The action was triggered off with the Friday Practice Session. The practice session saw the Ferrari cars topping the charts with Mclaren following them closely. The top six dirvers were placed as follows -
1)Rubens Barichello - Ferrari 2)Jarno Trulli - Jaguar 3)Michael Schumacher - Ferrari 4)David Coulthard - Mclaren Mercedes 5)Mika Hakkinen - Mclaren Mercedes 6)Ralf Schumacher - Williams BMW
The next area of competition brought them to the qualifying session on Saturday for the Sunday's Grand Prix. The teams having made the necessary modifications over the day, considering Friday's Practice, put their cars to test on the track. The session exhibited fine performances from the new entrants like Kimi Raikkonen, Juan Pablo Montoya and others. The Ferrari seemed to be the best vehicle on track and that was reflected in the final Qualifying standings which were as follows -
1)Michael Schumacher - Ferrari 2)Rubens Barichello - Ferrari 3)Mika Hakkinen - Mclaren Mercedes
Other drivers that followed were Heinz-Herald Frentzen, Nick Heidfield, David Coulthard, etc. The teams were now making last minuts changes for the Final Showdown, Sunday's Grand Prox that sparks off the 2001 season. For the last time they were allowed to fine tune their engines and dynamics of the car, to be put to test the next day.
The grid had Ferrari ahead of Mclaren and other teams with lots to prove following these two Formula One giants. The forecast was mainly sunny with very minor expectation of wet weather. The signal went green and the race started. The start showed a fine performance by Mika Hakkinen who immediately overtook Rubens Barichello to gain second place. The start itself saw some cars crashing out due to collisions. Just after some time, Jacques Villenuve and Ralf Schumacher got involved in a collision which sent Villenuve several feet off the track and into the barrier separating the track and the spectators. The safety car was brought out and the cars were slowed down till the debris from the crash was cleared. Then the race resumed with Schumacher at first place and Hakkinen second. Schumacher found the perfect balance of the car and extended his lead over Hakkinen, who struggled a bit with his Mercedes. Halfway thorugh the race in the 26th lap, Hakkinen had a suspension problem and lost control over a turn resulting into collision with the tyre wall and in turn, exit from the race.
Go To Page: 1 2
