Formula One: Schumacher pulls off hat trick, edges Hakkinen at finish to stay perfect in 2000
9 April 2000
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
IMOLA, Italy - Michael Schumacher scored a popular
win in front of the avid "tifosi" Ferrari fans as he drove his Ferrari to
victory in the San Marino Grand Prix on April 9.Schumachers third consecutive win of the season gives him 30 points in the championship.
"That was an exciting race, and I hope the tifosi are happy with the result," Schumacher said after winning the 38th Grand Prix of his career. "We did it for the tifosi. Yesterday I apologized (to them for my mistake in qualifying). I said I would try to put things straight in the race, and I did, so I hope everybody is happy with this.
"From what I can see outside, it seems that everybody is happy. So am I. Now we can look forward to the next one."
After failing to score points in the opening two rounds of the season, West McLaren-Mercedes teammates Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard are finally on the charts after finishing second and third, respectively.
Hakkinen held the lead for the first 44 of the 62 laps of the race, including the first round of pit stops. Hakkinen and Schumacher drove flat-out through most of the race, and Hakkinens advantage rarely stretched to more than four seconds.
The key to the race came around the time of the second round of pit stops when Schumacher started turning faster laps that Hakkinen, and Hakkinen complained of a brief mechanical glitch that caused the engine to cut out. Hakkinen also had handling woes after debris damaged the floor of his McLaren and upset the cars aerodynamic balance.
The end result was that Schumacher took the lead after Hakkinens pit stop on Lap 44 and held on to first after his second and final stop on Lap 48. Despite complaining about handling problems, Hakkinen set a series of fastest laps in the closing laps, and the fastest lap of the entire race just two laps from the end, as he chased hard after Schumacher.
Cheered on by fans waving red Ferrari flags, Schumacher crossed the line 1.168 seconds ahead of Hakkinen at the finish. Schumacher averaged 124.301 mph (200.043 km/h) to complete the 62-lap, 189.896-mile (305.609-km) race in one hour, 31 minutes and 39.776 seconds.
The battle for third place was equally intense. Rubens Barrichello managed to slide his Ferrari in front of David Coulthards West McLaren-Mercedes just after the start and keep it there (the gap was rarely more than 0.5 of a second) even after the first round of pit stops.
Coulthard and Barrichello both came into the pits at the same time for their second stops, and Coulthard managed to slice out just inches in front of Barrichello. After that, Coulthard was able to pull away.
Jacques Villeneuve brought his Lucky Strike British American Racing-Honda home fifth after jumping from ninth to fifth just after the start, while Mika Salo rounded out the points scoring positions in his Red Bull Sauber Petronas. After suffering a variety of problems in the first two races, Eddie Irvine and Johnny Herbert brought their Jaguars through to finish a Grand Prix for the first time this year. They finished seventh and 10th, respectively.
QUOTEBOOK:
MICHAEL SCHUMACHER (Ferrari, winner): "Our strategy remained as planned. We did not know what Mika (Hakkinen) would do, and we had to guess. The four laps before the second stop was the decisive moment when I pushed very hard. It was lucky for us that the gap (between us) went down just before the end of his second stint. I dont know what the problem was that he had, but suddenly the gap shrank down quite a lot. At the same moment, when it was coming down, I was behind (Pedro) Diniz and I almost hit him. He tried to let me pass in an area where it was very difficult for me to assume that he would choose to slow down, and I lost the same two seconds there that I had just picked up."
MIKA HAKKINEN (West McLaren-Mercedes, second): "Naturally its disappointing. But I had two situations in the race, which cost me a lot of time. After the first stop when I started running (again), I hit something on the track, which completely destroyed the front of the floor. I dont know what it was, a piece of metal or something, and I lost the aerodynamics. It made the car very difficult to drive after that. The second thing happened just before my second stop, when the car just stopped at the end of the main straight. The car didnt want to continue and the engine stopped running. I dont know how much time I lost there -- at least three or four seconds -- and that was enough (to lose the race). For this reason I can say that I am extremely disappointed about the work I have been able to do this weekend, and for the work the mechanics did. Until then, everybody had done the right thing."
DAVID COULTHARD (West McLaren-Mercedes, third): "I found myself in that situation (fourth, behind Barrichellos) Ferrari, because it was very close trying to pass Michael (Schumacher) at the first corner and I had to back off to avoid touching him. As we went round the corner, that allowed Rubens to get past me. I spent the rest of the race, until the second pit stop, stuck behind Rubens. My first stop was quite early, so he gained some track time on me there, and I also had a problem selecting first gear in the pits, which exaggerated the advantage he had in the first stop. I knew I was quicker than him, though, so I was able to catch up with him, and it was just a question of staying close and hoping that I would be called in a lap or two later than he was planning to do. In the end, we both stopped on the same lap. Thanks to my guys, who did a great job, I got back into the race in front of him."
RUBENS BARRICHELLO (Ferrari, fourth): "I am disappointed in my own performance. The setup was not ideal, and it was hard work. I was a bit unlucky at the second pit stop, when Coulthard passed me. He was quicker than me, but I could have kept him behind me as it is virtually impossible to pass here."
JACQUES VILLENEUVE (Lucky Strike British American Racing-Honda, fifth): "I am very happy because it was a good race. I got just an amazing start, and going into the first corner I had to brake to avoid hitting (Rubens) Barrichellos Ferrari and the two McLarens immediately in front of me. The car did what we wanted in the race. The start went well. We had low downforce, and we could stay in front of people, and we had good communication with the team during the race to see what the other people were doing and when to push to come into the pits. The team did a fantastic job in the pit stop."
FINAL RESULTS:
IMOLA, Italy -- Results of the San Marino Formula One race:
1. Michael Schumacher, No. 3 Ferrari, 62 laps
2. Mika Hakkinen, No. 1 McLaren/Mercedes, -1.168sec
3. David Coulthard, No. 2 McLaren/Mercedes, -51.008
4. Rubens Barrichello, No. 4 Ferrari, -1:29.276
5. Jacques Villeneuve, No. 22 BAR/Honda, 61
6. Mika Salo, No. 17 Sauber/Petronas, 61
7. Eddie Irvine, No. 7 Jaguar/Cosworth, 61
8. Pedro Diniz, No. 16 Sauber/Petronas, 61
9. Alexander Wurz, No. 12 Benetton/Supertec, 61
10. Johnny Herbert, No. 8 Jaguar/Cosworth, 61
11. Giancarlo Fisichella, No. 11 Benetton/Supertec, 61
12. Ricardo Zonta, No. 23 BAR/Honda, 61
13. Gaston Mazzacane, No. 21 Minardi/Fondmetal, 60
14. Jos Verstappen, No. 19 Arrows/Supertec, 59
Did Not Finish
15. Jarno Trulli, Jordan/Mugen-Honda, 58, gearbox
16. Pedro de la Rosa, No. 18 Arrows/Supertec, 49, gearbox
17. Ralf Schumacher, No. 9 Williams/BMW, 45, fuel pressure
18. Jean Alesi, No. 14 Prost/Peugeot, 25, hydraulics
19. Nick Heidfeld, No. 14 Prost/Peugeot, 12 (DNF), hydraulics
20. Jenson Button, No. 10 Williams/BMW, 5, engine
21. Marc Gene, No. 20 Minardi/Fondmetal, 5, spin
22. Heinz-Harald Frentzen, No. 5 Jordan/Mugen-Honda, 4, gearbox
Text provided by Paul Kelly
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