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Schumacher
dominated the entire weekend
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Rubens
started on the front row but faded in the race
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There
were only two Ferrari pit stops, both well-handled
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Now
Champion, Schumacher could not have looked more relaxed and confident
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The
Australian crowd were as Ferrari-fanatical as any
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pics by Ferrari
GRAND
PRIX : Australia : Schumacher Makes It Look Easy
Melbourne, 4.3.01
The first
Grand Prix of the year is always one of the most nail-biting ones to
anticipate. There are new cars, new technologies and no past form. The
manifold announcements by all the teams of how their new cars are going
to move higher up the grid made one wonder whether 22 cars would all
fit on to the front half.
Pre-season testing for Ferrari had gone well, although the use of much softer tyre rubber gave a misleading impression of the tremendous pace of the cars. Both McLaren and Ferrari had had various reliability issues and it was therefore unclear how the first Grand Prix would conclude for either team.
Practice and qualifying made it look almost too easy for Ferrari. First Barrichello took pole position in the very sweet-handling F2001 but then Schumacher produced one of the most perfect qualifying laps seen in years to gain pole by over 0.3 of a second from Barrichello and more than half a second ahead of Hakkinen in third place.
Schumacher's start was as near perfect as possible and he streaked into a lead he was never to lose. Barrichello, on the other hand, got overwhelmed at the start by Hakkinen and Frentzen's Jordan. Between laps five and fifteen was the Safety Car phase, following Villeneuve's violent accident in which tragically a course worker was killed, bringing back memories of a similar tragedy at last year's Italian GP. Although marshals are necessarily close to the action, surely more can be done to protect them from the occasional inevitability of a heavy crash.
Thereafter, Schumacher inexorably eased away from the hard-trying Hakkinen, who himself had a very large accident following a mechanical failure on his McLaren on lap 26. This put Barrichello back into second place once he had rudely nerfed his way past Frentzen but the Brazilian was then caught and passed by Coulthard's second McLaren.
And that's the way it stayed to the end, with Schumacher cruising in comfortably to a well-judged win. It was slightly disappointing that Barrichello was not able to fend off Coulthard and, indeed, he finished some 33 seconds behind. Afterwards he complained of tweaked front suspension following his collision with Frentzen.
Now that there is some form from each of the teams the next Grand Prix, which takes place in Malaysia, will probably be more interesting. The Australian one was not a great race and not just because of the occurrences caused by Villeneuve's accident.
Jean Todt: “Just before going on the podium, Michael, Rubens and I asked about the condition of the track marshal. We were told that he had died and this affected us badly. As for the race, Michael made a great start while Rubens, who dropped to fifth, did a great job to climb back up the order. Once they had settled into their positions, both men drove in such a way not to put too much stress on the cars. This is probably the quickest car we have produced over the past few years. We know what we have to do from now on to improve it still further and to keep it at an excellent level. The championship has only just begun but this is a good start..”
Michael Schumacher: “ I made a great start as a result of all the practice we did over the winter. Then I tried to split my race into a rhythm, to be fast when I needed to and not overdrive the car. The car was very good and although this can give us confidence for the season, we know we must not be over-confident. At the end I slowed my pace, because the important thing is to win, not the margin you do it by. I just wanted to bring the car home, as we have not done many race distances before coming here. The reason I had my hand on top of my helmet was that I had taped an air vent to stop wind getting in my eyes, but it was getting too hot and so I pulled the tape off.”
Rubens Barrichello: “I had a difficult race. I did not make a particularly good start and I was passed by three cars. Then when I was passing Frentzen, I was on the inside, but he kept coming and took me into the corner. We touched and that affected the toe-in on the left front wheel and from then I could not keep on the pace. In fact at the end of the race, my left front tyre was ruined. Then Alonso probably did not notice the blue flags, as he is a “new boy” and I had no space left and had to go on the grass. It was worse because the earlier damage to the car made right turns difficult. So David (Coulthard) got past me. Then, towards the end, Ross Brawn told me to back off so as not to take any excessive risks on the reliability side.”
RACE RESULTS Australian GP Albert Park, Melbourne; 58 laps; 307.574km; Weather: Dry, partly cloudy. Classified: Pos Driver Team Time 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1h38:26.533 2. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (B) + 0:01.700 3. Barrichello Ferrari (B) + 0:33.400 4. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) + 1:11.400 5. Frentzen Jordan Honda (B) + 1:12.800 6. Raikkonen Sauber Petronas (B) + 1:24.100 7. Panis BAR Honda (B) + 1:27.000 * 8. Burti Jaguar Cosworth (M) + 1 Lap 9. Alesi Prost Acer (M) + 1 Lap 10. Verstappen Arrows Asiatech (B) + 1 Lap * 11. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) + 1 Lap 12. Alonso European Minardi (M) + 2 Laps 13. Fisichella Benetton Renault (M) + 3 Laps 14. Button Benetton Renault (M) + 6 Laps ** * Penalised for overtaking under yellow ** Retired 6 laps before race finished Fastest Lap: M.Schumacher, 1:28.214 (216.414 km/h), lap 34 Not Classified/Retirements: Driver Team On Lap Reason * Montoya Williams BMW (M) 41 Trulli Jordan Honda (B) 39 Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes (B) 26 R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 5 Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 5 Marques European Minardi (M) 4 Bernoldi Arrows Asiatech (B) 3 Mazzacane Prost Acer (M) 1 World Championship Standing, Round 1: Drivers: Constructors: 1. M.Schumacher 10 1. Ferrari 14 2. Coulthard 6 2. McLaren 6 3. Barrichello 4 3. Sauber 4 4. Heidfeld 3 4. Jordan 2 5. Frentzen 2 6. Raikkonen 1 (results data by Atlas F1)
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