FORMULA 1: M. Schumacher surpasses Prost to becoming winningest F1 driver ever
Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
September 3, 2001FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium, Sunday, Sept. 2, 2001 - Michael Schumacher led every lap to win the Belgian Grand Prix in his Ferrari on Sept. 2 and set the all-time victory record in Formula One. He now has 52 Grand Prix victories, one more than Alain Prost.
Schumacher's victory came at the Spa circuit, where he made his F1 debut 10 years ago and earned his first Grand Prix victory nine years ago. "Spa is one of the circuits that drivers value highly, so it is always special to win here," Schumacher said after his fifth victory at Spa and his eighth of the season. "I have a lot of good memories over the 10 years of racing here."
"I always say that statistics don't have the first priority for me, but it does mean something to me to have this number on my account. Actually, I am delighted about this. I will enjoy it much more when I am retired and sitting on the sofa and having a cigar and a beer and thinking about it."
David Coulthard finished second in his West McLaren-Mercedes while Giancarlo Fisichella finished on the podium for the first time this season after bringing his Mild Seven Benetton-Renault home third. Mika Hakkinen's McLaren, Rubens Barrichello's Ferrari and Jean Alesi's Benson & Hedges Jordan-Honda rounded out the top six.
This year's Belgian Grand Prix, round 14 of 17, was incident-filled race. The first start was aborted when Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who had qualified his Prost-Acer fourth, stalled. At the start of the second formation lap, pole winner Juan Pablo Montoya stalled his Williams-BMW. He and Frentzen had to start from the back. When the race finally started, Ralf Schumacher took the lead in his Williams-BMW, but Michael Schumacher drafted by to take the lead in his Ferrari on the hill up to the Les Combes corner.
On Lap 4, Eddie Irvine's Jaguar-Cosworth and Luciano Burti's Prost-Acer collided in the fast left-hand kink between the Blanchimont and Stavelot bends. Burti was trapped in his car that had become buried in a tire wall, and officials red-flagged the race on lap six. Burti was flown to Liege University Hospital; his most serious injury was a concussion.
According to a new F1 regulation, if a race is red-flagged, the first part of the race is declared null and void, and its running order is used only to determine the new grid positions for the new race. After subtracting the laps of the "first race" and the aborted starts and the red flag, the "new" race was shortened from 44 to 36 laps.
As the cars departed on the formation lap for the new race, Ralf Schumacher's Williams-BMW, which should have started second, was left stranded on the grid because the team had not had not finished working on the rear wing. He had to start from the back.
Michael Schumacher took the lead and held it for the entire race. Fisichella made a fantastic start and jumped from sixth to second ahead of Barrichello, Coulthard and Hakkinen. As Fisichella was slower than Michael Schumacher, the latter was able to pull away, leaving Fisichella trying to fend off Coulthard and Hakkinen fighting with Barrichello. A slow pit stop had dropped Barrichello back two places, and then he knocked his front wing off and dropped even further back.
During the first round of pit stops, Fisichella actually led during the middle portion of the lap, but then he pitted one lap after Michael Schumacher, so Schumacher officially led every lap.
By the second round of pit stops, Michael Schumacher had built up such a lead that he held on to first place. On Lap 28, Coulthard finally managed to overtake Fisichella and claim second place. Michael Schumacher averaged 137.354 mph (221.050 km/h) to complete the 36-lap, 155.858-mile (250.831-km) race in 1 hour, 8 minutes and 5.002 seconds. His margin of victory was 10.098 seconds.
Text provided by Ron Green
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