2001 Brazilian Grand Prix: Difference between revisions

2001 Brazilian Grand Prix
Race 3 of 17 in the 2001 Formula One World Championship ← Previous race Next race →
Race details[1][2]
Date	April 1, 2001
Official name	XXX Grande Prêmio Marlboro do Brasil
Location	Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo, Brazil
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.309 km (2.677 miles)
Distance	71 laps, 305.909 km (190.083 miles)
Weather	Dry first, rain and thunderstorms later
Attendance	82,500
Pole position
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Time	1:13.780
Fastest lap
Driver	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW
Time	1:15.693 on lap 38
Podium
First	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes
Second	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
Third	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas
Lap leaders

The 2001 Brazilian Grand Prix (formally the XXX Grande Prêmio Marlboro do Brasil) was a Formula One motor race held on 1 April 2001 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo, Brazil. It was the third race of the 2001 Formula One World Championship and the only one held in South America. Starting from fifth place, McLaren driver David Coulthard won the 71-lap race. Ferrari's Michael Schumacher finished second with Sauber's Nick Heidfeld third.

Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship before the race, while Ferrari led the World Constructors' Championship. He secured pole position by setting the quickest lap in the one-hour qualifying session. The race was interrupted after McLaren's Mika Häkkinen's engine stalled on the starting grid, prompting the safety car's deployment. When the safety car was withdrawn at the end of lap two, Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya overtook Schumacher for the lead. Montoya led the next 36 laps before colliding with Arrows' Jos Verstappen on lap 39, forcing both drivers to retire from the race. As a result, Coulthard took the race lead and held it until the pit stops for wet-weather tyres, when the rain became heavier, and Schumacher took it for two circuits until Coulthard passed him on lap 50. Coulthard led the rest of the race and won by 16.1 seconds over Schumacher, the only other driver on the lead lap.

Coulthard's tenth victory of his career reduced Michael Schumacher's lead in the World Drivers' Championship to six points along with him moving up to second place, 10 points ahead of Schumacher's teammate Rubens Barrichello in third. McLaren cut Ferrari's World Constructors' Championship lead to 15 points with 14 races remaining in the season.

The 2001 Brazilian Grand Prix, the third round of seventeen in the 2001 Formula One World Championship, took place on 1 April 2001, at the anti-clockwise Autódromo José Carlos Pace track in São Paulo, Brazil.^[1] It was the season's lone South American Grand Prix,^[3] and the third in a row outside of Europe.^[4] The Grand Prix featured eleven teams of two drivers (each representing a different constructor), with no changes to the season entry list.^[5] Tyre suppliers Bridgestone and Michelin brought two dry compounds and three wet-weather tyres to Brazil.^[6]

Going into the race, Ferrari's Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship with 20 points, ahead of teammate Rubens Barrichello and McLaren's David Coulthard, who were tied for second with ten points. Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen was fourth with five points, followed by Sauber's Nick Heidfeld in fifth with three.^[7] Ferrari led the World Constructors' Championship with 30 points, while McLaren were second with 11. Jordan and Sauber were third and fourth, with five and four points, respectively, and Williams were fifth with two.^[7]

Following the Malaysian Grand Prix on March 18, nine of the eleven teams tested tyres, car and electrical components, and racing setups on their cars at Spain's Circuit de Catalunya from 20 to 23 March in preparation for the Brazilian Grand Prix.^[8] Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer set the quickest times on the first day, ahead of McLaren's test driver Alexander Wurz.^[9] Badoer remained fastest on the second day. Marc Gené, the Williams test driver, stopped on track with a mechanical failure which briefly stopped testing.^[10] Michael Schumacher was fastest on the third day of testing. Seven suspensions were required as several drivers had car problems or spun off the circuit.^[11] Michael Schumacher stayed fastest for the final day's running.^[12] Both the Minardi and Sauber teams did not do any testing. Sauber's technical department focused on preparing updated aerodynamic components that were optimised at the factory, whereas Minardi worked at their factory to improve car reliability.^[8]

Michael Schumacher won the season's first two races in Australia and Malaysia.^[13] Although he was the bookmakers' favourite to win the race,^[14] he noted that the warm weather could make it difficult for drivers and their cars, adding, "We have proven the car's reliability in two tough races right at the start of the season, which is encouraging going into the Brazilian race".^[6] Barrichello did not remember a time he was very excited for a race because of his Ferrari's competitiveness,^[15] and was certain of beating his teammate Michael Schumacher to win, saying, "I know what it would mean to the fans especially to see a home winner."^[16] McLaren co-ordinator Jo Ramírez admitted "We were and we are still lost" because of the team's car slower than Ferrari's in the first two rounds, "Frankly, I don't know what we will be able to do at this Grand Prix. We are lost. This car is not up to the McLaren tradition."^[17] McLaren's Mika Häkkinen stated that winning in Brazil was his team's primary goal, while teammate Coulthard expressed hope that they could maintain its history of success in Brazil.^[6]

Following last year's race, the track underwent safety upgrades. In response to marshal Graham Beveridge's death at the Australian race, 21 cabins were erected to safeguard marshals across the track. Animals that were roaming near the circuit boundaries were rounded up and relocated. A guard rail was constructed at the Bico do Pato turn as car speeds increased greatly since 2000. The gravel trap along the Reta Oposta straight was reinforced and the circuit's drainage system was fixed.^[18][19] On 17 March, a contractor's dissatisfaction with São Paulo city administration caused a disruption in the renovation work, prompting inquiries.^[20] Construction workers continued to work on the track prior to the first practice session.^[21] The issue, involving the delayed supply of tables and chairs, was confirmed by race organisers and would not disrupt the Grand Prix.^[22] Barrichello criticised the Grand Prix, citing the displeasure of some drivers in previous years and the quality of the local facilities.^[23] However, the event's director, Carlos Roberto Montagne, refuted Barrichello's assertions, saying that the road surface was approved by two British engineers.^[24] However, the drivers were dissatisfied with the work because the track remained bumpy. Häkkinen described the track as "very bumpy indeed. It seems to get worse and worse every year."^[25] Minardi's Fernando Alonso claimed that the bumping was so bad that one could have lost their vision of the circuit.^[25]

Several teams introduced no significant technical changes to their cars, instead waiting for the season's first European race, the San Marino Grand Prix, two weeks after the race in Brazil.^[26] McLaren introduced four front wing specifications in an attempt to reduce the MP4-16's understeer but eventually oriented on a new front wing profile. Williams debuted a new rear wing, while Benetton postponed the debut of its lower front side appendages to the San Marino Grand Prix due to creating drag and downforce, slowing their B201 car during practice.^{[26][27]: 534–535} British American Racing (BAR) tested two rear wing configurations and a modified upswept exhaust to increase the 003's engine revolutions while avoiding gearbox overheating. Sauber added two new sidepod winglets in front of the air extractor chimneys to increase downforce as Jaguar lowered the size of the R2's bargeboards and extended the front wing endplates to improve efficiency and deflect air inside the front wheels. Prost added updated aerodynamic profiles to the AP04's front wishbones as well as minor rear suspension geometry modifications.^{[27]: 534–535}

The race was preceded by four practice sessions, two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday.^{[28]: 220–221} The first morning practice session was held in sunny weather on a dusty track that was cleaned by cars;^[29][30] no rain was expected.^[4] Michael Schumacher led the first practice session, setting a lap of 1:16.832 with 23 minutes left.^[29] Häkkinen was second and was fastest for the first quarter of the practice until spinning off midway through after likely driving onto dirt rather than a lack of car grip. Barrichello, Coulthard, BAR's Olivier Panis, the Jaguars of Eddie Irvine and Luciano Burti, Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya, Heidfeld and Jordan's Jarno Trulli rounded out the session's top ten fastest drivers.^[29][31]

It became warmer but overcast for the second practice session.^[32] Early in the session, Coulthard set the day's fastest lap of 1:15.520 on new tyres,^[33][34] one second quicker than Trulli.^[35] He tried to lap faster but missed the braking point for Curva do Sol corner and spun into the gravel trap.^[34][36] Michael Schumacher was third after suffering a puncture from driving over a nail.^[33][35] Montoya and Ralf Schumacher of Williams (who ran off the track at turn ten, damaging his car's front aerodynamic devices) were fourth and sixth, separated by Häkkinen.^{[27]: 160 [33][36]} Barrichello, seventh, spun off after 22 minutes after his engine lost power due to an loss in oil pressure and stalled.^[33][37][38] Because the sporting regulations prohibited him from driving the backup car, Barrichello had insufficient on-track driver to setup his car for the race.^[38] Frentzen (who stopped on track at Subida do Lago corner when his engine suddenly cut out with more than 20 minutes remaining), Heidfeld and Irvine followed in the top ten.^[33][34][36]

It got hotter during Saturday's free practice sessions.^[18] Häkkinen led the third practice session, lapping at 1:14.503, with teammate Coulthard second. Michael Schumacher and Barrichello were third and fifth fastest, followed by Ralf Schumacher. Montoya, Trulli, Frentzen, Heidfeld, and Sauber's Kimi Räikkönen completed the top ten. Burti lost control of his Jaguar but recovered to continue driving.^[39][40] Giancarlo Fisichella's Benetton car stopped in the grass due to an engine oil leak.^[41][42]

In the final practice session, Montoya was quickest with a lap of 1:13.963, lapping faster than the 2000 pole time;^[43] Ralf Schumacher was fourth. The two McLarens split them, with Häkkinen in second and Coulthard in third. Michael Schumacher was fifth, ahead of Frentzen, Barrichello, Räikkönen, Panis and Heidfeld.^[44] Frentzen's engine failed before the pit lane on his final lap of the session and marshals moved his car into the pit lane, smoke billowing from the rear.^[45][46] BAR's Jacques Villeneuve and Irvine stopped their cars close to each other in the grass with gearbox hydraulic trouble.^{[27]: 238 [41][45]}

Each driver was limited to twelve laps during Saturday's one-hour qualifying session, with the starting order determined by their fastest laps. The 107% rule was in force during this session, which required each driver to set a time within 107% of the fastest lap to qualify for the race.^{[28]: 220–221} Qualifying was held in hot and sunny weather conditions with no rain predicted,^[47] preventing the fastest teams from lapping faster towards the end of the session.^[41] The pole lap was only three-tenths of a second quicker than the 2000 race because of the track's resurfacing, parts of it deteriorating and both tyre suppliers being cautious due to an abrasive, bumpy surface and the circuit's multiple high-speed corners.^[48] After aborting his second run because it was too slow following an error that put him wide at turn four,^[49] Michael Schumacher clinched his third seventh consecutive pole position and the 35th of his career with a time of 1:13.780 with 16 minutes left,^[48][50][51] moving him to one pole from equalling Ayrton Senna's record of eight consecutive poles set between 1988 and 1989.^[51][52] He was joined on the front row of the grid by Ralf Schumacher who set a qualifying time 0.310 seconds slower despite reported a difficult to drive car, equalling his team's best qualifying position since the 1998 Italian Grand Prix.^[41][53] The two became the first siblings to share the grid's front row in a Formula One World Championship race.^[41] Häkkinen and Coulthard set the third- and fifth-fastest times for McLaren,^[54] respectively, both drivers agreed that their cars had a reduced tendency to understeer and their first runs were disrupted by Montoya spinning off the track.^[41] Coulthard aborted his first run after being required to slow by Villeneuve at the exit of Junção corner and part of his car's undertray was removed on the banking driving onto the pit lane straight.^[47][55] Montoya separated the McLaren drivers in fourth, having early in the session lost control of the rear of his Williams car across the gravel at the fast left-hand Mergulho corner and struck the tyre barrier on the far side of the track his first quick lap.^[47][54][56] Montoya was unhurt,^[51] and returned to the pit lane and switched to the spare car setup for him by the mechanics for the remainder of the session.^[52]

Barrichello was four tenths of a second slower than Michael Schumacher in sixth,^[50] blaming excess understeer causing him to have handling problems on a new set of tyres.^[41][49] The two Jordans were equipped with race-specification engines inbetween the final practice session and qualifying during Saturday practice and took the fourth row of the grid with Trulli seventh and Frentzen eighth;^[48][50][56] the latter was the last driver to be within a second of the pole lap time and had to abort his third run due to the presence of a slower car.^[38][49] This formation continued onto the fifth row which was occupied by Heidfeld and Räikkönen in the Saubers,^[50] with the former changing his set-up to move ahead of his teammate.^[41] The sixth row was filled by the BARs of Panis and Villeneuve and both drivers complained they had a lack of grip in the slow-speed corners;^[41] Panis spun early in qualifying and Villeneuve struck the kerb on the inside of turn eight hard enough to lose control of his car on his first run.^[48][55] Irvine and Burti (after an error that cost him two-tenths of a second from the final turn to the finish line) recorded the 13th- and 14th-fastest times in their Jaguars in the closing ten minutes of qualifying when the track was cooler and improved their car balances, ahead of Jean Alesi in the faster of the two Prosts after a car imbalance worsened by excess oversteer.^{[27]: 290 [48][49]} Enrique Bernoldi was 16th-quickest for the Arrows team, ahead of teammate Jos Verstappen, who made changes to his car's setup intended to remove understeer in practice but instead gave him oversteer for qualifying.^[27]: 342 Fisichella and Jenson Button for the Benetton team secured the 18th and 20th positions, respectively, because of engine oil leaks and poor car balance;^[41][50] Button had a minor oversteer issue at the conclusion of qualifying.^[49] They were separated by Alonso in the faster Minardi car, who felt he could have qualified ahead of Fisichella had he not encountered slower traffic on an aborted final run.^[27]: 368 Prost's Gastón Mazzacane, who like his teammate Alesi drove an imbalanced car, and Minardi's Tarso Marques after an engine change prevented his team from knowing his car's qualifying setup were 21st and 22nd.^{[27]: 368 [48][50]}

After the session had ended, Ralf Schumacher's car was investigated by scrutineers for a fuel irregularity as the first sample of allowable fuel was not same as that approved by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; Formula One's governing body). Williams, the FIA's technical delegate and the FIA's fuel analyst agreed to test a second sample and the stewards allowed Ralf Schumacher to start the race from second and not from the back of the grid when the fuel was declared legal later that night.^[57][58]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	1:13.780	—
2	5	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	1:14.090	+0.310
3	3	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:14.122	+0.342
4	6	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	1:14.165	+0.385
5	4	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	1:14.178	+0.398
6	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	1:14.191	+0.411
7	12	Jarno Trulli	Jordan-Honda	1:14.630	+0.850
8	11	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Honda	1:14.633	+0.853
9	16	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas	1:14.810	+1.030
10	17	Kimi Räikkönen	Sauber-Petronas	1:14.924	+1.144
11	9	Olivier Panis	BAR-Honda	1:15.046	+1.266
12	10	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	1:15.180	+1.400
13	18	Eddie Irvine	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:15.192	+1.412
14	19	Luciano Burti	Jaguar-Cosworth	1:15.371	+1.591
15	22	Jean Alesi	Prost-Acer	1:15.437	+1.657
16	15	Enrique Bernoldi	Arrows-Asiatech	1:15.657	+1.877
17	14	Jos Verstappen	Arrows-Asiatech	1:15.704	+1.924
18	7	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Renault	1:16.175	+2.395
19	21	Fernando Alonso	Minardi-European	1:16.184	+2.404
20	8	Jenson Button	Benetton-Renault	1:16.229	+2.449
21	23	Gastón Mazzacane	Prost-Acer	1:16.520	+2.740
22	20	Tarso Marques	Minardi-European	1:16.784	+3.004
107% time: 1:18.945
Source:[59]

A 30-minute warm-up session was held on the morning of the race for teams to have one final opportunity to check the work to their cars and modifying them before the race.^[60][61] Both Ferrari cars were running quickly throughout the session; Michael Schumacher had the fastest time, a 1:15.971, the only lap time to go below 1:16. He also drove his race car and Ferrari's spare car during the session with a full tank of fuel and an old set of tyres.^[60][62][63] Barrichello finished with the second-quickest time. Häkkinen was third-quickest, and Ralf Schumacher was fourth, setting a lap four tenths of a second slower than Michael Schumacher.^[63] With five minutes remaining, Alonso went into the gravel trap and his car rested in the tyre barriers,^[60][61] breaking his front wing.^[18] Alonso was unhurt but the yellow flags were waved.^[61]

The race started at 14:00 local time.^[27]: 406 The conditions on the grid were dry before the race but dark, grey clouds had built up over the track;^[64][65] the air temperature was 30 °C (86 °F) and the track temperature ranged from 36 and 40 °C (97 and 104 °F);^[66][67] a 50% probability of rain was forecast.^[18] On a pre-race reconnaissance lap, Barrichello had to stop his Ferrari on the grass at the far side of the track because of a oil pressure fault caused by a fuel pump failure. He returned to the pit lane to drive the spare car that was setup for his teammate Michael Schumacher and had its settings adjusted to suit him.^{[27]: 108, 404 [68][69]} While stationary on the grid, Irvine's mechanics had trouble starting his car's engine and they did not clear the circuit of their garage equipment before the 15-second mark to signal the start of the formation lap.^{[27]: 290, 408 [70][71]} He was penalised with a ten-second stop-and-go penalty that he served when Jaguar called him into the pit lane on lap six.^[72]

When the race commenced, Häkkinen had his car aimed slightly to the left and moved slightly before the five-red light sequence had been completed.^[69] He then released the clutch too early because of how it was setup and stalled the McLaren's engine.^[18][73][74] Häkkinen raised his hands to alert the 18 drivers who were behind him, who were able to take avoiding action to avoid crashing into his car;^[18][74] he was too upset he forgot to reattach the steering wheel correctly,^[55] a violation of the sporting regulations.^[69] The track layout prevented marshals from moving Häkkinen's car from the main straight into a gap through the pit lane wall, so they had to push it forward. This and the circuit's short length resulted in the safety car's deployment.^[69][71] Before that, Montoya had moved from fourth to second while Ralf Schumacher dropped from second to fifth because of a poor start that saw him be passed by Coulthard on the inside at turn one and was pushed down further by Trulli.^[55][72]

By the conclusion of the second lap, Häkkinen's car had been removed from the track and the safety car was withdrawn.^[75][76][77] With little distance to accelerate between the pit lane entry and the start/finish line, Montoya on cold tyres remained close behind Michael Schumacher took advantage of his more powerful engine to aggressively overtake him on the inside by braking later at the Senna S chicane for the race lead.^[64][71][78] Both drivers made contact and Montoya forced Michael Schumacher wide right onto the grass in the middle of the turn to move ahead into the Curva do Sol corner.^[64][69][75] On the drive down the second straight,^[71] Barrichello missed his braking point and rammed into the rear of Ralf Schumacher's car who had been pushed off the track by Trulli but had driven back to the right into Descida de Lago corner, removing Barrichello's front-left wheel and front wing and Ralf Schumacher's rear wing.^[69][74][75] Barrichello spun off in the gravel trap and retired while Ralf Schumacher drove to the pit lane for lengthy rear-end repairs and fell four laps down.^[70][79]

Montoya set a series of fastest laps to open up a small lead over Michael Schumacher, who was unable to affect an overtake because of Montoya's more powerful engine keeping him ahead on the straights and held off the latter in the corners.^[70][71][79] Montoya was carrying more fuel in his car than Michael Schumacher,^[73] and was expecting to lose grip in his tyres after the opening laps but staying ahead could mean extra grip after around six laps.^[77] Panis passed Alesi, Räikkönen and Heidfeld to move into seventh place over the course of laps seven to nine. The first three drivers in the race order had by this point pulled away from the rest of the field while Villeneuve and Frentzen were battling for fifth.^[72] On lap 12, Villeneuve entered the pit lane for an unscheduled pit stop. He believed he had a puncture but BAR discovered a broken differential that left him with loose handling for the whole race.^{[27]: 238, 408} This promoted his teammate Panis to sixth and he battled Frentzen for fifth.^[67][72] Panis overtook Frentzen on the inside for fifth on lap 15 and closed up to Trulli in fourth.^[65][71] The following lap saw Bernoldi be pushed into the garage to retire with a gear selection fault caused by a hydraulic problem.^{[27]: 342 [67]}

On lap 20, Panis overtook Trulli at the first corner to move into fourth.^[65][70] Montoya extended his lead over Michael Schumacher to more than a second for the first time in the race on the 21st lap while Coulthard was also a second behind in third position because his team had adjusted his car to be suited a wet track because they were expecting rain later in the race.^[69][72] Alesi in ninth became the first driver on a two-stop strategy to make a scheduled pit stop on lap 24.^[72][79] His stop took 15 seconds longer than expected because of a refuelling rig malfunction preventing fuel from going into the car.^[27]: 316 Ferrari, McLaren and Williams were employing different pit stop strategies – Ferrari were planning two stops whereas McLaren and Williams were only planning for one stop.^[55][78] Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn and race engineer Luca Baldisserri called Michael Schumacher into the pit lane on the following lap. His stop took 9.6 seconds and he rejoined the race in fifth place.^{[27]: 405, 408} On lap 28, Alonso entered the pit lane to retire with a potentiometer failure in the throttle mechanism that caused engine trouble.^{[27]: 368 [67]}

Michael Schumacher braked later than Trulli at the first corner to overtake him for fourth on lap 28 and was promoted to third when Panis made a pit stop on the next lap. Even though he was not being impeded, Michael Schumacher was not lapping more quicker than Montoya because he encountered slower cars, as Montoya was slightly pulling away from Coulthard in second.^[71][76][79] Burti entered the pit lane on the 31st lap and retired to prevent an engine failure caused by a water seal problem.^{[27]: 290 [67]} Light rain began to fall in the pit lane on lap 35.^[74][79] Four laps later,^[71] Montoya was coming up to the battling duo of Fisichella and Verstappen.^[74] On the Reta Oposta straight,^[18] Verstappen pulled over to the left to let Montoya past and then went into Montoya's slipstream to prevent Fisichella from challenging him.^{[27]: 342 [74]} The rear of Montoya's car was struck in the braking area by Verstappen into Reta Oposto turn despite both drivers braking earlier than usual.^{[27]: 342 [69][78]} Both drivers were unhurt but they retired from the race because of the collision.^[70] This promoted Coulthard to the lead with Michael Schumacher second, Trulli third and Frentzen fourth.^[72]

The rain began to increase in intensity,^[71] and Coulthard made his only scheduled pit stop of the race on lap 40.^[55] His stop for fuel and tyres took 9.8 seconds to complete and he rejoined the track just ahead of the gaining Michael Schumacher.^[70][75] Coulthard was able to keep the lead on his first lap out of the pit lane despite Michael Schumacher's momentum and him driving on warmer tyres.^[75] Most drivers on a one-stop strategy still hoped to time their tyre changes when the rain arrived, but when they needed fuel, they had to change to dry-compound tyres between laps 41 and 44.^[69] Rain began falling harder on lap 45,^[69] and most drivers made pit stops for wet-weather tyres, either intermediates or full-wets.^[70] Michael Schumacher made his pit stop for intermediate tyres on the following lap, while McLaren did not bring in Coulthard for a whole lap because they wanted to be sure of the weather and he lost 13 seconds to the former.^[69][75][79] Coulthard's pit stop for intermediate tyres came on lap 47 and ceded the lead to Michael Schumacher.^[74][78]

On lap 48, Michael Schumacher lost control of his Ferrari when one of his car's rear tyres went onto a damp white line on the edge of the circuit into turn five. He regained control of his car but avoided stalling to continue driving in the lead.^[74][79] This driver error allowed Coulthard to close up to Michael Schumacher.^[71] Coming off the banked final corner and into the Senna S chicane two laps later, both Coulthard and Michael Schumacher were about to lap Marques' slower car as Coulthard slipstreamed Schumacher.^[55][74][78] Marques remained in the centre of the track, allowing Coulthard to go to the inside and Michael Schumacher to go to the outside.^[71] Coulthard ended up passing both drivers to retake the race lead and began to pull away from Michael Schumacher.^[75] With drivers on either intermediate or full-wet tyres, there were varying levels of lap times and it was quite sodden on parts of the circuit and parts of it were affected by rain and other parts with sunshine on it.^[70]

Michael Schumacher lost time to Coulthard when he went wide into the gravel trap at turn six on lap 53 but he returned to the track still in second place.^[70][79] Irvine got his Jaguar stuck on a kerb at turn five on the same lap and retired. Mazzacane pulled to the side of the circuit at the turn one run-off area when his clutch burned out and caused a fire that had to be extinguished by marshals on lap 56. Räikkönen in ninth lost control of his car when he was caught out by the rain and went backwards onto the grass and retired on the following lap. On lap 60, Ralf Schumacher stalled his car after spinning at turn five and retired. The fastest drivers were able to avoid Ralf Schumacher's stricken car before it was extricated from the track..^{[27]: 290, 316 [67][70][71]} Heidfeld overtook Trulli in turn one for fourth on lap 61.^[65] Frentzen became the race's final retirement when he slowed and stopped his car at the side of the track with an electrical misfire two laps later. This promoted Heidfeld to third, Trulli to fourth, Panis to fifth and Alesi to sixth.^{[27]: 290, 316 [67]}

As the track began to dry significantly, Fisichella put pressure onto Alesi and passed him on the outside for sixth on lap 66. Panis overtook Trulli on the inside on the drive to turn one on the following lap.^{[65][67][70][71]} Coulthard slowed down in the final laps but maintained the lead to achieve his first win since the 2000 French Grand Prix and the tenth victory of his career.^[64][71] Michael Schumacher finished in second, 16.1 seconds behind and was the only other driver on the lead lap.^[71][78] Heidfeld finished third to take his first career podium and Sauber's first since the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix,^[71][78] despite a slow pit stop in which a fuel filler got stuck.^[64] Panis and Trulli came fourth and fifth despite a significant delay in their pit stops for wet-weather tyres.^[69][71] Fisichella ran a reliable race to be the last of the point-scorers in sixth.^[64][77] Villeneuve was off the pace and finished in seventh. Alesi and Marques followed in the next two positions.^[71] Button was the last of the finishers after a pit stop on lap 28 for repairs to an oil leak caused by the scavenge pump not evacuating enough oil and reducing engine power.^[27]: 264 Just 11 of the 22 starters were classified finishers,^[80] but 10 were running when the race ended.^[64]

The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media in the subsequent press conference.^{[28]: 220–221} Coulthard admitted to being a little fortunate due to Montoya's pace but believed he and McLaren were still competitive in wet weather. He called it a "very important" to end Ferrari's streak of six successive victories and was happy to win the Grand Prix.^[81] Michael Schumacher said he was hoping for a wet track despite there being no precise predictions on when the rain would arrive but added that his car did not work the way he liked that led to him making driver errors.^[81] Heidfeld called it "incredible for me" to claim his first career podium finish and was delighted for Sauber for putting in the work, adding, "it's really hard for me to realise right now because to be out on the podium, it is amazing."^[81] He added he supposed it was the exception to finish on the podium in the season but affirmed he would attempt to return to the top three as often as he could.^[81]

Mercedes-Benz motorsport head Norbert Haug hailed Coulthard's win as "a turning point" and was complimentary of the driver, saying, "He showed what he is really capable of by beating Michael Schumacher in extremely difficult conditions. We have always believed in him but up to now he did not have the best car."^[82] The stewards fined Verstappen $15,000 for his collision with Montoya that took both drivers out of the race.^[83] Montoya called the collision "strange" as he claimed he had braked where he had done during the race meeting and believed Verstappen hit him because he braked too late.^[84][85] Verstappen said he felt "very sorry" for Montoya because he learnt he was the race leader but stressed he could not avoid him.^[86] He added that he did not purposefully cause the accident and personally apologised to Montoya.^[87] Williams technical director Patrick Head argued that Verstappen should have taken sole responsibility for the accident.^[85] An appeal of Verstappen's fine by Arrows was subsequently withdrawn.^[88]

The stewards summoned Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher following their collision on lap three and their second successive collision following the Malaysian Grand Prix two weeks earlier. They deemed it "a racing incident" and cautioned both drivers over their future conduct.^[83][89] Barrichello argued that Ralf Schumacher changed his line after overtaking another driver and insisted he did not apply the brakes later than usual.^[90] Ralf Schumacher blamed Barrichello for causing the accident, adding, "If you drive like that these things come back on you one day."^[90] Three-time world champion Niki Lauda felt Barrichello should have received a two-race ban for his involvement in a recent series of accidents.^[91] Brawn defended Barrichello, commenting, "Two people go for a corner, and it takes two people to have an incident. Ralf has been involved in an incident at every race this year – you can be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I gather it was just a racing incident."^[92]

Häkkinen was fined $5,000 for leaving his McLaren on the starting grid without the steering wheel attached.^[83][86] He did not attribute blame for his first lap stall, "I do not want to start making any excuses. The car just wasn't able to move because it stalled."^[93] Prost blamed a jammed fuel rig for preventing Alesi from scoring the team's first points since September 1999 and it reported the problem to the FIA because of the flammability of Formula One fuel and the accompanying safety issues.^[94][95] Fisichella heralded his sixth place finish as a "perfect" result for him and Benetton, something he had not expected.^[27]: 264

The result meant Michael Schumacher continued to lead the World Drivers' Championship with 26 points. Coulthard's victory moved from third to second while Barrichello's retirement dropped him to third. Heidfeld's third-place finish promoted him to fourth while Frentzen fell to fifth.^[7] Ferrari continued to lead the World Constructors' Championship with 36 points. McLaren in second closed up to be within 15 points of Ferrari through Coulthard's win. Sauber overtook Jordan for third while BAR moved to fifth with 14 rounds of the season remaining.^[7]

Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold.

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	4	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	71	1:39:00.834	5	10
2	1	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	71	+16.164	1	6
3	16	Nick Heidfeld	Sauber-Petronas	70	+1 Lap	9	4
4	9	Olivier Panis	BAR-Honda	70	+1 Lap	11	3
5	12	Jarno Trulli	Jordan-Honda	70	+1 Lap	7	2
6	7	Giancarlo Fisichella	Benetton-Renault	70	+1 Lap	18	1
7	10	Jacques Villeneuve	BAR-Honda	70	+1 Lap	12
8	22	Jean Alesi	Prost-Acer	70	+1 Lap	15
9	20	Tarso Marques	Minardi-European	68	+3 Laps	22
10	8	Jenson Button	Benetton-Renault	64	+7 Laps	20
11	11	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jordan-Honda	63	Electrical	8
Ret	17	Kimi Räikkönen	Sauber-Petronas	55	Spun off/Tyre	10
Ret	5	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	54	Spun off	2
Ret	23	Gastón Mazzacane	Prost-Acer	54	Clutch	21
Ret	18	Eddie Irvine	Jaguar-Cosworth	52	Spun off	13
Ret	6	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	38	Collision damage	4
Ret	14	Jos Verstappen	Arrows-Asiatech	37	Collision	17
Ret	19	Luciano Burti	Jaguar-Cosworth	30	Engine	14
Ret	21	Fernando Alonso	Minardi-European	25	Electrical	19
Ret	15	Enrique Bernoldi	Arrows-Asiatech	15	Hydraulics	16
Ret	2	Rubens Barrichello	Ferrari	2	Collision/Spun off	6
Ret	3	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	0	Stalled/Gearbox	3
Sources:[2][96]

Drivers' Championship standings +/– Pos. Driver Points 1 Michael Schumacher 26 1 2 David Coulthard 20 1 3 Rubens Barrichello 10 1 4 Nick Heidfeld 7 1 5 Heinz-Harald Frentzen 5 Sources:[7][97]

Constructors' Championship standings +/– Pos. Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 36 2 McLaren-Mercedes 21 1 3 Sauber-Petronas 8 1 4 Jordan-Honda 7 3 5 BAR-Honda 3 Sources:[7][97]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

23°42′13″S 46°41′59″W / 23.70361°S 46.69972°W / -23.70361; -46.69972