18th to sixth at the start) between them.
The leading McLaren was soon displaced by Schumacher, who then went on to eke out a considerable advantage over the rest. Many drivers decided to pit for fresh rubber but the previous years’ world champion decided to stay out. He eventually crossed the line 23 seconds clear of his team-mate to secure a dominant Ferrari 1-2.
Both drivers showed the superiority of the Maranello-based outfit’s 2001 car and put in strong recovery drives after the early trips through the gravel. Coulthard held on to third with Frentzen, Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen completing the point’s finishers. Versteppen and Trulli eventually slipped to seventh and eighth after starring early on.
No comments:
Post a Comment