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FORMULA ONE: New Rules, Rookies, Return of Michelin Add Suspense to F1

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Schumacher, Ferrari aim for sweet repeat as season starts in Melbourne

INDIANAPOLIS - The 17-race 2001 FIA Formula One World Championship, which includes the second annual SAP United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis, gets underway March 4 in Melbourne, Australia. Here’s a look at the lineup for this season and some at of the changes from last year.

GENERAL

·Michelin returns: Michelin returns as a tire supplier in F1 for the first time since the 1984 season. Williams-BMW, Benetton-Renault, Jaguar-Cosworth, Minardi-European and Prost-Acer will run on Michelin tires, while Ferrari, McLaren-Mercedes, BAR-Honda, Jordan-Honda, Arrows-Asiatech and Sauber-Petronas will stay with Bridgestone tires.

·New rules: This year the cars must pass a much more stringent side-impact and rear-rollover hoop tests. Aerodynamic downforce has been reduced by raising the front wing from 50 millimeters to 100 millimeters off the ground and by limiting the number of elements allowed in the upper tier of the rear wing to three.

·Five rookies: 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya is one of five rookies in the lineup this season. The others: Enrique Bernoldi, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Luciano Burti.

·Traction control: Traction control will return to F1 for the first time since 1993 starting with the Spanish Grand Prix on April 29. Teams will be able to use electronic devices to control wheelspin in all conditions.

TEAM BY TEAM

Ferrari

  • 1 -- Michael Schumacher, Germany
  • Date of birth: Jan. 3, 1969
  • Grand Prix starts: 145
  • Wins: 44
  • 2 -- Rubens Barrichello, Brazil
  • Date of birth: May 23, 1972
  • Grand Prix starts: 129
  • Wins: 1

Schumacher returns to Ferrari for a sixth consecutive season and will try to win his second Drivers Championship with Ferrari and the fourth of his career. Barrichello returns for a second year. Ferrari will attempt to win its 11th Constructors Championship.

West McLaren-Mercedes

  • 3 -- Mika Hakkinen, Finland
  • Date of birth: Sept. 28, 1969
  • Grand Prix starts: 145
  • Wins: 18
  • 4 -- David Coulthard, Great Britain
  • Date of birth: March 27, 1971
  • Grand Prix starts: 107
  • Wins: 9

This is the longest teammate pairing in F1 history. Hakkinen started racing for McLaren at the end of the 1993 season and Coulthard joined in 1996. Hakkinen, World Champion in 1998 and 1999, is aiming for this third title and Coulthard his first. The team has won the Constructors Championship eight times.

Williams-BMW

  • 5 -- Ralf Schumacher, Germany
  • Date of birth: June 30, 1975
  • Grand Prix starts: 66
  • 6 -- Juan-Pablo Montoya, Columbia
  • Date of birth: Sept. 20, 1975
  • Grand Prix starts: 0

After winning the FIA International Formula 3000 Championship in 1998, the CART championship in 1999 and the Indianapolis 500 in 2000, Montoya makes his F1 debut with the Williams-BMW team. His teammate is Ralf Schumacher, younger brother of Michael Schumacher, who is back with Williams for a third season.

Mild Seven Benetton-Renault

  • 7 -- Giancarlo Fisichella, Italy
  • Date of birth: Jan. 14, 1973
  • Grand Prix starts: 74
  • 8 -- Jenson Button, Great Britain
  • Date of birth: Jan. 19, 1980
  • Grand Prix starts: 17

Fisichella begins his fourth season with the Benetton team. After an extremely successful rookie season with Williams last year, Button, still under long-term contract to Williams, is on loan to Benetton. Renault bought the Benetton team last year.

Lucky Strike British American Racing-Honda

  • 9 -- Olivier Panis, France
  • Date of birth: Sept. 2, 1966
  • Grand Prix starts: 91
  • Wins: 1

  • 10 -- Jacques Villeneuve, Canada
  • Date of birth: April 9, 1971
  • Grand Prix starts: 82
  • Wins: 11

Villeneuve, winner of the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and the 1997 World Championship, is in his third season with BAR. His new teammate is Panis, who is back in F1 after working as McLaren’s test driver last year.

Benson & Hedges Jordan-Honda

  • 11 -- Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Germany
  • Date of birth: May 18, 1967
  • Grand Prix starts: 114
  • Wins: 3

  • 12 -- Jarno Trulli, Italy
  • Date of birth: July 13, 1974
  • Grand Prix starts: 62

This year Jordan joins BAR as a fully backed Honda factory team. Frentzen returns to Jordan for his third season and Trulli for his second.

Orange Arrows-Asiatech

  • 14 -- Jos Verstappen, Holland
  • Date of birth: March 4, 1972
  • Grand Prix starts: 74

  • 15 -- Enrique Bernoldi, Spain
  • Date of birth: Oct. 19, 1978
  • Grand Prix starts: 0

Formula 3000 graduate Bernoldi joins veteran Verstappen, who is back for a second year at Arrows. The team has a new engine supplier, Asiatech, which is the Peugeot engine program that has been taken over by Asian Motor Technologies

Red Bull Sauber-Petronas

  • 16 -- Nick Heidfeld, Germany
  • Date of birth: May 10, 1977
  • Grand Prix starts: 16

  • 17 -- Kimi Raikkonen, Finland
  • Date of birth: Oct. 17, 1979
  • Grand Prix starts: 0

Raikkonen, who has competed in only 23 auto races since graduating from karts, is one of five rookies in the lineup this season. After making his F1 debut with the Prost team last season, Heidfeld moves to Sauber. Power comes from a 2000-specification Ferrari that has been rebadged as a Petronas.

Jaguar-Cosworth

  • 18 -- Eddie Irvine, Great Britain
  • Date of birth: Nov. 10, 1965
  • Grand Prix starts: 113
  • Wins: 4

  • 19 -- Luciano Burti, Brazil
  • Date of birth: March 5, 1975
  • Grand Prix starts: 1

Former Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal has taken over as CEO for Jaguar Racing, and another American, Steve Nichols, has been appointed as technical director. The team promoted its 2000 test driver, Burti, to be the teammate of Irvine, who is back for a second season.

Minardi-European

  • 20 -- Fernando Alonso, Spain
  • Date of birth: July 29, 1981
  • Grand Prix starts: 0

  • 21 -- Tarso Marques, Brazil
  • Date of birth: Jan. 19, 1976
  • Grand Prix starts: 11

Paul Stoddart, the owner of European Aviation and the European Formula 3000 team, has bought the Minardi team. At 19, Alonso is the youngest driver in the lineup. He won in Formula 3000 last year. His teammate, Marques, who drove for Minardi in 1997 and briefly in 1996, competed in the CART series during the past two seasons. The engines, called European, are based on the Ford-Cosworth V10.

Prost-Acer

  • 22 -- Jean Alesi, France
  • Date of birth: June 11, 1964
  • Grand Prix starts: 184
  • Wins: 1

  • 23 -- Gaston Mazzacane, Argentina
  • Date of birth: May 8, 1975
  • Grand Prix starts: 17

The Prost team received a boost when it signed a deal to run year-old Ferrari V10 engines this season. The engine will be called Acer, which is a computer manufacturer and sponsor of the team. With 184 starts, Alesi is the most experienced driver in the field. He is back with Prost for a second season and teams up with Mazzacane, who spent his rookie F1 season with Minardi last year.

Text Provided By Paul Kelly

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.