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GRAND
PRIX: Canada : Watch Out For Little Brother
10.6.01
There was a lot of optimism amongst Ferrari fans about the likely outcome of this race, This was fuelled partly by the 1-2 result at Monte Carlo, partly by McLaren's continuing unreliability and not the least by statements from Maranello indicating a quiet expectation of another good win.
Qualifying provided further encouragement. Michael Schumacher only took half his alloted runs to post his 38th pole position some half a second ahead of brother Ralf in the Williams BMW. Championship rival David Coulthard was third in the McLaren, but felt that a strong performance in the race would be possible, and Jarno Trulli again drove well to occupy the outside of the second row.
Rubens Barrichello had a fraught session. He planted it squarely into the wall opposite the pits whilst down in sixth place although, using Schuey's spare car, he was able to improve by one position. Mika Hakkinen looked lacklustre down in eighth place.
Everyones' launch control appeared to work correctly at the start and the two Schumachers moved into the lead, followed by Coulthard, Barrichello and Trulli.
Whilst the two brothers disappeared into the distance, with Michael leading, it was obvious that Barrichello was on a light fuel load as he quickly moved ahead of Coulthard and placed himself on Ralf's tail. On the fifth lap, however, he spun whilst trying to pass the Williams in an incident that made it fairly obvious the traction control was not working. He re-joined down in fourteenth.
At the front, however, Ralf was relentlessly glued to the back of Michael's car as they built up a lead of about one second per lap from the rest. There was some breathtaking racing as Ralf tried a few times to out-brake Michael but positions remained unchanged until the latter pitted on lap 46. Then, released like a cork from the bottle, Ralf turned in record lap after record lap before pitting six laps later. Inevitably, he emerged from the pit lane in an easy lead, which he extended to some 20 seconds by the finish. Michael clearly had no response and settled for an easy second place.
In the meantime Barrichello crashed out of the race whilst trying to avoid the spinning Montoya in front of him and David Coulthard retired from what looked like a secure third place with yet another mechanical problem - an engine that very publicly erupted in a great cloud of smoke at the pit entry lane. These various incidents allowed Mika Hakkinen to finish third, ahead of the two Ferrari-engined cars of Raikkonen and Alesi.
The six points from second place now give Michael Schumacher an 18-point lead over Coulthard and in the Constructors' Championship the Ferraris are leading by a healthy 82 points to the 48 of McLaren.
It was a pleasurable Grand Prix to watch, with some good, clean racing between the Schumacher brothers and there was little doubt that Ralf was the quicker on the day. His Michelin tyres no doubt played a part as did the enormous power from the BMW engine which often managed to draw him alongside the Ferrari on the main straight.
Jean Todt: “We were expecting a hard race. Unfortunately, we lost Rubens in the early stages. He ended up spinning because of a problem with the traction control . Later, he ended up in wall trying to avoid Montoya’s car which had also hit the wall. Today, the total Ralf Schumacher, Williams-BMW, Michelin package was stronger than ours and deserved to win. Our result is nevertheless important in view of the championships. We have extended our lead over our nearest rivals by two points in the Constructors’ and six in the Drivers.’ I am also very happy with the results obtained by the Sauber and Prost teams, taking two more Ferrari engines into the points.”
Michael Schumacher: “If I have to be beaten by someone, certainly my brother is the best person: rather him than anyone else! I am sure our parents will be very proud as this is the first time we finish in this order on the podium together. I am happy to finish the day with six important points for the championship. We were the best Bridgestone finisher and I could pull away from Coulthard and Hakkinen. After the Safety Car went in I knew Ralf was a bit faster, so I was hoping we could go longer before making the pits stop. But we could not and from then on I knew I had lost the race. When Ralf was behind me, I was not worried about him doing anything wrong. He tried to get past me, but on the inside line he had to brake early and I could brake much later. So after the pit stop, initially I pushed very hard to close the gap. But normally that does not work, because with a full fuel load at the start of the stint, you are slower. So then I drove at my pace, but the car felt a bit nervous because I was pretty near the limit. After that I settled for second place and just looked after my car to the finish.”
Rubens Barrichello: “Right from the start, I had problems with the traction control. On lap 3 I had to switch it off as it was causing a misfire. It might have been a problem with a sensor, but we will have to investigate. This is what caused me to spin. I was very close to Ralf at the exit to the hairpin so I tried to push, but the car just went round. After that, the car was not as competitive as at the start of the race. When I came up behind Montoya I was not able to pass him because I no longer had traction control and the car had to much oversteer. Then, he went sideways and off the track and came back across it. I tried to avoid him but there was no room to get by and so I ended up in the wall.”RACE RESULTS Canadian GP Montral, Canada; 69 laps. Weather:dry,warm. Classified: Pos Driver Team Time 1. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1h34:31.522 2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) + 0:20.200 3. Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes (B) + 0:40.600 4. Raikkonen Sauber Petronas (B) + 0:68.100 5. Alesi Prost Acer (M) + 0:70.400 6. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) + 1 Lap 7. Zonta Jordan Honda (B) + 1 Lap 8. Burti Prost Acer (M) + 1 Lap 9. Marques Minardi European (M) + 3 Laps 10. Verstappen Arrows (B) + 4 Laps 11. Trulli Jordan Honda (B) + 4 laps World Championship Standing, Round 8: Drivers: Constructors: 1. M.Schumacher 58 1. Ferrari 82 2. Coulthard 40 2. McLaren 48 3 Barrichello 24 3. Williams 28 4. R.Schumacher 22 4. Sauber 15 5. Heidfeld 8 5. Jordan 13 =. Hakkinen 8 =. BAR 12 7. Villeneuve 7 7. Jaguar 5 =. Trulli 7 8. Prost 3 =. Raikkonen 7 9. Benetton 1 10. Montoya 6 =. Arrows 1 = Frentzen 6 =. Minardi 1 12. Panis 5 13. Irvine 4 14. Alesi 3 15. Fisichella 1 =. de la Rosa 1 =. Verstappen 1
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