 Schumacher Takes Cool Win at the Japanese GP Sunday October 14th, 2001 Michael Schumacher finished his season on a high with a controlled victory in Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix, making him the biggest points scorer ever in Formula One with 801 points to date. Schumacher's season has been a lesson for his rivals in domination, and his weekend at Suzuka was no different as he turned domination in qualifying into a cool win and return to the top step of the podium for the first time since beating Alain Prost's record of all-time victories in Belgium this year. But Williams driver Juan Pablo Montoya sent a warning to Schumacher and Ferrari for 2002, as he pressured them to the end and completed his debut season in Formula One with his third second place finish of the year. Rubens Barrichello failed to overhaul David Coulthard's second place in the Championship as his decision to go for a three-stop strategy failed to come off and Coulthard claimed a solid third place finish. Hakkinen, who was on for a podium in what could be his final race, dropped back in the late stages, presumably letting teammate Coulthard through at the team's request, but held onto fourth place, with Barrichello fifth and Ralf Schumacher down in sixth for Williams. Enrique Bernoldi's race stalled from the start, when he failed to get away from the grid and his Arrows car was pushed into the pitlane. Alex Yoong was another man in early trouble, and he started from the pitlane after cruising into the pits during the formation lap. Schumacher made a fabulous start to power his Ferrari well ahead of a slow-starting Montoya, who fitted into second, ahead of Williams teammate Ralf Schumacher. Barrichello held station in fourth, but Fisichella made a great start, to move up one place to fifth, ahead of the two McLarens. Barrichello was soon into third, after passing the Williams of Schumacher on lap one and then, at the end of lap two, into second after getting past Montoya as well. But, typically, Montoya would not let him go, and he made it back past the Brazilian on the main straight almost immediately. On lap three it was disaster for the promising Fisichella, who threw his Benetton into a spin between the two Degner curves and dropped from fifth to eleventh. Schumacher had already reeled out 3.6 seconds on the very first lap, and by the end of lap five he was nearly ten seconds ahead of the chasing pack. On the very next lap a massive crash signalled the end of Jean Alesi's Formula One career, when he collected the spinning Sauber of Kimi Raikkonen and the pair piled into the barriers at the S-Curve. Raikkonen's car bottomed out as it headed out of the high-speed corner and into the Dunlop curve, and Alesi was left with nowhere to go as he met the backward-travelling Finn. Both climbed out of the wrecked cars and Raikkonen, who sat on a bench outside the circuit with his head in his hands, shook hands with Alesi when the Frenchman went to check if he was okay. Meanwhile Schumacher, well clear in front, had one of his little "trademark offs", at the chicane on lap 10, when he pushed a little too hard as he tried to develop a big gap from his rivals. By lap 13 Alesi, who had failed in his bid to become the first person to be classified finisher in every race of the season since Richie Ginther in 1964, was back in the pits to be greeted by a flurry of hugs and some massive media attention. Raikkonen was not so spritely and was taken to the medical centre, complaining of head and neck pains, but soon returned to the pits after a check-up. Barrichello was the first of the leaders to pit, on lap 15, and two laps later teammate Schumacher was in for an 8.8 second stop. That left Montoya in the lead, while Schumacher came out behind third-placed Hakkinen and enjoyed a hard battle with his one-time main rival, who strongly held him off. Ralf Schumacher then gained the lead when Montoya peeled into the pits for an eight-second stop and just came out in fifth, sandwiched between Coulthard and Barrichello. The lead Williams then stopped, at the end of lap 23, soon followed by Coulthard, to leave Hakkinen, yet to stop, as the fourth race leader of the day. Eddie Irvine ended a disappointing year for him and Jaguar when he retired in the pits on lap 24. And, at the end of that lap, Hakkinen was in to complete the circle of change and leave the field back to where they were in the early stages, with Schumacher ahead of Montoya and Barrichello. Soon after, officials announced that fourth-placed Ralf Schumacher had gained advantage while cutting the chicane and thus he was forced to head into the pits for a ten-second stop-go penalty. Barrichello then dived in from third on lap 29 for his second stop of the race, on the same lap that Schumacher came in for his 10-second penalty. The Ferrari team got Barrichello out just in time to beat Schumacher out the pits, but the Williams driver blasted past on the pit exit in an opportunistic move. Barrichello made it back past on the following lap, and when the Ferrari of Schumacher pitted for a second time it was Montoya back into the lead. Schumacher's stop lasted nine seconds, but it was not enough to get him out ahead of Hakkinen, who held his German rival off and kept hold of second. Montoya went into the pits with 16 laps to go, when luck failed to present him with an open road to reel out a gap in the lead, and he re-joined in second, five seconds behind leader Schumacher. Once the pit-stops had shaken out, it left Schumacher ahead of Montoya once more, with Barrichello third, the McLarens of Hakkinen and Coulthard fourth and fifth, and Ralf Schumacher down in sixth. At the end of lap 41, Barrichello made his third pitstop and dropped to fifth, proving that the three-stop strategy was the wrong way to go, as he lost out to the McLaren pair. Jos Verstappen was given a ten-second penalty for overtaking during the formation lap, before the start, but it failed to have much effect as he was already struggling towards the rear of the field. In the closing stages, Fisichella dropped out of seventh place to be replaced by Benetton teammate Jenson Button, and Tomas Enge dropped out in the Prost, as did the second Jaguar of Pedro de la Rosa. Hakkinen dropped back in his McLaren and gave way to David Coulthard, losing a podium finish to teammate Coulthard, who finished third behind Montoya. But it was all about Ferrari in the end, and the team charged out from the garage to give worthy winner Schumacher a cheer from the pit-wall as he crossed the line for his ninth win of the season.
Published at 07:14:30 GMT
| ||||||
(03-16-2005): 
