2001 German F1 Grand Prix Race Report & Results

Event: German Grand Prix
Track: Hockenheimring

Weather: dry, warm, sunny

Ralf SCHUMACHER won his 3rd F1 World Championship race at the 2001 German F1 GP. The Williams-BMW driver started from 2nd on the grid and won at Hockenheim by 46.117 seconds from Ferraris Rubens Barrichello. It was the 111th win for the Williams F1 team and Ralfs 3rd win of the season.

Montoya pole, Williams-BMW lock out the front row

Hockenheim on 29 July 2001 belonged to BMW power from Saturday afternoon. Juan-Pablo Montoya took his first pole of the season with a 1:38.117, a Williams-BMW lap that comfortably beat Ralf Schumacher's sister car. Mika Hakkinen was third for McLaren, then Michael Schumacher, only fourth in his home race, exactly 0.824 seconds off the pace on a circuit where BMW's straight-line advantage on the long forest blasts was decisive.

Race day: Ralf turns Montoya's pole into a family embarrassment

Michael Schumacher's home Grand Prix ended before he had done a lap of racing. On the run to the first corner Luciano Burti locked up and rammed the back of the Ferrari, launching Schumacher into the air and out of his home race in front of an already-anxious German crowd. It was the second time in three seasons Schumacher had failed to finish at Hockenheim, and the crowd's mood turned quickly.

Montoya led the first 22 laps hard, but the Williams pit-stop strategy fell to his teammate. Ralf inherited the lead on lap 23 after the first round of stops, kept it to the flag, and won by 46.117 seconds. Montoya's race ended on lap 25 with a spectacular engine failure that pitched him into retirement in a plume of blue smoke, a bitter end to a weekend where he had been the fastest driver on the circuit.

Barrichello saves Ferrari's day, Villeneuve on the podium

Rubens Barrichello ran a controlled race to take second for Ferrari, some 46.117 seconds off Ralf but crucially clear of the rest to save Ferrari's scoring day. Jacques Villeneuve took a superb third for BAR-Honda, his first podium since the 1997 season, and Giancarlo Fisichella took fourth for Benetton-Renault. Jenson Button scored his first F1 points of 2001 with fifth for Benetton, and Jean Alesi took the final point for Prost.

Championship: Coulthard clings on as Ralf closes

With Michael Schumacher's DNF and David Coulthard's scoreless race (he retired with electrical problems), the Ferrari-McLaren championship battle stayed exactly as it was, 33 points to 26 between Schumacher and Coulthard. Ralf Schumacher's 10 points lifted him to third in the standings, tied on points with Barrichello and with real momentum ahead of the summer break. Hungary two weeks later would test whether Williams-BMW could keep the pressure on Ferrari with five races left.

Classification 2001 German F1 GP

Pos	#	Driver	Constructor	Car & Engine	Grid	Laps	Led	Time	Pts
1	5	RalfSchumacher	Williams	Williams FW23BMW P80	2	45	23	1:18:17.873	10
2	2	RubensBarrichello	Ferrari	Ferrari F2001Ferrari 050	6	45		1:19:03.990+46.117s	6
3	10	JacquesVilleneuve	BAR	BAR 003Honda RA001E	12	45		1:19:20.679+1:02.806	4
4	7	GiancarloFisichella	Benetton	Benetton B201Renault RS21	17	45		1:19:21.350+1:03.477	3
5	8	JensonButton	Benetton	Benetton B201Renault RS21	18	45		1:19:23.327+1:05.454	2
6	22	JeanAlesi	Prost	Prost AP04Acer 01A	14	45		1:19:23.823+1:05.950	1
7	9	OlivierPanis	BAR	BAR 003Honda RA001E	13	45		1:19:35.400+1:17.527
8	15	EnriqueBernoldi	Arrows	Arrows A22Asiatech 001	19	44		+1 lap
9	14	JosVerstappen	Arrows	Arrows A22Asiatech 001	20	44		+1 lap
10	21	FernandoAlonso	Minardi	Minardi PS01European 3.0 V10	21	44		+1 lap
DNF	12	JarnoTrulli	Jordan	Jordan EJ11Honda RA001E	10	34		Hydraulics
DNF	4	DavidCoulthard	McLaren	McLaren MP4/16Mercedes FO 110	5	27		Engine
DNF	20	TarsoMarques	Minardi	Minardi PS01European 3.0 V10	22	26		Gearbox
DNF	6	Juan-PabloMontoya	Williams	Williams FW23BMW P80	1	24	22	Engine
DNF	1	MichaelSchumacher	Ferrari	Ferrari F2001Ferrari 050	4	23		Fuel Pressure
DNF	23	LucianoBurti	Prost	Prost AP04Acer 01A	16	23		Spun off
DNF	17	KimiRäikkönen	Sauber	Sauber C20 Petronas 01A	8	16		Halfshaft
DNF	18	EddieIrvine	Jaguar	Jaguar R2Cosworth CR-3	11	16		Fuel Pressure
DNF	3	MikaHäkkinen	McLaren	McLaren MP4/16Mercedes FO 110	3	13		Engine
DNF	11	RicardoZonta	Jordan	Jordan EJ11Honda RA001E	15	7		Collision
DNF	16	NickHeidfeld	Sauber	Sauber C20 Petronas 01A	7	0		Collision
DNF	19	Pedrode la Rosa	Jaguar	Jaguar R2Cosworth CR-3	9	0		Collision

Fastest lap: 1:41.808 min. by Juan-Pablo Montoya

About the author

Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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