2000 Australian F1 Grand Prix Race Report & Results
Event: Australian Grand Prix
Track: Albert Park Circuit
Weather: dry, warm, sunny
Michael SCHUMACHER won his 36th F1 World Championship race at the 2000 Australian F1 GP. The Ferrari driver started from 3rd on the grid and won at Melbourne after both McLarens failed with engine issues. It was the 126th win for the Ferrari F1 team and Rubens Barrichellos first F1 podium at his Ferrari debut.
McLaren pace, McLaren engine failures
The 2000 Formula 1 world championship opened at Melbourne on 12 March with the McLarens once again the fastest cars on the circuit. Mika Hakkinen took pole with a 1:30.556 lap that was 0.354 seconds clear of team-mate David Coulthard, and Michael Schumacher's Ferrari qualified only third, half a second off the pace. When the lights went out Hakkinen made the perfect start, pulled a Coulthard-shaped gap behind him and drove away into the mid-teens with the composure of a two-time defending world champion.
Then, on lap 18, his Mercedes engine let go in the traditional Melbourne cloud of white smoke on the exit of Turn 12. Ten laps later Coulthard's engine did exactly the same thing at almost exactly the same point. Two Mercedes power units, two identical failures, and a McLaren garage that would spend the flight home rewriting its winter reliability programme. From lap 30 onwards the race was Ferrari's to lose.
Schumacher controls, Barrichello lands his Ferrari debut podium
Michael Schumacher had already taken the lead when the second McLaren went out. His race after that was uneventful in the best possible way: a smoothly executed two-stop strategy, a car in fine reliability form after a difficult winter for Ferrari itself, and no threat behind. He led 33 of the 58 laps and crossed the flag 11.4 seconds clear of his team-mate to score his 36th Grand Prix victory.
Rubens Barrichello, on his Ferrari debut after five seasons at Stewart, took second on the road for his first podium in Maranello red. The Brazilian also set the fastest lap of the race, a 1:31.481 on lap 41, and picked up his first career fastest lap on the same afternoon as his first Ferrari finish. Ralf Schumacher gave Williams-BMW third on the partnership's first race together, a strong signal that BMW's return to F1 as an engine supplier had put the Grove team back in genuine contention.
Debuts: Button, Jaguar, and the new grid order
The 2000 season introduced several new names to the grid. Jenson Button, just 20 years old, took Alessandro Zanardi's Williams seat and finished his debut on lap 46 with an engine failure that was not his fault. Jaguar Racing began its Formula 1 life with Eddie Irvine seventh in qualifying and a race that ended in a mechanical retirement. Sauber lost its Petronas-badged fifth-place finish when Mika Salo was disqualified after the flag for an illegal front wing measured out of tolerance in scrutineering.
The reshuffle at the tail of the field turned Jacques Villeneuve's BAR-Honda into fourth and Giancarlo Fisichella's Benetton into fifth. Behind them, Ricardo Zonta took a first-lap Honda-powered point for BAR, and Alexander Wurz was seventh for Benetton's last full season under the Renault-owned name.
Championship fallout: Ferrari's perfect opening
Ferrari's 1-2 gave the team a 16-point lead in the constructors' championship after just one Grand Prix, with McLaren on zero. Schumacher opened his championship account with 10, Barrichello with six, and the two Ferrari drivers went to Brazil two weeks later with the confidence of a team that had built the winter it had always promised it could. Ross Brawn's reliability programme, delayed by twelve months' worth of frustration, looked ready to deliver at last.
Classification 2000 Australian F1 GP
Fastest lap: 1:31.481 min. by Rubens Barrichello
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