2000 Canadian F1 Grand Prix Race Report & Results
Event: Canadian Grand Prix
Track: Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
Weather: dry, warm, sunny
Michael SCHUMACHER won his 40th F1 World Championship race at the 2000 Canadian F1 GP. The Ferrari driver started from pole and won at Montreal by 0.174 seconds from team-mate Rubens Barrichello. It was the 130th win for the Ferrari F1 team and McLarens 500th Grand Prix.
Schumacher on pole, Ferrari on the front row
Montreal on 18 June 2000 gave Michael Schumacher his fourth pole position of the season, a 1:18.439 lap that beat David Coulthard's McLaren by 0.098 seconds and put Rubens Barrichello's second Ferrari on the second row alongside Mika Hakkinen. The Ferrari front-row lock-out at the same circuit that had shot Schumacher out at Turn 1 twice in his career was the first sign that this Canadian Grand Prix would be a very good day for Maranello.
Both Ferraris made clean starts, and by the exit of the Senna Corner on the opening lap the two red cars had settled into a controlled formation ahead of the McLarens. Schumacher led, Barrichello shadowed him, and the McLarens fell into a defensive rhythm that never developed into an attack.
Barrichello shadows the German for 40 laps
Schumacher led the opening 34 laps at Ferrari's preferred stint length, then pitted on lap 35 as Barrichello took over the lead for the eight laps of the German's pit-stop window. On lap 43, after Barrichello's own stop, Schumacher was back in front and settled into a controlled cruise that only once looked threatened. In the closing 10 laps Barrichello closed the gap from three seconds to under a second and forced Schumacher into some of the sharpest defensive laps of the German's Ferrari career. The gap at the flag was 0.174 seconds, one of the smallest winning margins any Ferrari 1-2 has ever produced.
Whether Barrichello had genuinely been running longer, or whether Ferrari had asked him to hold station, was the subject of intense paddock discussion. Ross Brawn told the Italian press after the race that the team had told Barrichello to bring his car home in second, but the numbers looked closer to a genuine fight than to a scripted result.
Fisichella takes Benetton's last Playlife podium
Behind the Ferraris, Giancarlo Fisichella's Benetton took third, at 15.365 seconds, for what would be Playlife's sixth and last F1 podium as a badged engine before Renault absorbed the operation. Mika Hakkinen could only manage fourth after a lock-up compromised his qualifying and his race was played from behind all day. He set the fastest lap of the race, a 1:19.049 on lap 37, but the Finn never got closer than 18 seconds to the leader.
Jos Verstappen took his best result of the year with fifth for Arrows-Supertec, Jarno Trulli sixth for Jordan, and Coulthard finished a lap-down seventh after a puncture that cost him a full pit stop.
Championship fallout: Schumacher stretches away
Schumacher's 10 points and Barrichello's 6 pulled Ferrari 22 points clear of McLaren in the constructors' championship and gave Schumacher a 14-point lead in the drivers' standings over Coulthard. The eight rounds so far had produced four Ferrari wins, three McLaren wins and one Jordan podium sweep. Hakkinen sat third in the standings with only one victory, an unusual position for the defending champion. Ferrari's reliability had held through the middle stretch of the season, and Magny-Cours in two weeks would test whether the momentum could survive.
Classification 2000 Canadian F1 GP
Fastest lap: 1:19.049 min. by Mika Hakkinen
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