2001 Austrian Grand Prix

The 2001 Austrian Grand Prix (officially the Grosser A1 Preis von Österreich 2001 ) [ 3 ] was a Formula One motor race held before 76,000 spectators at the A1-Ring in Spielberg , Styria , Austria on 13 May 2001. It was the sixth round of the 2001 Formula One World Championship and the 24th Austrian Grand Prix as part of the series. David Coulthard driving for the McLaren team won the 71-lap race starting from seventh. Michael Schumacher of the Ferrari team finished second, with his teammate Rube...

Going into the Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship from Coulthard as his team Ferrari led McLaren in the World Constructors' Championship . Michael Schumacher won the 37th pole position of his career by setting the fastest lap time in qualifying. The Williams pair of Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher overtook him at the start of the event. Montoya led the first 15 laps until Michael Schumacher attempted a pass on Montoya that put both drivers wide on lap 16. M...

It was Coulthard's second victory of the season and the eleventh of his career. Due to the result of the race, Coulthard was left within four championship points of the leader of the World Drivers' Championship Michael Schumacher. Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher maintained third and fourth. Sauber 's Nick Heidfeld kept fifth. Ferrari continued to lead McLaren by 18 championship points in the World Constructors' Championship and Williams maintained third – both Montoya and Ralf Schumacher failed ...

After winning the preceding Spanish Grand Prix , Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship with 36 championship points , eight ahead of David Coulthard in the leading McLaren in second. The second Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello was third with 14 championship points and Williams ' Ralf Schumacher was two championship points behind in fourth. With eight championship points, Sauber 's Nick Heidfeld completed the top five in the standings. [ 8 ] In the World Constructors' ...

At the previous round in Spain, Coulthard stalled on the starting grid and McLaren team principal Ron Dennis accused him of "brain fade", a remark he later retracted. While Dennis publicly apologised to Coulthard, the relationship between the two was still strained; Coulthard spoke of his hope of continuing to score championship points in every race of the season. [ 10 ] The Daily Telegraph columnist Sarah Edworthy said the Austrian Grand Prix was where Coulthard had to demonstrate no driver err...

Ninth-placed Räikkönen was slowed by Villeneuve on a timed lap and had a recurrence of gearbox shifting problems from the prior two practice sessions. Panis took tenth after confusion over tyre strategy. Frentzen in 11th accidentally engaged his pit lane limiter at his first attempt and his best lap was on his second timed run before his car's balance deteriorated. Multiple errors from an unbalanced setup and weight distribution on his BAR 003 restricted Villeneuve to 12th. [ 23 ] Jaguar's Eddie...

Montoya maintained the lead over his teammate Ralf Schumacher in second and Michael Schumacher in third after the safety car drove into the pit lane at lap three's conclusion. [ 43 ] On lap four, Verstappen overtook Räikkönen and Irvine to move to sixth as he set an early fastest lap of 1 minute and 14.059 seconds because he was on a light fuel load. [ 37 ] [ 42 ] That same lap, Fisichella joined the list of retirees by his race engineer instructing him over the radio to enter the pit lane with ...

Two laps later, Ralf Schumacher began to lose pressure in his rear brakes and fell back from his teammate Montoya; he struggled against Michael Schumacher and Barrichello. Bernoldi passed Irvine and Villeneuve on the same lap. [ 37 ] [ 38 ] On lap 10, Villeneuve lined up a pass on Irvine for 10th and the two made contact halfway through the first corner, causing Villeneuve to spin and relinquish 11th place to de la Rosa. [ 35 ] [ 42 ] Ralf Schumacher fell to seventh before he entered the pit lan...

Over the next four laps, Montoya held off attempts from Michael Schumacher to overtake. [ 42 ] On the 14th lap, Trulli was shown a black flag to inform him he had been disqualified from the race because he ignored the red light to indicate that the pit lane was closed and going into the queue behind the safety car. [ 37 ] [ 40 ] The top six drivers were covered by two seconds at the start of lap 16. [ 48 ] As the field drove towards turn two, [ 39 ] Michael Schumacher drew alongside Montoya on t...

On lap 26, Marques pulled off to the side of the track to retire with a gearbox failure. [ 37 ] [ 38 ] Two laps later, Michael Schumacher caught Räikkönen, slipstreamed him and made a pass for third place going into Gosser corner with no counter-challenge. [ 39 ] [ 48 ] On the same lap, Alesi overtook de la Rosa for 10th and Button got ahead of Burti for 12th on the lap after. [ 37 ] By lap 35, Michael Schumacher set a new official track record of 1 minute and 11.179 seconds as he drew to within...

On the 44th lap, the first round of pit stops for the leaders began when Panis made a pit stop from fifth. He rejoined in sixth and Verstappen entered the pit lane on the next lap. Michael Schumacher and Räikkönen stopped at the end of lap 46. Coulthard led when Barrichello entered the pit lane on the next lap. [ 37 ] Barrichello emerged in second through a fast lap before entering the pit lane, ahead of his teammate Michael Schumacher after the latter lost grip into the final corner and ran sid...

Out of respect for Paul Morgan , the managing director of Ilmor Engineering , who was killed in a plane crash at the Sywell Aerodrome in Northampton the day before the race, Coulthard refrained from spraying champagne on the podium. [ 52 ] In the subsequent press conference, Coulthard spoke of the importance of driving with a heavy fuel tank, "I was able to lean the engine out early on after the first few laps and save quite a few laps of fuel as well as obviously with the safety car and that en...

Opinions over the application of team orders within Ferrari on the final lap were mixed. [ 54 ] Alonso called it "a strange decision" since it was early in the season and the technical director of McLaren Adrian Newey felt it went against Formula One's moral principles. Villeneuve said he was puzzled at those who expressed shock over the order due to Barrichello's status as Ferrari's second driver and the Jaguar team principal and three-time world champion Niki Lauda argued it was the correct de...

The finishing order outside of the top three remained provisional because BAR lodged an appeal with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)-aligned Royal Automobile Club over its belief Räikkönen overtook Panis under yellow flag conditions necessitated for Button's retirement on lap 66. [ 49 ] [ 57 ] It came about when the team's protest to the stewards was rejected following a review of video footage resulting in the conclusion there was no incident since it was unreported by track ...

Michael Schumacher said he was upset about the incident with Montoya on lap 16 that forced both drivers to lose positions and vowed to speak to the Colombian, "I am a little bit upset obviously because there is no way he could make that corner. He just went off and took me with him. He had lost it anyway and all he could do was do something to me. Sooner or later I would have passed him anyway." [ 62 ] Montoya's response was, "If he (Schumacher) thinks he has been granted by divine grace some ri...

Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold .

Notes:

47°13′11″N 14°45′53″E  /  47.21972°N 14.76472°E  / 47.21972; 14.76472