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2001 Japanese Grand Prix

Coordinates: 34°50′35″N 136°32′26″E / 34.84306°N 136.54056°E / 34.84306; 136.54056
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2001 Japanese Grand Prix
Race 17 of 17 in the 2001 Formula One World Championship
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Race details[1][2]
Date 14 October 2001
Official name 2001 Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix
Location Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka, Mie, Japan
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.859 km (3.641 miles)
Distance 53 laps, 310.331 km (192.831 miles)
Weather Cloudy, mild, dry, air temp: 24°C
Attendance 310,000[3]
Pole position
Driver
Ferrari
Time 1:32.484
Fastest lap
Driver Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW
Time 1:36.944 on lap 46
Podium
First
Ferrari
Second
Williams-BMW
Third
McLaren-Mercedes
Lap leaders

The 2001 Japanese Grand Prix (formally the 2001 Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix)[4] was a Formula One motor race held before 150,000 spectators on 14 October 2001, at the Suzuka International Racing Course in Suzuka, Mie, Japan. It was the 17th and final round of the 2001 Formula One World Championship. Ferrari's Michael Schumacher won the 53-lap race from pole position. Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya finished in second and McLaren's David Coulthard was third.

World Drivers' Champion Michael Schumacher qualified on pole position by setting the fastest lap time in the one-hour qualifying session. Montoya started from second, alongside Schumacher. The Ferrari driver held off an challenge by Montoya to claim the lead on the first lap and only lost it until during the two rounds of pit stops for the race leaders. Schumacher won the race, with Montoya 3.1 seconds behind. Coulthard rounded out the podium finishers in third, having been let through by his McLaren teammate Mika Häkkinen in the final five laps of the Grand Prix.

Schumacher's victory was his ninth of the season, tying his own record set in 1995 and 2000 and Nigel Mansell in 1992. As a result of the race, Schumacher ended the year with a season-record 123 points scored in the World Drivers' Championship and surpassed the all-time record set by Alain Prost for the most career points scored. Coulthard ended the year as runner-up in the standings, 56 points behind Schumacher. Ferrari had a final gap of 77 points over McLaren in the World Constructors' Championship.

Background

[edit]

The 2001 Japanese Grand Prix was the 17th and final Formula One race of the 2001 Formula One World Championship, held on 14 October 2001, at the 5.859 km (3.641 mi) Suzuka International Racing Course in Suzuka, Mie, Japan.[2] Some news websites inaccurately reported that the event would be postponed because of the United States invasion of Afghanistan caused by the previous month's September 11 attacks in the United States but the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; Formula One's governing body) issued a statement refuting the reports.[5][6]

Before the race, both the World Drivers' Championship and World Constructors' Championship were already won, with Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher having secured the World Drivers' Championship four races earlier in the Hungarian Grand Prix and Ferrari took the World Constructors' Championship at the same event, with McLaren too many points behind to be able to catch them.[7] Seven points separated McLaren's David Coulthard and Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello in the battle to finish runner-up in the standings. Barrichello had to win the Grand Prix and for Coulthard to finish fifth or lower in order to claim second in the championship.[8][9] Sauber were battling Jordan for fourth position in the World Constructors' Championship and were five points ahead although there was an appeal against Jarno Trulli's disqualification from the preceding United States Grand Prix that would have decreased their margin by two points if the appeal with successful.[10]

Following the United States Grand Prix on 30 September,[11] most teams tested car components, aerodynamic packages, racing setups and tyres at various European racing circuits between 2 and 6 October in preparation for the Japanese Grand Prix.[12][13] British American Racing (BAR), Sauber and Jordan each tested for three days at Italy's Mugello Circuit,[12][13] while Benetton, Jaguar, McLaren and Williams were at Spain's Circuit de Catalunya for three days.[12] Ferrari spent six days at their test track, the Italian Fiorano Circuit, with Luca Badoer, their test driver, and Michael Schumacher.[14][15][16] The Arrows, Minardi and Prost teams did not conduct any testing in that time, focusing on the development of their 2002 cars.[12]

The press speculated whether Michael Schumacher would help his teammate Barrichello become the championship runner-up in Japan.[17] Michael Schumacher commented he was "only interested in winning" but added that there was a small possibility Ferrari could help Barrichello secure the runners-up spot.[17] Barrichello had been twice asked to help Michael Schumacher in the season and wanted to secure second in the standings without his teammate's assistance, saying, "After the team won the championship with Michael it has been proved that with a little bit of help and a little bit more attention I can do the job. But at the end of the day I have to win the race and David has to finish fifth or lower, so it's a hard task."[9] Coulthard said that he was arriving in Japan to win the Grand Prix and become the championship runner-up.[18]

There were eleven two-driver teams, each representing a different constructor, with no changes to the entry list from the previous race.[19][20] This was the final Grand Prix for Jordan's Jean Alesi and McLaren's two-time World Champion Mika Häkkinen.[21] It was also the last Grand Prix for the Prost squad because they went bankrupt and closed down during the following off-season,[22] and for the Benetton team as it was renamed as Renault in deference to the team's French owners for 2002.[23] Multiple teams brought experimental solutions to the track to direct the development of their 2002 vehicles.[20][24] Ferrari brought a lighter, more rigid F2001 chassis while McLaren did introduced any particular innovations and Williams used a top-exit exhaust featured at the United States Grand Prix on both their racing cars.[20][2] Honda supplied BAR and Jordan with a new V10 engine specification while Cosworth provided Jaguar with a new engine specification.[20][25] Renault provided Benetton with a new qualifying engine for the team's final race. Arrows installed the aerodynamic package used at the Hungarian Grand Prix on their A22 cars and Minardi installed new titanium gearboxes in both of their cars.[20]

Practice

[edit]

A total of four practice sessions preceded Sunday's race, two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday.[26] The first practice session was on Friday morning and was held in sunny weather.[27] Michael Schumacher lapped fastest with a time of 1:37.443 set 44 minutes in, 0.355 seconds faster than Häkkinen in second.[28] They were ahead of Williams's Juan Pablo Montoya, Barrichello, Alesi, Coulthard, Montoya's teammate Ralf Schumacher, Prost's Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Jaguar's Pedro de la Rosa and Sauber's Nick Heidfeld.[29] Some drivers went off the track during the session.[30] With one minute remaining,[28] Tomáš Enge lost control of the rear of his Prost car at an apex when he went off the racing line and oversteered off the circuit across the gravel trap at 130R corner.[20][29] He struck the tyre barrier at high speed, removing his two right-hand side wheels.[30] Enge complained his neck was sore,[31] but exited the car unaided as practice was red-flagged.[27] He did not participate in the second practice session.[32]

Tomáš Enge (left) and Nick Heidfeld (right) both sustained heavy accidents during the two free practice sessions held on the Friday before the race.

It continued to be sunny for the second session that afternoon.[33] On a light fuel load,[25] Alesi set the day's fastest lap time of 1:35.454 and was 0.523 seconds faster than the second-placed Montoya. De La Rosa, Häkkinen, Frentzen, Jaguar's Eddie Irvine, Coulthard, Michael Schumacher, Ralf Schumacher and Barrichello followed in the top ten.[34] Halfway through the session,[32][33] Heidfeld was on his first quick lap on a new set of soft Bridgestone tyres when lost control of the front of his vehicle going into the final right-hand corner in the S-Curve section and spun backwards into the inside tyre barrier at 150 mph (240 km/h).[20][34][35] His car stopped in the centre of the circuit,[36] and he suffered a minor headache and debris was littered across the track.[20][25][31] Heidfeld was transported to the medical centre,[37] and practice was stopped for ten minutes.[31] Late in the session, Coulthard spun into the turn two gravel trap;[36] his right-front brake assembly had caught fire in the pit lane after a strap of trap tape that was not completely torn from a duct had got caught in the brake cooling duct and the heat generated by the brake ignited it.[20][32][38]

The third practice session was held on Saturday morning in sunny conditions.[39][40] Michael Schumacher was the first driver to lap below the 1:35 mark all weekend and was fastest with a time of 1:34.711 he recorded with eight minutes remaining.[39] He was 0.332 seconds faster than Häkkinen, who in turn, was ahead of Barrichello, Coulthard, the Williams duo of Ralf Schumacher and Montoya, Sauber's Kimi Räikkönen, Trulli, Benetton's Jenson Button and Frentzen in positions three to ten.[41] The final session saw Ralf Schumacher recorded the first sub-1:34 lap in Suzuka's history with a time of 1:33.969 set with three minutes remaining. He was quicker than teammate Montoya, Coulthard, Michael Schumacher, Button, Trulli, Heidfeld, Häkkinen, Barrichello and BAR's Jacques Villeneuve in the next nine places.[41][42]

Qualifying

[edit]
Michael Schumacher (pictured in 2007), the 2001 World Drivers' Championship, qualified on pole position and went on to win the race the following day.

During Saturday's one-hour qualifying session, each driver was limited to twelve laps, with the starting positions determined by the drivers' fastest laps. The 107% rule was in force during this session, forcing each driver to stay within 107% of the quickest lap time in order to qualify for the race.[26] Michael Schumacher improved on his lap time in each of the three out of the four runs allocated to him,[43] and clinched his 11th pole position of the season and the 43rd of his career with a time of 1:32.484 on a new set of tyres.[20][44] He broke the all-time lap record of the circuit set by Gerhard Berger in 1991.[45] Montoya had a slight car balance issue on a low fuel load compared to Michael Schumacher but was faster in the track's faster sections.[20][46] He was seven-tenths of a second behind in second,[44] having been unable to improve on his final run.[43] Ralf Schumacher was 0.111 seconds slower than his teammate in third,[45] and was pleased to run with no one impeding him towards the conclusion of qualifying.[47] Barrichello was unable to eliminate the understeer affecting his Ferrari, preventing him from lapping faster and he qualified fourth.[46][47] Häkkinen, fifth, had his car's ride height lowered and the tyre pressures modified but it did not eliminate an understeer he had.[20][47] Giancarlo Fisichella had Renault's new engine fitted in his Benetton car and took sixth.[46][47] Coulthard qualified in seventh.[44] Trulli, eighth, was slowed slightly by slower cars in the second sector during his fastest lap.[20][47] Button secured his best qualifying result of the season in ninth,[43][44] reporting excess oversteer on the setup his team used.[46][47] Heidfeld took 10th, having encountered slower cars on his final run and lost downforce.[20]

In his final Formula One qualifying session, Alesi took 11th although work with his race engineer David Brown was not enough for him to close up to teammate Trulli.[20][46] Räikkönen learnt that his car was 12 kg (26 lb) overweight and had understeer on his last run that slowed him through the Esses, leaving him in 12th.[20][47] Irvine was losing half a second to his teammate De La Rosa on the engine power but qualified ahead of him in 13th.[44][46] Villenueve, 14th, was happy with his car's balance and made setup changes to it that did not have the anticipated effect.[47] Frentzen's first run was enough to put him 15th and was unable to lap faster because of understeer on the soft Michelin tyres. De La Rosa took 16th with his best lap recorded on his third run, having been unable to find a suitable balance on his car's tyres.[20][46] BAR's Olivier Panis reported that his car felt slightly better en route to 17th.[47] Fernando Alonso extracted additional performance from his Minardi car and improved on each lap to qualify 18th.[20][45] Following his accident the day before,[47] Enge drove the spare Prost AP04 car set his fastest lap on his first run after which modifications prevented him from lapping faster and was 19th.[20] The Arrows duo of Enrique Bernoldi and Jos Verstappen qualified 20th and 21st, respectively.[45] Bernoldi encountered slower cars on his quickest lap while Verstappen drove a car that lacked pace but had decent handling.[20] Alex Yoong completed the starting order for Minardi in 22nd,[45] expressing disappointment over not improving greatly on each of his runs and traffic possibly stopping him from lapping faster during his third run.[20]

Qualifying classification

[edit]
Pos No Driver Constructor Lap Gap
1 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:32.484 —
2 6 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:33.184 +0.700
3 5 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:33.297 +0.813
4 2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:33.323 +0.839
5 3 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.662 +1.178
6 7 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Renault 1:33.830 +1.346
7 4 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.916 +1.432
8 11 Italy Jarno Trulli Jordan-Honda 1:34.002 +1.518
9 8 United Kingdom Jenson Button Benetton-Renault 1:34.375 +1.891
10 16 Germany Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 1:34.386 +1.902
11 12 France Jean Alesi Jordan-Honda 1:34.420 +1.936
12 17 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Sauber-Petronas 1:34.581 +2.097
13 18 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth 1:34.851 +2.367
14 10 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1:35.109 +2.625
15 22 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Prost-Acer 1:35.132 +2.648
16 19 Spain Pedro de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth 1:35.639 +3.155
17 9 France Olivier Panis BAR-Honda 1:35.766 +3.282
18 21 Spain Fernando Alonso Minardi-European 1:36.410 +3.926
19 23 Czech Republic Tomáš Enge Prost-Acer 1:36.446 +3.962
20 15 Brazil Enrique Bernoldi Arrows-Asiatech 1:36.885 +4.401
21 14 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Arrows-Asiatech 1:36.973 +4.489
22 20 Malaysia Alex Yoong Minardi-European 1:38.246 +5.762
107% time: 1:38.958
Sources:[2][48]

Warm-up

[edit]

A half-hour warm-up session for teams to fine-tune their cars for the event was held in sunny weather conditions on the morning of the race.[49][50] Michael Schumacher was the fastest driver during the session with a lap time of 1:36.231. Coulthard was 0.454 seconds slower in second position.[51] Heidfeld set a lap late in warm-up to go third-fastest.[52] Trulli, Alesi, Häkkinen, Barrichello, Frentzen, Räikkönen and De La Rosa in the highest-placed Michelin-shod car occupied positions four to ten.[51][52] There were no incidents during the session,[50] in which some drivers drove their team's spare cars and most Michelin-shod cars had their tyres scrubbed.[53]

Race

[edit]
Juan Pablo Montoya (pictured in 2002) finished in second position

The race was held in the afternoon before 150,000 spectators from 14:30 local time.[20][54] The weather conditions were fine and dry,[55] with the air temperature 24 °C (75 °F) and the track temperature was between 26 and 27 °C (79 and 81 °F).[20][56] Yoong started from the pit lane in the spare Minardi car setup for Alonso because his team discovered an electrical fault with the gearbox in his race car.[20][54] Bernoldi stalled on the dummy grid and his car was unable to be restarted, so he was pushed into a gap into the pit lane, where he started.[32][55][56] When the red lights went out to signal the start of the race,[57] Michael Schumacher veered to the right to the inside line and blocked the fast-starting Montoya to maintain the race lead on the drive into the first corner.[58] Ralf Schumacher briefly challenged his teammate but remained in third position.[58][59] Fisichella made a fast start with the aid of his car's powerful launch control system and moved past Häkkinen for fifth.[20][56] Barrichello was on a light fuel load because Ferrari had put him on a three-stop strategy to try and get him to the front of the pack.[55][60] He overtook Ralf Schumacher on the inside for third into the left-hand 130R turn.[61][62]

At the conclusion of the first lap, Michael Schumacher led Montoya by 3.6 seconds.[60] The two drivers were in turn followed by Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher, Fisichella and Häkkinen.[55] Michael Schumacher began to pull away from the rest of the field,[63] since he was on a new set of tyres and running without aerodynamic turbulence affecting his car and Montoya starting the race on a set of scrubbed tyres that took time to get up to performance relative to the Bridgestones.[60][64] On lap two, Barrichello overtook Montoya on the inside on the approach to the chicane for second and avoided contact with the Williams driver by putting two wheels off the circuit.[55][58] However, at the beginning of the following lap, Montoya had more speed coming out of the chicane and this allowed him to slipstream past Barrichello to reclaim second at the end of the start-finish straight into the first corner.[58][61] During the same lap, Fisichella lost control of his car exiting the Denger Curve turn and spun 180 degrees.[20][55][56] He was able to continue driving,[54] but dropped from fifth to 12th.[58] Frentzen made an unscheduled pit stop to replace a dislodged nose cone on lap four after he had to swerve to avoid a collision with De La Rosa at the chicane to complete lap two.[20][54] Panis overtook Alonso for 17th on the same lap.[58]

Jean Alesi was battling Sauber driver Kimi Räikkönen for ninth when Räikkönen lost control of his car on lap six and Alesi was caught up in the accident.

On lap six, Räikkönen in ninth had his left-rear suspension failure on a bump at the exit of the Dunlop Curve corner.[20][57] His car suddenly snapped into a spin at high speed. Alesi was battling Räikkönen for position and steered to the outside but was unable to avoid colliding with the right-rear of the Sauber car at 125 mph (201 km/h) as they slid off to the outside of the track.[20][58][64] Both men struck the tyre barrier,[58] causing debris and wheels to litter the track and one avoided hitting another driver.[56][63] Alesi's helmet was grazed by Räikkönen's nose cone.[65] Approaching drivers were required to take avoiding action to stay away from the detached wheels,[63] but officials did not deploy the safety car to close up the field after deciding that debris had not encroached onto the circuit.[62] Räikkönen complained of head and neck pains and was transported to the medical centre.[54][57] In the meantime, Fisichella overtook Irvine for ninth as they were passing through the accident scene.[56][58] Michael Schumacher missed his braking point for the last chicane and went across the grass on lap nine.[55][56] He was able to remain the race leader.[54] From lap ten, Montoya began to stabilise the gap between himself and Michael Schumacher as his Michelin tyres appeared to perform better as they began to wear out.[54][57][60]

Fisichella overtook his teammate Button for eighth place on lap 12.[56][58] Barrichello had been unable to overtake Montoya and thus the plan for Michael Schumacher to let him past was abandoned.[60] He thus entered the pit lane to make the first of three scheduled pit stops on lap 16.[55][54] Barrichello's stop lasted 7.2 seconds and he dropped from third to eighth,[63] just behind the duel between Trulli and Fisichella.[55] He passed Fisichella for seventh at the chicane as both Fisichella and Trulli entered the pit lane on lap 17.[56][59] At the conclusion of the next lap, Michael Schumacher entered the pit lane for the first of two scheduled pit stops. The stop lasted 8.8 seconds and he rejoined the circuit in fourth position, behind Häkkinen.[55] Montoya took the race lead and maintained it for three laps until his first pit stop on lap 21 that dropped him to fifth, ahead of Barrichello but behind Coulthard. This promoted his teammate Ralf Schumacher to first position until his own pit stop two laps later.[54] Häkkinen took the lead on lap 24 until his pit stop returned Michael Schumacher to first.[58] He had held off Michael Schumacher for the preceding five laps in which Schumacher was unable to use his new tyres correctly and lost more than a second per lap.[60]

On lap 25, Irvine retired in the pit lane because the two Intertechnique fuel rig power sources were malfunctioning and Jaguar were consequently unable to insert fuel in his car.[20][32][63] During a battle with Barrichello,[60] Ralf Schumacher was placed under investigation by the FIA stewards for repeatedly cutting the final chicane and gaining an advantage;[56][59] the Williams team had been warned of the infraction beforehand by an email from the stewards.[58][59] He was assessed a ten-second stop-and-go penalty on lap 28,[61] serving it two laps later.[56] At the same time, Barrichello made his second pit stop.[58] As both drivers exited the pit lane, Barrichello's engine either cut out or his pit lane speed limiter was engaged, catching Ralf Schumacher by surprise and overtook him.[58][63] Ralf Schumacher crossed to the right over the white line denoting the separation of the pit lane from the race track.[57][63] The FIA stewards decided not to penalise Ralf Schumacher, deeming him to have not anticipating Barrichello going slowly.[58]

Barrichello overtook Ralf Schumacher for fifth on the inside on the approach to the final chicane on lap 32.[56][58][63] In trying to remain ahead of Barrichello and avoid a collision with him, Ralf Schumacher cut the chicane for the third time and retook the position.[20][56] Barrichello was able to slipstream past Ralf Schumacher on the inside at the end of the start-finish straight.[55][58] Race officials did not penalise Ralf Schumacher for cutting the chicane on that occasion.[63] Michael Schumacher became the first of the leading drivers to make a second pit stop on lap 36. The stop lasted nine seconds and fell to third, behind Häkkinen.[55] This returned Montoya to the race lead until he was hindered by slower cars that prevented him from extracting the pace required to keep the lead. Both he and Häkkinen entered the pit lane for their second pit stops on lap 38.[56][54] Michael Schumacher thus returned to first position,[58] as Coulthard made his final pit stop on the 40th lap.[55] Barrichello made the final front runner to enter the pit lane for a second pit stop two laps later.[56] He rejoined in fifth, ahead of Ralf Schumacher but behind Coulthard.[54]

Mika Häkkinen (pictured in 2009) allowed his McLaren teammate David Coulthard to take third place in the final five laps of the race.

After all the leading drivers had made their second pit stops, Michael Schumacher led from Montoya, Häkkinen, Coulthard, Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher.[63] Enge retired from the Grand Prix in the Prost garage with a brake issue on lap 46.[56][59] Another retirement happened when De La Rosa parked his car that was lacking in downforce with an oil leak in his car after completing 45 laps.[20][32] Fisichella was running in seventh when he lost the use of fourth gear and slowed on track during lap 48. He entered the pit lane and became the Grand Prix's final retirement.[56][59] That promoted Fisichella's teammate Button into seventh place.[57] On lap 49,[54] while on the start-finish straight,[55] Häkkinen pulled over and let his teammate Coulthard past into third position.[58] This was because Häkkinen wanted to give something back to Coulthard for helping Häkkinen to win the 1997 European Grand Prix and the 1998 Australian Grand Prix.[20][66] On lap 50,[54] Villeneuve lost ninth to Heidfeld after losing control of his car at the final chicane.[56]

Montoya pushed hard and closed up to Michael Schumacher but the former maintained the lead for the rest of the race to claim his ninth victory of the season and the 53rd of his career.[61][67] He equalled the record for the most wins in a single season set by himself in 1995 with Benetton, 2000 with Ferrari and Nigel Mansell with Williams in 1992.[67] Montoya finished 3.1 seconds behind in second and Coulthard completed the podium finishers in third. Häkkinen was fourth, with Barrichello fifth and Ralf Schumacher completing the points-paying positions in sixth. Button took seventh with Trulli eighth.[63] Heidfeld took ninth after losing downforce and Villeneuve was tenth. Alonso finished 11th as a result of cars ahead of him retiring. Frentzen was 12th with Panis 13th after chassis adjustments slowed him.[20] The Arrows duo of Bernoldi and Verstappen were 14th and 15th after both drivers served ten-second stop-and-go penalties and their power steering systems failed.[59] Yoong took 16th, registering his first Formula One finish,[68] but he was in pain because the position of his seat gave him cramp in his back.[20][59] Fisichella was the final classified finisher despite his retirement.[58]

Post-race

[edit]

The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media at the press conference held afterwards.[26] Michael Schumacher agreed that winning the Grand Prix was the conclusion "to the perfect Formula One season", adding, "Obviously, we've had maybe two races which have been a little bit difficult for us, Monza and Indianapolis, now we're back to normality and that's a great end and a great result for the championship we have achieved, to finish off the season for the team, for everyone."[69] Montoya thought it was "a good race" to its conclusion and commented on the Michelin tyres, "The car was good, but while the tyres come in, we lose so much time, as we saw with Michael. When he was on new tyres and I was on scrubbed tyres, while the tyres take five or six laps to come in, there's just no competition."[69] Coulthard said that finishing second in the championship was the best possible result for him, adding, "It's nice to finish the season, as Michael said, on the podium. To win would have been fantastic but I've never been that good around Suzuka, so it isn't a bad result."[69]

Alesi's accident with Räikkönen on lap six meant he failed to become the first driver since Richie Ginther in 1964 to be classified in every race of the season.[70] He commented that he was "so relieved that I did not hurt him as he spun right in front of me and there was no way I could avoid him. It is sad to finish my career this way, but that is motor racing and I have to accept this situation."[65] Räikkönen said he was unsure as to what caused the crash but called it "a pretty big shunt and I have a bit of a head and neck ache, but otherwise I'm fine."[71] Jordan team principal Eddie Jordan said he was sympathetic for Alesi but noted the driver was philosophical about the accident.[44] Journalist David Tremayne wrote in The Independent the accident between Alesi and Räikkönen had raised concerns about how effective wheel tethers were in the case of a wheel becoming detached in the event of an car crash.[72]

David Coulthard (pictured in 1999) finished in third place to end the season as runner-up in the World Drivers' Championship.

Häkkinen commented on his final race, "I want to thank everybody who I have worked with for the past nine years for all the effort they put into making my career so successful. I'm happy that David finished on the podium, and I must admit that by letting him past I wanted to give him something back for the occasions in the past when he has helped me."[73] McLaren team principal Ron Dennis felt Häkkinen had much personal discipline and was hard-working to become a Grand Prix winner.[74] Coulthard admitted that he would probably not completely appreciate Häkkinen being his teammate when that was no longer the case. But he added Häkkinen had been his point of reference in judging how well he performed and was disappointed that his teammate was leaving before he had the opportunity to defeat him.[75]

Ferrari celebrated their achievements of the 2001 season before Ferrari fans at the Monza Circuit on 21 October.[76] Barrichello said that he believed that Ralf Schumacher was "a bad loser" following their battle during the race, adding that he was ahead of the Williams driver going into the final chicane and thought it unfair he went straight.[77] Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn admitted to taking a great risk of devising a three-stop strategy for Barrichello because Ferrari believed he would be stuck behind the Williams cars, "The only way he was going to finish second in the Championship was to win the race so we chose an extreme strategy."[78] Nevertheless, Ferrari sporting director Jean Todt praised Barrichello's performance in Japan, saying, "I wish to thank Rubens for the great contribution he has made to the team. He has finished third in the drivers' championship at the end of a faultless year."[78]

Michael Schumacher ended the season with a season-record 123 points in the World Drivers' Championship and the 10 points he earned for winning the Grand Prix saw him surpass the all-time record set by Alain Prost for the most career points scored.[63][67] Coulthard's third-place finish meant he secured runner-up in the championship with 65 points, with Barrichello third with 56 points.[7] Ferrari ended the season with a 77-point gap over McLaren in the World Constructors' Championship and Williams were third.[7] With BAR and Jordan not scoring any points, Sauber secured fourth, their highest-ever finish.[20][79]

Race classification

[edit]

Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold.

Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 Germany Michael Schumacher Ferrari B 53 1:27:33.298 1 10
2 6 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW M 53 +3.154 2 6
3 4 United Kingdom David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes B 53 +23.262 7 4
4 3 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Mercedes B 53 +35.539 5 3
5 2 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Ferrari B 53 +36.544 4 2
6 5 Germany Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW M 53 +37.122 3 1
7 8 United Kingdom Jenson Button Benetton-Renault M 53 +1:37.102 9  
8 11 Italy Jarno Trulli Jordan-Honda B 52 +1 lap 8  
9 16 Germany Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas B 52 +1 lap 10  
10 10 Canada Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda B 52 +1 lap 14  
11 21 Spain Fernando Alonso Minardi-European M 52 +1 lap 18  
12 22 Germany Heinz-Harald Frentzen Prost-Acer M 52 +1 lap 15  
13 9 France Olivier Panis BAR-Honda B 51 +2 laps 17  
14 15 Brazil Enrique Bernoldi Arrows-Asiatech B 51 +2 laps PL1  
15 14 Netherlands Jos Verstappen Arrows-Asiatech B 51 +2 laps 21  
16 20 Malaysia Alex Yoong Minardi-European M 50 +3 laps PL1  
17 7 Italy Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton-Renault M 47 Gearbox 6  
Ret 19 Spain Pedro de la Rosa Jaguar-Cosworth M 45 Oil leak 16  
Ret 23 Czech Republic Tomáš Enge Prost-Acer M 42 Brakes 19  
Ret 18 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Jaguar-Cosworth M 24 Fuel rig 13  
Ret 17 Finland Kimi Räikkönen Sauber-Petronas B 5 Collision/suspension 12  
Ret 12 France Jean Alesi Jordan-Honda B 5 Collision 11  
Sources:[2][80]
Notes
  • ^1 – Enrique Bernoldi and Alex Yoong started the race from the pit lane.[55]

Championship standings after the race

[edit]
For full season standings, see 2001 Formula One World Championship § Results and standings.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
  • Bold text and an asterisk indicates the 2001 World Champions.

References

[edit]
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2002 Japanese Grand Prix

34°50′35″N 136°32′26″E / 34.84306°N 136.54056°E / 34.84306; 136.54056

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