NewsOnF1 - 2001 Brazilian GP

David Coulthard wins a thrilling race ahead of Michael Schumacher and Nick Heidfeld. Olivier Panis, Jarno Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella make the top 6.
Jacques Villeneuve finished in 7th ahead of Jean Alesi, Tarso Marques and Jenson Button making up all the drivers who actually crossed the finish line.

The race was one to remember. Rubens Barrichello's car stopped on the track on its way to form on the grid. He had to get back into the spare and just managed to leave the pits seconds before it closed.
Then at the start, Mika Hakkinen fails to start the race but too late for aborting the start. Luckily no one crashed into the back of him!. Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher gets a good start while his brother doesn't. Juan Pablo Montoya moves from 4th to second and Coulthard from 5th to 3rd. Ralf drops to 5th. The safety car goes out on the track because of Hakkinen's car.

The safety car pits a lap later and Juan Pablo Montoya manages to squeeze past Michael Schumacher on the pit straight, they bang wheels on the exit of turn 1 but Montoya keeps the lead.
Behind them there was more drama for Barrichello, he hits the back of Ralf Schumacher and retires. Ralf manages to crawl back to the pits and the mechanics repair his car and rejoins 4 laps later. This is the second incident involving Barrichello and Ralf this season and also the second where a driver hits the back of Ralf!.

So with just 2 laps gone, 3 top drivers are out of contention while Juan Pablo Montoya is making his mark leading the race.
Race order was Montoya ahead of Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard with both Jordan's behind.
Villeneuve made up a few places at the start and benefiting from other retirements he is in 6th but is forced to pit possibly due to a puncture as he rejoined without delay in the pits.

The situation remains the same for the top 3 until lap 25 when Michael Schumacher makes his first pit stop while Montoya and Coulthard stay out on the track. The real surprise being Montoya on a heavier fuel load managing to pass and stay ahead of Michael Schumacher!.

Everything appeared going well for Montoya who was on a single stop until lap 38 when Jos Verstappen moves over to let Montoya lap him but once he moves back behind him he crashes into Montoya forcing both to retire. A disaster for Montoya as he had an excellent chance to win from his third attempt. In any case, he has certainly made his mark in Formula 1 and we will certainly be seeing more of him this season.

David Coulthard takes the lead while Michael Schumacher is in 2nd place as it starts to rain heavily. Most teams pit for intermediates however David Coulthard and McLaren chose to stay out for an additional lap which seemingly was a costly mistake as he rejoins the race in 2nd place behind Michael Schumacher.
With the rain falling heavily and Michael Schumacher leading by more than 10 seconds, the race appeared to be in the bag for Michael as memories of Malaysia struck. It was not to be as Michael spun after making a mistake but managed to keep going. He kept the lead but lost the gap and David Coulthard was just 2 seconds behind him.
Coulthard made a move on Michael passing him in the wet and taking the lead on lap 49. Michael continues to struggle as he went off into the gravel but kept going. He lost more time to Coulthard and it started to look like Coulthard is set for a win.
Behind the 2 leaders, Frentzen was a distant third while Trulli who went on wet tyres started to struggle as the track started to dry and lost 4th place to Heidfeld. Olivier Panis managed to get into the points passing Alesi and eventually Trulli. Giancarlo Fisichella manages to also pass Alesi and moves into 7th place.

At the front David Coulthard maintains his lead of Michael Schumacher and finish in that order. Hard luck for Frentzen who retires from third on lap 63 giving third place to Heidfeld while Panis finishes in 4th ahead of Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella bring a smile to the struggling Benetton team by finishing in 6th just ahead of Jacques Villeneuve.

An exciting race with lots of action, something that we have missed in Formula for a while. David Coulthard is now chasing Michael Schumacher in the championship only 6 points behind. Juan Pablo Montoya was very unlucky not to win or finish this race but watch out for him. Frentzen lost out on a podium finish due to car reliability yet again while BAR finally get on the scoring board and had it not been for Panis being held up in the pits for over a minute they could have had their first podium finish. Benetton get a point which is excellent news for the team. Great news for Nick Heidfeld and Sauber for finishing on the podium for his first time ever. He also looks set to have a bright future.

The unfortunate incidents to both Williams must be investigated to determine the cause and action should be taken if drivers are found to be at fault. Montoya was robbed of a potential win through what appeared to be not a fault on his part or his car.

So the winning streak for Michael Schumacher has ended with 6 wins. The races now move to Europe and the next round is at San Marino. What seemed to be a dominant Ferrari in Australia and Malaysia looks like having some serious competition for Williams and McLaren.

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