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Formula One: Coulthard closes gap on M. Schumacher with victory in France

2 July 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

MAGNY-COURS, France -- David Coulthard took a 10-point bite out of Michael Schumachers lead in the Formula One World Championship after scoring a victory in the French Grand Prix on July 2 while Schumacher failed to finish.

Coulthards third win of the season came after a weekend when his West McLaren-Mercedes suffered a succession of technical problems in practice but ran strongly in the race. Schumacher had qualified his Ferrari on the pole and led the all but one of the first 39 laps before retiring with an engine problem.

"Its certainly been an exhausting weekend," Coulthard said. "When you want to win races it is very difficult not to care about problems like we had, because every one of them takes a little bit out of you. That is my excuse for reacting in the way I did when Michael tried to run me off the circuit." Coulthard and Schumacher battled fiercely for the lead, and Coulthard had gestured at Schumacher when he felt he was unfairly cut off.

On Lap 40, Coulthard finally got by, and although the right front wheel of the Ferrari bounced off the left rear wheel of the McLaren, both cars continued unscathed.

Coulthard went on to win ahead of his teammate Mika Hakkinen and Ferraris Rubens Barrichello. After nine of 17 races, Schumacher leads the championship with 56 points, while Coulthard is second with 44 points and Hakkinen third with 38 points.

Schumacher snatched the lead at the start while Barrichello grabbed second and held Coulthard and Hakkinen at bay. Coulthard passed Barrichello on Lap 22 and closed in on Schumacher.

The midpoint of the race saw an intense battle for the lead between Schumacher and Coulthard, while Hakkinen and Barrichello trailed closely behind. Afterward, Coulthard questioned some of Schumachers moves in defending the lead.

Once Coulthard took over first, he pulled away. Hakkinen passed Schumacher just before the latter retired with engine woes.

Jacques Villeneuve scored the first points in six races for the Lucky Strike BAR-Honda team by finishing fourth ahead of Ralf Schumachers Williams-BMW and Jarno Trullis Benson & Hedges Jordan-Mugen-Honda.

Coulthard averaged 116.258 mph (187.100 km/h) to finish the 72-lap, 190.068-mile (305.886-km) race in one hour, 38 minutes and 5.538 seconds. His margin of victory was 14.748 seconds.

QUOTEBOOK:

DAVID COULTHARD (West McLaren-Mercedes, winner): "I have to say that, in the end, both Rubens (Barrichello) and Michael (Schumacher) were very fair. Hard, but fair. And it was a good race. I have to apologize for my hand gestures, which were not at all in keeping with the sport. But as you can understand, my emotions were running high. I knew that I needed to win here today in order to be in a position to battle for the championship. That is what I am trying to get done, and I felt that I had a clean run on Michael on the outside. Equally, I felt that he drove me wide. Now you might say that he had a right to do that because he had the track position. But it made me very angry (to see he was prepared) to drive someone wide on a line which he would not normally take. That is why I made the unsporting gesture. Ultimately I was able to able to get (past him) on the inside, and although I expected him to close the door again, he realized I was far enough alongside."

MIKA HAKKINEN (West McLaren-Mercedes, second): "I have to admit that everything went well, and I had a very good start. But you can only fit two cars across the road at the first corner, and there were already two cars there, so I didnt want to put my nose in there. It was interesting to be following these guys and running fourth in the race, but there was nothing to do except to follow them and get the best out of the situation. I am very confident and very happy about the result today. This is a really fantastic day for the team, for David (Coulthard) and for me. Everyone has done some fabulous work in getting over the unbelievable difficulties we have experienced this weekend. You probably dont know everything thats been going on, but there has been a lot of work for them. Winning is a big plus for them."

RUBENS BARRICHELLO (Ferrari, third): "Coulthard was very fast on the straight and was putting me under pressure under braking and eventually got past me when I ran wide at Turn 3. My first pit stop was just slow, while the second one gave us a problem with the right front wheel. That dropped me back 10 seconds (from the McLarens). I heard that Mika also had a so-so pit stop, which would have allowed me to get past him (if my stops had not gone wrong). Today we were not the happiest team when it came to making quick stops."

JACQUES VILLENUEVE (Lucky Strike BAR-Honda, fourth): "The start was so good that I even surprised myself. I settled into fifth and was also surprised that the first four didnt pull away from us. We were running throughout the race with more fuel than necessary to give us flexibility over when to make our stops. I had a good battle with Ralf (Schumacher) toward the end. He was better in the corners, but I was quicker on the straights."

RALF SCHUMACHER (Williams-BMW, fifth): "At the start I lost two positions to (Jacques) Villeneuve and (Heinz-Harald) Frentzen. I had the feeling that I could have been faster than Frentzen, but it was impossible to overtake. Luckily, the team had a good pit stop strategy so I could overtake him at the first stop. I got close to Villeneuve but didnt want to risk too much in the last laps. I slowed down a bit to save the two points which are very valuable for the team."

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER (Ferrari, retired from second place, Lap 59): "The tires on my car seemed to suffer a drop in performance earlier than on the others. This problem was the worst after the first pit stop. At first I could control the situation, but then my tires went off and I tried to look after them knowing that there was still a lot of laps to go. Then I started to slow, and (David) Coulthard managed to get past me. Finally on Lap 59, I had an engine problem, and I had to stop. Ive said that the championship wasnt over, and today I was proved right."

FINAL RESULTS:

MAGNY-COURS, France -- Results Sunday of the Grand Prix of France on the 2.64-mile Nevers Magny-Cours circuit, with driver, country, make, laps completed, time and reason out, if any:

1, David Coulthard, Britain, McLaren-Mercedes, 72, 1:38:5.538 (116.258 mph)
2, Mika Hakkinen, Finland, McLaren-Mercedes, 72, 1:38.20.286.
3, Rubens Barrichello, Brazil, Ferrari, 72, 1:38:37.947.
4, Jacques Villeneuve, Canada, BAR-Honda, 72, 1:39.06.860.
5, Ralf Schumacher, Germany, BMW-Williams, 72, 1:39.09.519.
6, Jarno Trulli, Italy, Jordan, 72. 1:39.21.143.
7, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Germany, Jordan, 71.
8, Jenson Button, Britain, BMW-Williams, 71.
9, Giancarlo Fisichella, Italy, Benetton, 71.
10, Mika Salo, Finland, Sauber, 71.
11, Pedro Diniz, Brazil, Sauber, 71.
12, Nick Heidfeld, Germany, Prost-Peugeot, 71.
13, Eddie Irvine, Britain, Jaguar, 70.
14, Jean Alesi, France, Prost-Peugeot, 70.
15, Marc Gene, Spain, Minardi, 70.
Not classified
Michael Schumacher, Germany, Ferrari, 58, engine.
Pedro de la Rosa, Spain, Arrows, 45, transmission.
Alexander Wurz, Austria, Benetton, 34, brakes/accident.
Gaston Mazzacane, Argentina, Minardi, 31, spin.
Jos Verstappen, Netherlands, Arrows, 25, transmission.
Johnny Herbert, Britain, Jaguar, 20, gearbox.
Ricardo Zonta, Brazil, BAR-Honda, 16, accident.

Lap leaders: M. Schumacher 1-24, Coulthard 25, M. Schumacher 26-39, Coulthard 40-72.

POINTS:

Drivers: M. Schumacher 56, Coulthard 44, Hakkinen 38, Barrichello 32, Fisichella 18, R. Schumacher 14, Villeneuve 8, Trulli 6, Frentzen 5, Irvine 3, Salo 3, Button 3, Verstappen 2, Zonta 1, de la Rosa 1.

Constructors: Ferrari 88, McLaren-Mercedes 82, Benetton-Playlife 18, Williams-BMW 17, Jordan-Mugen-Honda 11, British American Racing-Honda 9, Jaguar-Cosworth 3, Sauber-Petronas 3, Arrows-Mecachrome 3.

Text provided by Paul Kelly

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