  
| ||||
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| Coulthard lagged at the start, and the Ferraris took advantage. |
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| Schuey was relentlessly hunted down by Coulthard..... |
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| .....who made appropriate hand-gestures. |
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| After his engine blew, Schumacher had the walk home. |
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| The Ferrari mechanics show their feelings. |
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| Barrichello hung on gamely but had a long pitstop. |
GRAND
PRIX : Magny Cours : Ferraris' Bad Weekend When Jean Todt calls it "a bad weekend" then who can disagree?
Michael Schumacher's electrifying performance in qualifying (his third
pole in a row) made it look like a good weekend to come. The car looked
stable and even his second quickest qualifying run was better than anything
Coulthard, Barrichello or Hakkinen could manage. In the by now usual
pattern, the Ferraris and McLarens filled the first two rows.
Coulthard's front row McLaren had far too much wheel spin at the start
and Schumacher took a clear lead, with Barrichello also squeezing by
the McLaren.
It took Coulthard 22 laps to re-take second place from Barrichello
and then all four leading cars headed for their pit stops between laps
23 to 25. The post - pit stop order was Schumacher-Coulthard-Hakkinen-Barrichello.
Thereafter, the Ferrari effort began to go wrong. Coulthard was visibly
quicker than the leading Ferrari, which, in their press release, Ferrari
blamed on tyres going off.
After several attempts at passing, Coulthard eventually robustly moved
Schumacher over and took the lead but not before having given the German
various hand signals of what might be described a sexual nature. After
the second round of pit stops Schumacher was struggling with lack of
grip in his car and was passed by Hakkinen just as it became clear that
a major malfunction was afflicting the Ferrari. He retired on the same
lap with a blown engine.
This left Coulthard and Hakkinen to cruise to a McLaren 1-2, with Rubens
Barrichello trailing in third place, some 27 secs. behind the winner.
Hakkinen was again off the pace, maybe dreaming of his retirement at
the end of the season and handing his drive over to Villeneuve.
Although the Ferraris still lead the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships,
the gap is severely diminished and there was no sign of any Ferrari
supremacy at this Grand Prix. There is a long season still remaining
and it is too early to wonder whether another championship year is slipping
from Ferraris' grasp. Now is the time to keep nerve.
Jean Todt: "This has obviously been a bad weekend as our main
rivals, who were stronger than us on the track today, picked up maximum
points. We also experienced the first engine failure in a race this
season, which cost us precious points for Michael in the Drivers' Championship
and the team in the Constructors.' Rubens drove a good race. At his
second stop, a problem with the right front wheel nut lost him around
10 seconds, which put him third, where he stayed to the end. At the
start, we seemed to be in a strong position, but of course it is the
order at the finish that counts. The "rules" of this championship are
clear: if we don't win, they do. This happens at every grand prix and
unfortunately, today went badly for us. We have now passed the halfway
point of the season. We know and have always said that it would be tough
and today demonstrated that fact."
Rubens Barrichello: "After I got past Coulthard at the start,
I was just settling into my race and not pushing too hard as I wanted
to look after my tyres. I thought I could keep the others behind me
quite easily. Then after about ten or fifteen laps, my tyres suffered
some give-up. This surprised me because the car had been good in the
warm-up. Coulthard was very fast on the straight and putting me under
pressure under braking and eventually he got past me when I ran wide
at turn three. At the second pit-stop, there was a problem with my front
right wheel which cost me ten seconds. It was a shame, because I heard
that Hakkinen had a so-so stop as well. Maybe I could have passed him.
After Michael had his problem the team told me to slow down as I had
a big lead over fourth place. I am sorry he did not finish the race."
Michael Schumacher: "The tyres on my car seemed to suffer a
drop in performance earlier than on the others. This problem was at
its worst after the first pit stop. At first I could control the situation,
but then the tyres went off and I tried to look after them knowing there
were still a lot of laps to go. Then I started to slow and Coulthard
managed to get past me. Finally on lap 59, I had an engine problem and
I had to stop. Now we must find out why. I am disappointed, but this
is motor racing and there is nothing you can do about it. I had said
the championship wasn't over and unfortunately, today I was proved right.
I am sure we will quickly solve the problems we experienced here."
RACE RESULTS
The French Grand Prix Classified:
France, 2.7.00
Magny Cours, Nevers;
72 laps; 305.886km;
Weather: Dry, windy.
Pos Driver Team 1. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes 1h 38:05.538 2. Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes + 14.748 3. Barrichello Ferrari + 32.409 4. Villeneuve BAR Honda + 1:01.322 5. R.Schumacher Williams BMW + 1:03.981 6. Trulli Jordan Mugen-Honda + 1:15.604 7. Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda + 1 Lap 8. Button Williams BMW + 1 Lap 9. Fisichella Benetton Playlife + 1 Lap 10. Salo Sauber Petronas + 1 Lap 11. Diniz Sauber Petronas + 1 Lap 12. Heidfeld Prost Peugeot + 1 Lap 13. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth + 2 Lap 14. Alesi Prost Peugeot + 2 Lap 15. Gene Minardi Fondmetal + 2 Lap Fastest Lap: D.Coulthard, 1:19.479 (192.548 km/h), lap 28 Not Classified/Retirements: Driver Team On Lap Reason M.Schumacher Ferrari 59 engine de la Rosa Arrows Supertec 46 transmission Wurz Benetton Playlife 35 spun off Mazzacane Minardi Fondmetal 32 spun off Verstappen Arrows Supertec 26 transmission Herbert Jaguar Cosworth 21 clutch Zonta BAR Honda 17 brakes World Championship Standing, Round 9: Drivers: Constructors: 1. M.Schumacher 56 1. Ferrari 88 2. Coulthard 44 2. McLaren 82 3. Hakkinen 38 3. Benetton-Playlife 18 4. Barrichello 32 4. Williams-BMW 17 5. Fisichella 18 5. Jordan-Mugen Honda 11 6. R.Schumacher 14 6. BAR-Honda 9 7. Villeneuve 8 7. Jaguar 3 8. Trulli 6 = Arrows 3 9. Frentzen 5 = Sauber 3 10. Button 3 = Irvine 3 = Salo 3 13. Verstappen 2 14. Zonta 1 = de la Rosa 1 Acknowledgements : Report data by Atlas F1. Pix by Sutton, Schlegelmilch, Allsport.
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