2001 Spanish Grand Prix Race Report© Max J. Davies
Jul 24, 2001
For Mika Hakkinen, the 2001 season is turning into his worst nightmare. Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix should have seen the double world champion collect his first win of the year and finally kick start his championship campaign. Instead, the clutch in his McLaren Mercedes failed in noisy fashion a mere seven corners from the chequered flag and in doing so, handed Michael Schumacher his 3rd win of the season.
"It's super disappointing" said Hakkinen, "It could have been a fantastic finish for me. It was going so easy and I didn't even have to push. I was more or less cruising, short shifting, braking early, accelerating gently but it just didn't work out for me." Schumacher was delighted with his result, yet paid tribute to Hakkinen's misfortune when asked how he felt inheriting the lead on the last lap, "I simply felt sorry." said Michael, "We had both done a very good race, entertaining until the last pit stop and to see him retire on the last lap is shocking because he did everything right; but sometimes, that's just the way it goes."
Juan Pablo Montoya scored his first points of the season with a fine drive to 2nd and following Hakkinen's misfortune, BAR driver Jaques Villeneuve made his first visit to the podium since the 1998 Hungarian Grand Prix. Jordan's Jarno Trulli scored his 3rd points Finnish in a row with 4th place and David Coulthard, having stalled on the parade lap, climbed his way up through the field to finish a creditable 5th. Nick Heidfeld rounded out the top six with a competent drive in the Sauber. Friday's practice sessions were headed by various drivers yet indicated Ferrari and McLaren would again be setting the pace. Hoping to carry the momentum over from their victory at Imola two weeks before, the Michelin shod Williams team were struggling to find any grip on Barcelona's abrasive surface. Saturday's qualifying session was run in hot and sunny conditions and was all about Michael Schumacher. The defending champion was the last of the drivers to go out for his first run and immediately set a stunning 1:18.226, some four tenths faster than Coulthard's earlier pace setting lap. Hakkinen and Barrichello were both slightly held up by traffic in their early laps when many decided to come out onto the track. With 20 minutes remaining, Coulthard and Schumacher re-appeared with the McLaren driver failing to improve his time whilst the German hurled his Ferrari around Barcelona to set an even faster lap of 1:18.201 and claim his 4th pole position of the season. Hakkinen, having managed to get his first clear run of the afternoon, set a 1:18:286 to claim second place on the grid. Coulthard was subsequently demoted to third with Barrichello fourth. Ralf Schumacher completed a tough day for BMW Williams with 5th place with Trulli again out-qualifying his team mate Heinz Harald Frentzen, to claim 6th.
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