2001 San Marino Grand Prix

The 2001 San Marino Grand Prix (formally the Gran Premio Warsteiner di San Marino 2001) was a Formula One motor race held at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola, Emilia-Romagna, Italy on 15 April 2001. It was the fourth race of the 2001 Formula One season. The 62-lap race was won by Ralf Schumacher driving a Williams-BMW after starting from third position. David Coulthard, who started the Grand Prix from pole position, finished second in a McLaren-Mercedes, while Rubens Barrichello finished third in a Ferrari. Schumacher's win was the first of his Formula One career and the first for Williams since Jacques Villeneuve won the 1997 Luxembourg Grand Prix. The race also represented the first win for French tyre manufacturer Michelin in Formula One since the 1984 Portuguese Grand Prix and the first race since the 1998 Italian Grand Prix not won by Bridgestone.

Second place put Coulthard level on points with Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher in the Drivers' Championship, with both drivers on 26 points after Schumacher retired from the race. In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren reduced Ferrari's lead to 10 points. This was the last race for Gastón Mazzacane.

This event also marked the last time until the 2008 Australian Grand Prix that cars competed without using traction control, which was reintroduced at the next race, and the last race until the 2004 Australian Grand Prix not to feature cars competing with fully-automatic gearboxes and launch control, which were also reintroduced at the next race. These electronic driver aids were reintroduced to ensure no teams were using these systems illegally to gain a competitive advantage.

Background
The 2001 San Marino Grand Prix was the race's 21st iteration, the fourth of seventeen events in the 2001 Formula One World Championship, the first European round of the season and one of two in Italy. It was held on 15 April 2001, at the 17-turn, 4.933 km anti-clockwise Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, outside of San Marino which lacks the facilities to hold a Formula One race. There were eleven teams (each representing a different constructor) entering two drivers each for the Grand Prix with no changes from the season entry list. It was the final race before the legal reintroduction of electronic driver aids at the following in late April.

Going into the race, Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher led the World Drivers' Championship with 26 points; McLaren driver David Coulthard was second on 20 points. Schumacher's Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello was third on 10 points, with Sauber's Nick Heidfeld fourth with seven points and Jordan's Heinz-Harald Frentzen fifth with six points. Ferrari led the World Constructors' Championship with 36 points, 15 points ahead of second-placed McLaren. Sauber was third with eight points, followed by Jordan with seven points and British American Racing (BAR) fifth on three points.

Following the on 1 April, almost all of the teams tested their cars, setups, tyres and car components on European racing tracks with their racing drivers as well as test drivers to prepare for the San Marino Grand Prix. BAR, Jordan and McLaren tested for three days at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire in inclement weather. Jordan's test driver Ricardo Zonta led the first day with BAR's Jacques Villeneuve and McLaren's test driver Alexander Wurz fastest on the second and third days, respectively. Arrows, Prost, Sauber and Williams went to the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in France for three days of testing in mixed conditions. Williams' test driver Marc Gené was fastest on the first day, followed by Prost's Jean Alesi leading the second day and Heidfeld quickest on the third day. Benetton tested for three days at the Circuito de Jerez in Spain, joined by Jaguar on the second and third days. Ferrari tested for five days at its private Fiorano Circuit in Italy with test driver Luca Badoer developing traction control systems in a F1-2000 car for the Spanish Grand Prix while Michael Schumacher concentrated on tyre and aerodynamic development in a F2001 vehicle for three days for the race at Imola. Arrows collected aerodynamic data in straight line speed testing with driver Jonny Kane at France's Lurcy-Lévis track. Minardi did not test since the team was waiting for its equipment to arrive from Brazil.

After Michael Schumacher won the opening two races in Australia and Malaysia, Coulthard took victory in Brazil after overtaking Schumacher in the race to trail the latter by six championship points and end his six-race winning streak. Coulthard said he was happy with how the first three races transpired and spoke of his chances of victory at Imola, "I have won here before and there is no reason why I cannot do so again." Michael Schumacher, the pre-race bookmakers' favourite, acknowledged that it was normal to not win every race in a season and said his team could return to form at Imola. Williams had been successful at the circuit in the 1990s, winning six races in that decade. Driver Juan Pablo Montoya was acquainted with Imola from International Formula 3000 in 1998 and felt his car would be suited to the circuit but not performing as well as it did in Brazil, adding, "I have only been here once before in my life. It doesn't make a great difference, but it does help a little bit."

Multiple teams brought updates to their cars for the race and several squads experimented with different brake ducts to improve cooling and fitted downforce reliant aerodynamic packages. Ferrari introduced a more powerful Type 050 V10 engine by increasing its operation revolutions per minute limit after it was down on power relative to the BMW engine. McLaren installed several modifications to the MP4-16 to improve the car's behaviour when mounting kerbs. It also debuted a new rear wing and introduced a more powerful Mercedes V10 engine. BAR modified the 003's bodywork to incorporate new wings and narrower side flip-ups in the rear wheel. Arrows fitted a front wing with a wider flap to produce more downforce while Jos Verstappen's car featured a minor suspension update made of steel rather than carbon fibre because of a lack of time. Sauber did not change their car and did not use Brembo calipers or power steering since they had not been extensively tested. Prost modified the front wing's endplate flip-ups because they damaged the front tyres when the cars were being moved into the garage on full-lock while Minardi lacked its revised aerodynamic package since their vehicles arrived late from Brazil.

Practice
The race was preceded by four practice sessions, two one-hour sessions on Friday and two 45-minute sessions on Saturday. The first practice session began on a damp and wet track following overnight rain that left parts of the circuit wet, resulting in spray being lifted from the ground in the inclement conditions. Drivers ran on wet-weather tyres but lap times got faster as the circuit dried quickly and they used slick tyres late in the session.

Barrichello set the fastest time of 1:31.998, ahead of teammate Michael Schumacher. McLaren's Mika Häkkinen and Coulthard in third and fourth, were followed by the Jordan pairing of Jarno Trulli and Frentzen, Sauber's Kimi Räikkönen, BAR's Olivier Panis, Jaguar's Eddie Irvine and Panis' teammate Villeneuve in positions five through ten. Three drivers lost control of their cars at the wet turn 17 during the session. Verstappen could not record a lap time as he stopped his car due to a drop in fuel pressure on his first lap after exiting the pit lane. Minardi's Fernando Alonso stopped his car on the track with a hyradulic issue that resulted in a gearbox malfunction.

The circuit had dried considerably after the first session and teams could install slick tyres onto their cars for the second session in which there was a more accurate indication of drivers' pace. Michael Schumacher set the day's fastest time of 1:25.095 with around 15 minutes to go, ahead of his teammate Barrichello in second. Williams' Ralf Schumacher was third-fastest, ahead of Häkkinen, Panis, Räikkönen, Irvine, Villeneuve, Trulli and Jaguar's Luciano Burti in the next seven placings. Coulthard went off the circuit after he lost control of his car and got stuck in the Acque Minerali corner's gravel trap with 13 minutes left in the session when he had a gear selection issue. Montoya was affected by an engine issue caused by an piece of gauze dropping into the engine early in the session. He could not continue driving as the Williams engineers changed engines in his car.

It was cold and wet for the third practice session on Saturday morning following overnight rain, resulting in lap times there were around 11 seconds slower than the 2000 pole position lap time. The track dried slower because of the colder air conditions. Michael Schumacher was fastest with a time of 1:35.633 from his teammate Barrichello in second. Häkkinen, Coulthard, Trulli, Frentzen, Räikkönen, Heidfeld, Villeneuve and Montoya followed in the top ten. Several drivers were caught out by a loss in traction in their cars on the wet track. On his second lap of the session, Burti lost control of his car's rear going into Tosa corner and severely damaged the front suspension against the tyre barrier. Burti exited the car unhurt, but did not participate in the final session as his mechanics repaired the vehicle before qualifying.

It became sunny for the final session as the circuit dried slowly and nearly every driver lapped quicker than they had done in the previous session. Most of the racers used wet-weather tyres and some lost control of their cars on the sodden circuit. Michael Schumacher set the fastest lap of 1:30.737 ahead of teammate Barrichello in second. Coulthard was third from the fourth-placed Räikkönen and the fifth-placed Frentzen. Heidfeld, Ralf Schumacher, Panis, Arrows' Enrique Bernoldi and Häkkinen occupied positions six to ten.

Qualifying
Each driver was limited to twelve laps during Saturday's one-hour qualifying session, with the starting order determined by their fastest laps. The 107% rule was in force during this session, which required each driver to set a time within 107% of the fastest lap to qualify for the race. The track had dried sufficiently since the end of practice but was still damp in some places. There were dark clouds were over Imola just before qualifying began so most drivers except Coulthard set lap times early incase rain fell. As the circuit dried, lap times got faster as the surface provided more grip to cars. Coulthard adjusted his car's setup for his final run after rear-end stability problems, and took the 11th pole position of his career with a time of 1:23.054 he set late in the session. He broke Villeneuve's outright track lap record from 1997 and prevented Michael Schumacher from equalling Ayrton Senna's record of eight consecutive poles set between the and  seasons. Coulthard was 0.228 seconds faster than teammate Häkkinen in second on a time set late in qualifying during the final runs. Ralf Schumacher qualified third, feeling his Michelin tyres were quite competitive. The Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Barrichello took fourth and sixth, the team having selected the slower, more durable harder Bridgestone tyre compound over the better performing softer option because they believed the softer tyres would wear too quickly and thought there would be inclement weather for the race. Michael Schumacher lost times through two driver errors while Barrichello was delayed by slower cars. Trulli took his time and separated the Ferraris to qualify fifth after a lap he set late on. Montoya, seventh, lost seven-tenths of a second going wide onto the grass at the Variante Alta chicane on his final run. Panis was happy with improvements to his car and he secured eighth.

Frentzen on his second run was impeded by Tarso Marques' Minardi car and then on his third run his car developed an understeer, putting him in ninth. Räikkönen qualified ahead of his teammate Heidfeld for the first time in the season to secure tenth, despite going across the grass because he braked too early for the final turn. Villeneuve in 11th was the fastest driver not to qualify in the top ten because he was impeded by slower cars on his final run. Heidfeld was 12th after he encountered slower vehicles on his penultimate run and lost time in the final sector on his last run due to understeer and car balance issues. Irvine took 13th since his Jaguar could not adequately load the tyres. Alesi, 14th, drove a car that was sensitive to setup alternation and the changeable track conditions. Burti was the slower Jaguar driver in 15th because of slow gearbox downshift and a misfiring engine that resulted in him going onto the grass at turn three during his final run. The Arrows duo of Bernoldi and Verstappen qualified 16th and 17th, respectively. A technical issue affected Bernoldi's third run, and an engine-related electrical fault meant Verstappen drove the spare Arrows car for his last run. Alonso took 18th after his team switched car settings. Benetton's Giancarlo Fisichella qualified 19th and his teammate Jenson Button took 21st. Both drivers were hampered by errors, a major lack of grip and slower cars on their final runs and were unable to lap faster. Gastón Mazzacane was 20th for Prost after experiencing a lack of speed in the slower corners and his car's performance deteriorating. Marques completed the starting order in 22nd; he was unable to find a suitable car setup and a slow front-left puncture developed on his final run.

Warm-up
A 30-minute warm-up session took place on the morning of the race for a final opportunity to optimise car setups and testing teams' thoughts on their race strategies. Conditions were dry and sunny for the session as every team shook down both their race and spare cars. Coulthard lapped fastest with a time of 1:26.440. Ralf Schumacher and Häkkinen were second and third despite both drivers understeering onto the gravel traps during the session. Heidfeld and Barrichello completed the top five. Alesi and Mazzacane went off the circuit while Alonso's running was disrupted by a mechanical issues that forced him to stop at the side of the track but he was able to continue driving after he returned to the pit lane and switched to the spare car. Räikkönen's running was restricted because of a broken starter shaft in the spare Sauber car and his race car subsequently developed an electrical failure.

Race
The race started at 14:00 local time. Ralf Schumacher beat the two McLarens off the line to lead into the first corner, with Coulthard remaining ahead of Häkkinen. There was an investigation for jump starts, with Ralf, Coulthard and the BAR of Olivier Panis all being suspected of crawling at the start, but no action was taken against any of the drivers.

On lap 5, Fernando Alonso suffered brake failure, his Minardi bouncing over the Variante Alta chicane and into the wall. One lap later, Jos Verstappen crawled to a halt at the Villeneuve chicane with a broken exhaust on his Arrows. Panis was ahead of both Ferraris for a few laps until Barrichello passed the French driver at the Rivazza double left-hander. Shortly after, Michael Schumacher passed him and moved into 7th place. On lap 17, Räikkönen's steering arm broke just after the Tosa hairpin, which forced his Sauber into the wall.

Michael Schumacher picked up a puncture on his left front tyre on lap 20, causing him to pit. He continued, but came straight back into the pits due to a damaged suspension, possibly caused by an incident in the first few laps when he rammed a kerb too aggressively. Ralf Schumacher, Coulthard, Montoya and Gastón Mazzacane pitted on laps 27–28; Häkkinen made his first stop shortly after, along with Barrichello.

Mazzacane and Jacques Villeneuve retired with engine failures on laps 29–30. Giancarlo Fisichella's Benetton and Eddie Irvine's Jaguar also suffered engine failures, Fisichella in the pits on lap 31 and Irvine on the start-finish straight on lap 43. Meanwhile, Häkkinen was failing to catch Barrichello, doing slower laps. Montoya pitted on lap 47 only to stall his engine; after it had been restarted, he burned his clutch leaving the pits, forcing him to retire. At the same time, Ralf and Häkkinen made their final pit stops.

The Minardi team's race ended when Tarso Marques' engine blew up with just 12 laps to go, just after the pit entrance on the start-finish straight. The marshals put out the fire, and within a few minutes, had already helped pushed the car away.

With eight laps to go, Ralf Schumacher was shown "Oil Pump" on his pitboard, possibly meaning that his oil pressure was slowly falling, and Coulthard began to close up to the Williams at a rate of a few tenths per lap. Ralf managed to hold the McLaren off and take the victory, four seconds ahead. Barrichello finished third but over 30 seconds behind Coulthard; he held off Häkkinen for the last podium place. Trulli finished fifth, the last driver on the lead lap, while Jordan teammate Heinz-Harald Frentzen took the final point. Ralf also set a new lap record, his fastest lap of 1:25.524 being 0.999 seconds faster than the previous year's fastest lap, set by Häkkinen.

Nick Heidfeld's Sauber was 7th, Panis was 8th, and Jean Alesi was 9th in the Prost-Acer. Enrique Bernoldi was 10th in the second Arrows, Luciano Burti 11th in the second Jaguar, and Jenson Button the 12th and last finisher in the second Benetton, two laps behind Ralf.

Post-race
Ralf Schumacher's win meant that two brothers had won a Formula One race for the first time. It was also the first victory for BMW since joining the Williams team as an engine supplier. This also turned out to be Gastón Mazzacane's last Formula One race (and last World Championship Grand Prix to date for an Argentine driver), as he would be sacked by Alain Prost and replaced by Luciano Burti from the Spanish Grand Prix onwards, Burti himself having been sacked by Jaguar and replaced by Pedro de la Rosa.

Race classification
Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold.

Championship standings after the race

 * Drivers' Championship standings


 * Constructors' Championship standings


 * Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.