FORMULA ONE: R. Schumacher survives race of attrition to win home race
Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
July 29, 2001HOCKENHEIM, Germany, Sunday, July 29, 2001 - Ralf Schumacher scored a popular home win after driving his Williams-BMW to victory in the German Grand Prix on July 29. It was a perfect day for Germany's Schumacher, driving a German-powered car in front of more than 100,000 German fans.
"It's a great feeling," Schumacher said after earning his third career Grand Prix victory, all this season. "I've always had a bit of bad luck here. I've never really finished in a good position and to be here today in a German package to win the race in Germany is a great feeling. "I'm not really a person to express my feelings to the outside usually, but straight away after I slowed down I realized the crowd (cheering). My team was obviously happy, as well, on the radio. It was just the perfect day."
It wasn't the perfect day for Schumacher's teammate, Juan Pablo Montoya. Starting from the pole, Montoya led the first 22 laps. He continuously broke the lap record (1 minute, 44.300 seconds, set by Rubens Barrichello last year) and finally set a new mark of 1:41.808. But a problem with the refueling rig caused Montoya to spend 29.9 seconds in the pits, which is more than three times longer than usual. It didn't matter in the end, however, as Montoya retired with an engine problem on Lap 24.
The first start of the race had to be aborted after Luciano Burti's Prost-Acer flipped after hitting the back of Michael Schumacher's slowing Ferrari and then crashed down just in front of Enrique Bernoldi's Orange Arrows-Asiatech. As the race was less than two laps old, it was declared void, and a new race started 20 minutes later. Michael Schumacher and Burti used their spare cars.
It was a race of high attrition with only 10 of the 22 starters making it to the finish. World Championship leader Michael Schumacher retired with a fuel-pressure problem, and then five laps later his championship rival David Coulthard coasted to a stop with engine troubles in his West McLaren-Mercedes.
Using a two-stop strategy helped Rubens Barrichello finish second in his Ferrari. Jacques Villeneuve started 12th in his Lucky Strike British American Racing-Honda and stayed out of trouble to finish third, on the podium for the second time this year.
Both Mild Seven Benetton-Renault drivers finished in the points with Giancarlo Fisichella fourth and Jenson Button fifth. Jean Alesi rounded out the top six in his Prost-Acer. Ralf Schumacher averaged 146.240 mph (235.351 km/h) to complete the 45-lap, 190.845-mile (307.125 km) race in one hour, 18 minutes and 17.873 seconds. His margin of victory was 46.117 seconds.
QUOTEBOOK:
RALF SCHUMACHER (Williams-BMW, winner): "Already before the weekend, we knew that we were on the tight side with the engines. So after start of the race, when Juan pulled away, I thought 'OK, you do whatever you want to' and I already started to save the engine because I know how long and how hard this race is. It paid off at the end. After this, the team told me as well to slow down even more, and that was easy because Rubens couldn't push any more so it was a perfect scenario. Juan today was quicker. I had a few problems with brakes in the beginning. My first set of tires wasn't really as good because we planned to start on a new set, but obviously with the restart we couldn't, so we had to go to an old set that didn't work. As Juan pulled away, I was just trying to do my race and save my engine."
RUBENS BARRICHELLO (Ferrari, second): "Given that Williams was on another level, I think that the best I was hoping for or could achieve was third because they were really fast. So I think our two-stop strategy paid off because I was the only one on their pace to start with. I took a long time to overtake David (Coulthard). It was a fair race, but I think it was a little bit too close. He was losing time, as well, so I don't know what he was playing at because we both wanted to go forward and we were losing like three seconds a lap. On the podium I was almost crying already just thinking of winning here last year here! So I feel happy today just because they were on a different league, and we couldn't really achieve more."
JACQUES VILLENEUVE (Lucky Strike BAR-Honda, third): "I am surprised to be on the podium. I was hoping to get into the points. I felt we needed a bit of luck to get into the points, but to get on the podium today is great. We weren't very competitive all weekend, but this morning, surprisingly, in the warm-up, after a few changes on the car, it was really, really competitive with fuel on board. So we knew we had a chance to do a good race. The two starts went well. Olivier (Panis), on a different strategy than me, was going a lot faster, and when he got close to me I let him by so he could play with Jarno (Trulli) a little bit. What I was hoping happened: Jarno went off. Then I was just trying to stay in Olivier's tow so he could carry me along."
GIANCARLO FISICHELLA (Mild Seven Benetton-Renault, fourth): "I drove conservatively in the early stages and saved enough fuel to do a slightly longer first stint than planned. When I rejoined ahead of Jenson (Button), things continued to go well although I ran wide near the end of the race and lost a bit of time."
JENSON BUTTON (Mild Seven Benetton-Renault, fifth): "This isn't a result we obtained because lots of cars fell off - we genuinely had good pace. We were quicker than the Jordans and BARs when we were running the same fuel load. A track like this highlighted our potential and reliability."
DAVID COULTHARD (West McLaren-Mercedes, retired Lap 28): "I had a good battle with Rubens during the first couple of laps but was suffering from a lot of oversteer. I was aware that a number of cars were retiring, but unfortunately I added to that statistic when the engine let go immediately after my pit stop."
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA (Williams-BMW, retired Lap 24 after leading until Lap 22): "I am so disappointed I cannot find the words to describe how I feel. Up until the pit stop, the race was going perfectly for me. We then had a problem with the refueling rig, and this cost me the lead. I had a safe second place, and then two laps later the engine just went."
MICHAEL SCHUMACHER (Ferrari, retired Lap 24): "At the first start, I had a problem with the gear selection. I did not know where to go, and when I saw Burti in my mirrors I couldn't move out of the way. It was a difficult situation, but it could have been a lot worse. After the pit stop, I had a fuel pressure problem and had to retire. I am not too disappointed as the situation with the championship remains the same, and there is one less race to go."
LUCIANO BURTI (Prost-Acer, retired on Lap 24, on his start-line accident with Michael Schumacher): "It happened so fast. He slowed among all the cars in front of me, and when I saw him it was too late to avoid the crash. I think the accident looked worse on TV than what I experienced. I hurt my left arm somewhere in the crash, and it became difficult to hold the steering wheel. I tried my best, but the pain was growing so much I simply could not drive any longer."
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.