2001 British Grand Prix

The 2001 British Grand Prix (formally the 2001 Foster's British Grand Prix ) [ 4 ] was a Formula One motor race held on 15 July 2001 at the Silverstone Circuit , England, United Kingdom. It was the 11th of 17 rounds in the 2001 Formula One World Championship and was the 52nd time that the British Grand Prix had been included in the championship since 1950 . McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen won the 60-lap race after starting second. The Ferrari duo of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello finishe...

Heading into the Grand Prix, Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship from McLaren's David Coulthard while Ferrari led McLaren in the World Constructors' Championship . Schumacher secured pole position after setting the fastest lap time in the one-hour qualifying session, with Häkkinen starting second. He led the first four laps before running wide at Copse corner, allowing Häkkinen to take the race lead. Häkkinen led throughout the majority of the race, except for the first round ...

The Grand Prix result increased Schumacher's World Drivers' Championship lead to points over Coulthard, who retired on lap three due to a suspension failure caused by a first-lap collision with Jordan 's Jarno Trulli . Ferrari maintained a 56-point lead over McLaren in the World Constructors' Championship, while Williams remained third with six races left in the season.

After heavy rain affected the previous year's British Grand Prix , necessitating the closure of Silverstone's car parks, forcing spectators to walk long distances to attend the event, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; Formula One's regulatory body) awarded the Motor Sports Association , the Grand Prix organisers, a reprieve after pledging to remedy the flaws, and the next British Grand Prix was tentatively scheduled for 13 May 2001. [ 8 ] [ 9 ] Although FIA president Max Mosley...

After the French Grand Prix on 1 July, [ 13 ] teams evaluated car components, settings , electronics and tyres at various European racing tracks from 3 to 6 July in preparation for the British Grand Prix. [ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 16 ] The Jordan, McLaren, Sauber, British American Racing (BAR) and Jaguar teams tested for four days at Italy's Monza Circuit . [ 14 ] [ 17 ] Jaguar's Eddie Irvine withdrew early from testing due to a reoccurring pain in the upper part of his cervical spine he had been sufferin...

Eleven two-driver teams competed, each representing a different constructor , with no changes to the entry list from the previous race . [ 31 ] [ 32 ] Lotterer was on standby to replace the injured Irvine for the Grand Prix, [ 33 ] but the latter entered the event. [ 34 ] Some teams modified their cars for the race. [ 35 ] Ferrari reused a qualifying-spec engine and modified the F2001's lower front wing endplates slightly. [ 32 ] McLaren driver Mika Häkkinen drove a qualifying-specification car ...

The second session began sunny and windy, but heavy clouds formed low around Silverstone, and rain fell in the final ten minutes, [ 40 ] [ 42 ] creating a slippery track surface that slowed drivers. [ 43 ] Häkkinen set the day's fastest lap of 1:22.827 with 14 minutes left, 0.067 seconds quicker than teammate Coulthard. [ 44 ] The Ferrari pair of Barrichello and Michael Schumacher were third and fourth. [ 45 ] Frentzen's car had an oil leak at the start of the session but duplicated his first-se...

Montoya separated the Sauber drivers; he bent a front suspension push-rod arm on his first run after clipping the kerb at the exit of Becketts early in qualifying, and he took over Ralf Schumacher's spare car setup for the rest of qualifying. [ 55 ] [ 56 ] [ 60 ] Ralf Schumacher, tenth, expressed disappointment that his quickest lap was set on his second run and was slowed by traffic as track conditions improved. [ 55 ] Panis came 11th and said that his car's balance was good, although he experi...

Montoya moved from tenth to third by the conclusion of the opening lap when Frentzen and Barrichello tried to avoid the Coulthard-Trulli accident. [ 78 ] His teammate Ralf Schumacher gained five positions over the same distance, aided by his car's powerful launch control system and three cars ahead of him going off the track. [ 32 ] Frentzen, however, made a poor start and lost three positions before the first lap ended. [ 75 ] Verstappen made the best start in the field, moving from 17th to 11t...

Michael Schumacher looked to lose control of his car at the exit to Copse corner, [ 70 ] [ 72 ] losing him speed. [ 84 ] This enabled Häkkinen to take the lead at Maggots turn at the beginning of lap five; [ 75 ] [ 78 ] Due to Schumacher's car setup difficulty, Häkkinen began to draw away from him at roughly two seconds each lap. [ 58 ] [ 72 ] Burti became the Grand Prix's fourth retirement when his engine failed on lap seven and spilt oil at Woodcote ciorner, leading the marshals to wave the re...

By lap 20, Häkkinen led Montoya by 25.2 seconds, with Michael Schumacher 4.5 seconds behind. Barrichello was 10.9 seconds behind his teammate and was being chased down by Ralf Schumacher in fifth. [ 81 ] Räikkönen had been battling Ralf Schumacher for fifth and was the first driver to make a pit stop on the next lap. [ 69 ] He rejoined the race in tenth. [ 58 ] The McLaren and Ferrari teams had contrasting strategies: the McLaren team planned a two-stop strategy, while the Ferrari team planned o...

With a clear road ahead, Häkkinen built his lead over Michael Schumacher to 10 seconds by lap 27 after setting two consecutive fastest laps. [ 58 ] [ 75 ] As Michael Schumacher burned off fuel and became lighter, Häkkinen was told that going as fast as he could was unnecessary. [ 72 ] Montoya was held up further back by teammate Ralf Schumacher and Barrichello. [ 58 ] Seven laps later, [ 58 ] Williams team manager Dickie Stanford repeatedly asked Ralf Schumacher by radio and a switch sign on a p...

On lap 39, both Häkkinen and Michael Schumacher made pit stops, with Häkkinen keeping his lead and Schumacher emerging in fourth, dropping teammate Barrichello and Montoya in the duel for second at Becketts Corner. [ 32 ] [ 78 ] Montoya was unable to pass Barrichello, who was able to draw away due to a light fuel load. [ 72 ] Three laps later, Montoya entered the pit lane for his second pit stop, lasting 10.9 seconds. [ 69 ] [ 80 ] Montoya's stop took two to three seconds longer than usual due t...

The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in a later press conference. [ 37 ] Häkkinen said it felt "really good" to win the race after a challenging season thus far. He also stated that he hoped to win more races before the season ended, and that it was "very important" that he passed Michael Schumacher for the race lead since it would have been "difficult to get the distance and the gap" he needed for both of his pit stops. [ 90 ] Michael Sch...

Häkkinen's triumph was well received in the paddock, and the crowd congratulated him. [ 78 ] [ 91 ] McLaren team principal Ron Dennis commented, "For half the race, we were trying to slow Mika's pace. You have to be careful because drivers tend to make mistakes when they back off but Mika drove brilliantly all day." [ 92 ] Ferrari sporting director Jean Todt acknowledged that a one-stop strategy was the incorrect one but he was also complimentary of Häkkinen, saying, "McLaren are strong and Mika...

Coulthard apologised to his McLaren technicians for ruining his car, and they accepted his apology. [ 79 ] He attributed blame to Trulli for their first lap collision, "I was ahead of Jarno and I thought I could hold the front line. Two into one does not go and I was in the lead so I think he should have backed off." [ 94 ] Trulli labelled the collision a "racing incident" and said he provided Coulthard with as much room as he could, "I tried to get out of the way but there was nowhere to go. It...

According to Williams technical director Patrick Head , Montoya would have finished third if his teammate Ralf Schumacher had let him pass when advised. [ 97 ] Montoya claimed to be faster than Ralf Schumacher because both drivers were using different strategies and consulted with Williams about it, "They said: 'Ralf's trying to get past Rubens. Turn down your fuel mixture and take it easy." [ 97 ] Ralf Schumacher said his team "had the right strategy and we could have been on the podium. This i...

Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold .