2000 United States Grand Prix

The 2000 United States Grand Prix (formally the 2000 SAP United States Grand Prix ) [ 4 ] was a Formula One motor race held on 24 September 2000 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana before 250,000 spectators. It was the 15th round of the 2000 Formula One World Championship and Indianapolis held its first United States Grand Prix . Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher won the 73-lap race from pole position . His teammate Rubens Barrichello finished second with Jordan 's Heinz-Harald F...

Michael Schumacher retook the lead in the World Drivers' Championship by eight championship points over Häkkinen following the race. Coulthard's fifth-place finish in the Grand Prix eliminated any mathematical chance of winning the Drivers' Championship, reducing his advantage over fourth-placed Barrichello to eight championship points. Ferrari retook the World Constructors' Championship lead from McLaren, establishing a ten-point lead with two races left in the season.

The 2000 United States Grand Prix , officially the SAP United States Grand Prix , was the fifteenth race of seventeen in the 2000 Formula One World Championship . [ 5 ] [ 2 ] Held at the 4.192 km (2.605 mi) clockwise Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) road course on 24 September 2000, [ 5 ] [ 2 ] it was the first Formula One World Championship event staged in Indianapolis since the Indianapolis 500 was part of the World Championship from 1950 to 1960 . [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ] The event was held under t...

The event marked the United States' return to Formula One after a hiatus since 1991 . It was ended because of low attendance at its old venue in Phoenix, Arizona and it was replaced by the South African Grand Prix in the 1992 season . [ 11 ] [ 12 ] It was reintroduced in December 1998 after IMS president Tony George 's seven-year campaign. [ 13 ] The road circuit was built between 2 December 1998 and 10 September 2000, ending two weeks before the Grand Prix. [ 14 ] To celebrate the race's return...

Following the Italian Grand Prix on 10 September, the teams largely tested aerodynamics, chassis setups and a new tyre compound from Bridgestone at on European racing circuits between 11 and 15 September to prepare for the race. Ferrari, McLaren and Sauber tested at the Mugello Circuit with one day moved to let marshals attend the funeral of fire marshal Paolo Ghislimberti, who died during the race in Italy. [ 17 ] [ 18 ] [ 19 ] Olivier Panis , McLaren's test driver , led on the first day, ahead...

The track garnered largely excellent feedback, but most drivers were disappointed by the lack of challenge on the banked turn 13. [ 6 ] [ 26 ] [ 27 ] Häkkinen called the track "great, really enjoyable to drive and quite difficult in some parts", [ 28 ] and Michael Schumacher said he did not find it hard to adapt to the circuit. [ 27 ] Willams' Jenson Button described the track as a "great circuit". [ 27 ] Irvine was surprised by its layout, "It has a good mix of high speed and tight turns. It's ...

Tyre supplier Bridgestone brought the Hard and the Extra Hard dry compound tyres to the event. [ 30 ] Bridgestone created the extra hard tyre compound to help drivers cope with the additional demands of the Indianapolis road course. It advised teams to increase air pressures to withstand the higher cornering load through the final two corners after concerns were raised about a mechanical failure in turn 13 with a concrete barrier lining it following Ghisliberti's death. [ 6 ] [ 31 ] [ 32 ] The c...

Teams concentrated on improving their car setups for the Indianapolis track, [ 34 ] as well as reviewing suspension loads because cars would be stressed going through the banking. [ 35 ] The Williams team brought a new front wing and a Ferrari-inspired sweep main profile. Arrows' car used a low-downforce layout similar to that seen at the Italian Grand Prix to gain speed on the main straight . Sauber and Williams used similar designs, but most teams eventually settled on a compromise configurati...

It remained sunny for the second session, during which drivers experimented with car setups as teams became more familiar with the track. [ 41 ] Coulthard set the day's fastest lap at 1:14.561, one tenth of a second faster than teammate Häkkinen 27 minutes in. [ 42 ] [ 43 ] Michael Schumacher and Barrichello fell to third and fourth fastest, respectively, after failing to better their lap times, even though both drivers expressed satisfaction with their performance. [ 42 ] [ 44 ] Frentzen, Ralf ...

The Saturday morning sessions were run in cloudy conditions on a damp track with patches of standing water from overnight rain, resulting in minimal grip and some drivers going off the circuit. Warm weather improved conditions gradually throughout practice, but lap times were generally slower than the previous day. [ 47 ] [ 48 ] [ 49 ] Häkkinen set the third session's fastest lap, a 1:15.802; Coulthard was third. Button ran quicker and was second. Both Ferrari drivers were fourth and fifth–Barri...

Frentzen, seventh, reported grip troubles in the infield and slid onto the grass at turn eight. [ 50 ] [ 57 ] [ 61 ] Villeneuve, eighth, felt he should have lapped quicker after spinning at the turn nine hairpin while on his final set of qualifying tyres. [ 50 ] [ 60 ] [ 64 ] Diniz qualified ninth, a season best, [ 68 ] after improving the car's feel by removing some downforce. Ralf Schumacher, tenth, had car setup issues that compromised handling, and he spun onto the turn eight grass on his fo...

The FIA safety delegate, Charlie Whiting , moved the grid 's front row back 8 ft (2.4 m) the previous night after concerns were raised by Coulthard and Michael Schumacher who experienced wheelspin while crossing the "Yard of Bricks" laid in the track, which stretched from its outside edge to the pit lane. They were concerned that when the race began from a standing start , their cars would lose traction or crash. Whiting also had the pit lane speed limit zone advanced 330 m (1,080 ft) deeper bet...

At the end of the first lap, Coulthard led from Michael Schumacher, Häkkinen, Barrichello, Trulli and Button. [ 82 ] Coulthard had a 1.7-second lead over Michael Schumacher by the end of lap two. [ 59 ] Button attempted to overtake Trulli for seventh on the back straight, but the two collided. Both drivers went off the track and made pit stops to replace rear punctures, dropping to the back of the field. [ 57 ] [ 67 ] Frentzen overtook Ralf Schumacher for sixth place, Zonta passed Diniz for eigh...

Michael Schumacher unsuccessfully tried to overtake Coulthard on the outside on the start/finish straight at the start of lap six. Coulthard's blocking of Schumacher allowed Häkkinen to close up and almost pass on the inside. [ 57 ] [ 75 ] [ 85 ] Barrichello was the first of the frontrunners to make a pit stop at the end of the same lap, while Irvine lost eleventh to De La Rosa. [ 59 ] By this point, the track had dried enough for teams to change tyres, [ 80 ] but several drivers struggled to ge...

The stewards handed Coulthard a ten-second stop-go penalty on lap eight, and he was summoned to the pit lane at the end of the lap to serve the penalty. [ 6 ] [ 75 ] [ 82 ] Despite nearly colliding with De La Rosa after serving the penalty, [ 85 ] Coulthard dropped from second to sixth place, while Fisichella served an identical penalty on the same lap and remained in 22nd. [ 59 ] [ 83 ] Michael Schumacher, Frentzen, Diniz and Mazzacane were the only drivers not to change tyres by lap nine, [ 83...

Michael Schumacher made a pit stop for fuel and tyres at the end of lap 16, taking seven seconds. [ 75 ] [ 86 ] He re-emerged in first place, sixteen seconds ahead of Häkkinen, who began steadily reducing Michael Schumacher's lead. [ 83 ] Herbert passed Barrichello in turn one and battled Diniz for sixth on lap 18, but had to brake hard as Diniz defended at the turn. [ 85 ] Diniz went off the track at turn eight, [ 87 ] and Herbert and Villeneuve overtook him. [ 75 ] Barrichello overtook Diniz f...

Herbert had a problematic pit stop on lap 28. He ran into a puddle entering the pit lane, and a wheelchanger dropped his wheel gun on Herbert's front wing, which had to be replaced. Herbert returned to the track in 17th. [ 57 ] [ 82 ] Coulthard passed Irvine for ninth two laps later. [ 85 ] Verstappen's brake balance system failed on lap 35, [ 57 ] causing him to lock the rear brakes and crash straight into the turn eight tyre wall. [ 82 ] [ 89 ] This promoted Diniz into the points-paying positi...

Ferrari brought their pit crew to position themselves for what appeared to be for a pit stop for Barrichello, [ 87 ] therefore Frentzen entered the pit lane on that lap, believing that Barrichello was stopping. [ 84 ] Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn instructed Barrichello to stay on the track and lap quickly because his car had less fuel, [ 57 ] [ 87 ] before becoming the final driver to make a planned pit stop on lap 53. [ 83 ] He rejoined the track in second. [ 86 ] By the end of lap 55,...

The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and in the subsequent press conference . [ 36 ] Michael Schumacher explained that his late-race spin was caused to a lack of concentration when his team instructed him to slow down. Nonetheless, he expressed happiness with his win and declared that his team would focus on claiming the Drivers' and Constructors' championships. [ 92 ] According to Barrichello, wet-weather tyres allowed him to lap two seconds faster than dry tyr...

Villeneuve expressed disappointment for losing out on a third-place finish, which would have been his team's first podium position: "Today was a lot of fun and we were really quick in the race, but it's frustrating to get so close to a podium. I made a couple of mistakes, but it probably wouldn't have made a difference in the end." [ 93 ] Coulthard expressed disappointment at his jump-start and apologised. [ 94 ] Zonta was delighted to finish sixth, noting that his competitors were faster early ...

Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold .

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