FORMULA ONE: Hakkinen dominates for first win of season; M. Schumacher pads points lead
Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
July 15, 2001SILVERSTONE, England, Sunday, July 15, 2001 - Mika Hakkinen ended his 14-race losing streak after scoring a dominating victory in the British Grand Prix in his West McLaren-Mercedes on July 15.
Hakkinen's last victory came in the Belgian Grand Prix on Aug. 29, 2000. This was his 19th career Formula One victory and his first in Britain. It was the third win of the season for McLaren.
"It feels really good," Hakkinen said. "Obviously, after all the trouble that's been going on this year, it feels good to win, and particularly here at Silverstone because I drive for an English team and in front of an English crowd. We made a great show.
"It's probably difficult to understand 100 percent how important it is for me, because first of all, I always wanted to win in Canada, and I did that in 1999. I always wanted to win that because it's a very special Grand Prix, as is the Silverstone Grand Prix. And it happened today, so it's something incredible, something that has been missing from my book."
Pole sitter Michael Schumacher jumped into the lead at the start. But because he was on a one pit-stop strategy, his Ferrari carried a heavier fuel load than Hakkinen's McLaren-Mercedes that was on a two-stop strategy. Hakkinen attacked for the lead and took over first place on Lap 5.
While Hakkinen's McLaren-Mercedes was handling perfectly, Schumacher's Ferrari was not. That allowed Hakkinen to pull away. Juan Pablo Montoya also passed Schumacher, ran second and even led for four laps in his Williams-BMW during the first round of pit stops, but Hakkinen remained in control of the race.
Schumacher finished second while his Ferrari teammate, Rubens Barrichello, took third. Schumacher increased his lead in the World Championship to 37 points over David Coulthard who failed to finish in front of his home crowd.
Coulthard's McLaren-Mercedes and Jarno Trulli's Benson & Hedges Jordan-Honda collided in the first turn. While Coulthard was able to continue, Trulli's day was over. But Coulthard's car had been damaged, and he spun out of the race on Lap 3.
Lucky Strike British American Racing-Honda teammates Jacques Villeneuve and Olivier Panis also collided in the first turn, and that knocked Panis out of the race.
Montoya finished fourth and thought he could have been third, but his two-stop strategy did not work out as he hoped. His teammate, Ralf Schumacher, got as high as fourth before retiring when his engine lost power and shut off. The Red Bull Sauber-Petronas team was thrilled to have both drivers finish in the points with Kimi Raikkonen fifth and Nick Heidfeld sixth.
Hakkinen averaged 134.359 mph (216.231 km/h) to complete the 60-lap, 191.604-mile (308.356 km) race in one hour, 25 minutes and 33.770 seconds. His margin of victory was 33.646 seconds.
Text provided by Paul Kelly
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