2000 European Grand Prix

The 2000 European Grand Prix (officially the 2000 Warsteiner Grand Prix of Europe ) [ 4 ] was a Formula One motor race held on 21 May 2000, at the Nürburgring in Nürburg , Rhineland-Palatinate , Germany, in front of 142,000 spectators. It was the sixth round of the 2000 Formula One World Championship , as well as the ninth Formula One European Grand Prix . Michael Schumacher of Ferrari won the 67-lap race after starting second. McLaren 's Mika Häkkinen finished second and teammate David Coulthar...

After the Spanish Grand Prix on 7 May 2000, the teams conducted in-season testing to prepare for the event. The McLaren, Sauber , Benetton, Jordan, Arrows , British American Racing (BAR) and Williams teams tested at the Circuito de Jerez between 9 and 11 May. Coulthard missed the test to rest after suffering three broken ribs in a plane crash in Lyon . His teammate Häkkinen led the first day of testing and BAR driver Ricardo Zonta led the second. Alexander Wurz set the fastest lap for the Benett...

There were no changes from the season entry list for the 11 teams (each represented by a different constructor ). [ 15 ] Some teams modified their cars for the race. Both Ferrari and McLaren installed a revised aerodynamic package, primarily to improve their cars' qualifying performance. Ferrari introduced the 049B engine, as well as smaller Brembo brake callipers and lighter disc pads. McLaren installed cooling chimneys on both sides of the MP4/15 to aid in heat dissipation. [ 16 ] Williams bro...

Rain fell between the conclusion of the morning session and the start of the afternoon session. [ 20 ] It continued to fall at the north section of the track in the early minutes of the second session before drying and lap times improved sufficiently over the next 20 minutes. [ 21 ] Jenson Button set the day's fastest lap of 1:19.808 with one minute remaining in the session thanks to a light fuel load and a new set of tyres on his Williams FW22 . Wurz was 0.440 seconds slower in second. Häkkinen...

Jaguar's Eddie Irvine was baulked by one of the Prost cars en route to eighth. Villeneuve in ninth failed to begin a fourth timed lap before qualifying ended. [ 33 ] [ 34 ] Frentzen qualified tenth as Verstappen slowed his first timed lap. [ 24 ] Button, 11th, bemoaned entering the track earlier than planned for his first timed lap, and slower traffic hampered his final lap. A strategic error by the Arrows team left De La Rosa 12th and his teammate Verstappen 14th. [ 24 ] They were separated by ...

At the end of the first lap, Häkkinen was 0.562 seconds ahead of Michael Schumacher, who was 0.998 seconds ahead of Coulthard in third. Barrichello was fourth, Villeneuve fifth, and Ralf Schumacher sixth. On lap two, Michael Schumacher set the fastest lap at the time, completing the circuit in 1 minute and 22.438 seconds. On the same lap, De La Rosa overtook teammate Verstappen for ninth and Alesi passed Button for 13th. Frentzen retired on lap three with smoke billowing from the rear of his car...

In clear air , Michael Schumacher extended his lead on the damp track over Häkkinen to more than five seconds by the 13th lap. [ 30 ] [ 2 ] Gené spun onto the grass and damaged the front wing on the lap for which he entered the pit lane to have it replaced. [ 42 ] McLaren abandoned Häkkinen's heavy fuel load strategy, allowing him to drive with more fuel than most drivers before a late race pit stop. [ 30 ] Coulthard made his first pit stop on the next lap; [ 44 ] Michael Schumacher and Häkkinen...

By the 20th lap, Häkkinen lapped fastest to close the gap to Michael Schumacher by two seconds per lap, while his teammate Coulthard had lost seven seconds to the latter. Coulthard went to the left of the Veedol chicane, allowing teammate Häkkinen to pass him for second on the next lap. [ 2 ] Michael Schumacher lost control of his car at the Veedol chicane on lap 22 but kept the lead. [ 45 ] Further back, Barrichello overtook Verstappen, Irvine and Ralf Schumacher to return to fifth place by lap...

Further up the field, Barrichello caught and overtook Fisichella into the Veedol chicane for fourth on lap 32. [ 42 ] [ 45 ] On the next lap, he entered the pit lane as Ferrari's technical director, Ross Brawn , switched Barrichello to a three-stop strategy to better recover positions on wet tyres on a wet track. On lap 35, Michael Schumacher made a pit stop for enough fuel to finish the race. On lap 36, Häkkinen took the lead with Schumacher second. [ 2 ] He in his lighter fuelled McLaren incre...

On lap 49, Button was duelling Herbert when he ran into the back of Herbert's car at the slow Veedol chicane, causing a hole in the leading edge of the Williams' front wing that Button failed to notice; both drivers remained on the circuit and continued. [ 44 ] [ 48 ] Barrichello made the race's final pit stop on lap 51. Barrichello gained seven seconds on Coulthard, but the gap was insufficient for Barrichello to maintain third place, and he dropped to fourth. [ 44 ] Zonta's rear wheels locked ...

Unhindered in the final 19 laps, Michael Schumacher negotiated his way past slower traffic while aquaplaning on worn tyres, [ 30 ] [ 2 ] finishing first for his fourth victory of the season and 39th of his career in a time of 1 hour, 42 minutes, and 0.307 seconds at an average speed of 179.540 km/h (111.561 mph). [ 49 ] Häkkinen came in second 13.822 seconds later after losing five seconds overtaking the slower cars of Herbert, Button, Wurz and Zonta, [ 30 ] and his teammate Coulthard was one la...

The top three drivers collected their trophies to the podium and later spoke to the media at a press conference. [ 22 ] Michael Schumacher stated that none of the leaders made pit stops on lap 12 because they did not want to install wet-weather tyres and discover they were slower than the slick dry compounds, "We knew [the heavy rain] would come, but nobody had any idea whether it would start then or later. So obviously it was difficult. Then some drivers started to come in for rain tyres, and a...

Barrichello was disappointed to finished fourth because he felt he could have been on the podium, "Three-stops was definitely the way to make up lost time, but it was very difficult to overtake other cars in the spray. I have been looking forward to a close fought-race for some time now, and maybe I should have been on the podium today." [ 51 ] De La Rosa achieved his first points of the season and his best finish since the 1999 Australian Grand Prix . [ 52 ] The Arrows team owner Tom Walkinshaw...

Irvine argued the three-car collision at the Castrol-S chicane on lap 30 lost him an opportunity to score points and Verstappen echoed similar feelings. Ralf Schumacher said he could not avoid the accident, "I saw the accident coming between Jos and Eddie and I expected them both to slide off onto the inside. But as Irvine's back end moved right in front of me, I had no way of getting out of the way." [ 54 ] The new World Drivers' Championship lead between Michael Schumacher and Mika Häkkinen wa...

Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold .