  
|
GRAND
PRIX: Monaco : Victory On A Plate
27.5.01
This Grand Prix really took place on two levels . There was the obvious, and happy, aspect that the Ferraris showed complete reliability and walked off with the race whilst their rivals disappeared with mechanical gremlins. But on the other hand there was the thought that this could just as easily have been a McLaren one-two because both Coulthard and Hakkinen looked strong until their respective troubles.
Qualifying is everything at this place and Schumacher appeared to have it sewn up - but then got jumped by a highly confident Coulthard. The latter's star is now well and truly dominant at McLaren with Hakkinen seemingly unable to string together a row of good performances. Nevertheless, he slipped into third on the grid ahead of the second Ferrari.
The sight of the pole-sitting McLaren stuck in its slot on the grid as the rest of the field departed on their formation lap may have aroused great cheers from the Ferrari-loving Monaco crowd, but it robbed the race of much interest.
Although it has to be said that Hakkinen then looked increasingly strong. He shadowed Schumacher by a couple of seconds and then moved even closer as it began to dawn on us that the Ferrari was not capable of pulling away. If Hakkinen could just sit there and follow the Ferrari until the fuel stops, then do a couple of quick laps, it was possible that the win could be his. The McLaren has better fuel consumption than the Ferrari and could therefore have stayed out longer and run fast with a low fuel load.
But then again it went wrong for McLaren and Hakkinen retired on lap 15 with suspected failure of the power steering system, leaving a fairly boring 63 lap run to the end for the two Ferraris. The only excitement was watching Coulthard slog his way up the field from being dead last, and his perseverence paid off with 5th place and two valuable points, although he made heavy weather of getting past the much slower Bernoldi whom he followed for 35 laps!
Not the best of GP's, but in both Championships the Ferraris now have healthy leads.
Jean Todt: “This is a great result, on a track which is very demanding on the drivers and the cars. We profited from the problems of our main rivals, which meant we did not have to push to the limit. I must compliment Coulthard for being very fair in letting Michael and Rubens pass him. The team did an excellent job without making the slightest error. Rubens experienced a pain in his leg, but overcame it to bring the car home in second place. Our lead in the Drivers’ championship is not that big and we know that in order to maintain this level of performance and reliability, we must continue to work very hard and methodically. .”
Michael Schumacher: “To win here in Monaco, first you have to finish. In some ways it was an easy and straightforward race, because I was out in front on my own. But at the same time it was quite hard as we still had to lap fast at times. In some ways, the traction control made the race tougher physically as we are going quicker. Today, I just had to think about reliability and make sure I didn’t make a mistake. I asked Ross Brawn what some other drivers were doing and he told me to concentrate. I had no problem with back-markers and my car was pretty good, even if I did not push 100%, because in the early stages, when Mika was behind me I was trying to look after the car and the tyres.”
Rubens Barrichello: “My race was not as easy as it looked, because round about lap 10, I started to get cramp in my right foot. I think there might have been a problem in the cockpit because the pedals were vibrating a lot and I had trouble with my heel rest. The team advised me on the radio to try and move my toes and drink more water. I could not feel my foot and so I was having to brake early and concentrate on not going off. After the pit stop, I pushed hard on the heel rest and the situation improved from then on. I have to say my car was brilliant, I’ve never had such a good car.”RACE RESULTS Monaco GP Monte Carlo,Monaco; 78 laps. Weather: dry, warm. Classified: Pos Driver Team Time 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1h47:22.561 2. Barrichello Ferrari (B) + 0:00.431 3. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) + 0:30.698 4. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) + 0:32.454 5. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (B) + 1 Lap 6. Alesi Prost Acer (M) + 1 Lap 7. Button Benetton Renault (M) + 1 Lap 8. Verstappen Arrows Asiatech (B) + 1 Lap 9. Bernoldi Arrows Asiatech (B) + 2 Laps 10. Raikkonnen Sauber Petronas (B) + 5 Laps Fastest Lap: Coulthard, 1:19.424 Not Classified/Retirements: Driver Team On Lap R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 57 Marques Minardi European (M) 56 Alonso Minardi European (M) 54 Frentzen Jordan Honda (B) 49 Fisichella Benetton Renault (M) 43 Trulli Jordan Honda (B) 30 Burti Prost Acer (M) 24 De La Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 18 Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes (B) 15 Panis BAR Honda (B) 13 Montoya Williams BMW (M) 2 Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 0 World Championship Standing, Round 7: Drivers: Constructors: 1. M.Schumacher 52 1. Ferrari 75 2. Coulthard 40 2. McLaren 44 3 Barrichello 24 3. Williams 18 4. R.Schumacher 12 4. Jordan 13 5. Heidfeld 8 5. Sauber 12 6. Villeneuve 7 =. BAR 12 =. Trulli 7 7. Jaguar 4 8. Montoya 6 8. Benetton 1 = Frentzen 6 =. Prost 1 10. Panis 5 =. Minardi 1 11. Irvine 4 =. Raikkonnen 4 =. Hakkinen 4 14. Fisichella 1 =. Alesi 1 =. Verstappen 1
Click here to return to the Ferrari Happenings page.
