Formula One: Villeneuve takes sixth in Honda's Home race; Shumacher gets title
9 October 2000
FIA Formula 1 World Championship - Round 16 Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka Race Report VILLENEUVE TAKES SIXTH AT SUZUKA IN HONDA'S HOME GP AS SCHUMACHER TAKES TITLE Sunday 8 October 2000 For the third consecutive race, Lucky Strike Reynard BAR Honda finished in the points as Jacques Villeneuve claimed sixth place for the Honda-powered team in today's Japanese Grand Prix. The constant drizzle was not enough to dampen the spirits of over 150,000 spectators who were thrilled by a race-long battle between Mika Hakkinen and the eventual winner and the new world champion Michael Schumacher. The crowd also cheered Villeneuve and BAR Honda team mate Ricardo Zonta, who finished ninth, throughout Honda's first home race since 1992. Before the main event, the crowd had been treated to a stunning display of Honda's rich Formula One pedigree. Sir Jack Brabham, John Surtees, Satoru Nakajima, Aguri Suzuki and Gerhard Berger had driven some of the most famous Honda-powered cars of the company's F1 history. The sound of the original engines brought Honda music to the track as the fans showed their appreciation of the race and championship-winning cars. The race began under heavy skies and with a strong possibility of rain, but the track remained dry for the first half of the race. While Villeneuve battled with, and overcame, the two Jaguars, Zonta had his own duel with the Saubers and Prosts. Both drivers benefited from the additional power of the latest specification Honda RA000E engine, which made its race debut this afternoon. The units behaved impeccably throughout, but the nature of the circuit made overtaking very difficult. Once they had overcome the cars in front, however, the BAR Honda drivers were able to deliver much quicker lap times. Spots of rain began to fall after 30 laps, but the track, although slippery, never became wet enough to warrant treaded tyres and at the second round of pit stops the team made the correct decision to keep the drivers on grooved tyres. Thereafter, Villeneuve began to pressure the Williams-BMW of Ralf Schumacher and he forced the German into a mistake that gifted the BAR Honda driver sixth place, a fair reward for a fine drive. Zonta made up even more places, rising from 18th, but he could not continue his run of consecutive points finishes, finishing ninth. Jacques Villeneuve Position: 6th "We did some good work this weekend and the car was good enough in the middle and end of the race. I made a bad start and was caught up in a big battle with the Jaguars. I tried to stay close to Button, so we could try to overtake him in the pits, but I was losing too much time behind the other cars and it is very hard to pass here. At least we have scored a point to move into the top five of the Constructors' championship. We are only two points behind Benetton and I am three points behind Fisichella, so it's possible that we will be able to overtake them in the final race in Malaysia." Ricardo Zonta Position: 9th "The car was very good in the race; much better than in qualifying. We also had the new engine in today, but this circuit is so difficult to overtake on that even if you have the extra power, when you are stuck behind another car you cannot use it. But the engine was good and once I had a clear track I was able to do some very quick laps. Towards the end, I was hoping it would rain very hard. The track was slippery, but never wet and I hoped that we could make up some points if the rain became heavier, but it never did." Takefumi Hosaka - Managing Director, Honda R&D "I would like to offer my congratulations to Michael Schumacher for his world championship. The front two have been the fastest all season and were very quick again today. "We tried to get the best from the car this weekend, but unfortunately it was not enough, although it was good to score a point today. I am sorry for the Honda fans who have given us excellent support and I promise them that we will be more competitive when we return to Suzuka next year." Jordan Mugen Honda's Heinz-Harald Frentzen made a poor start from eighth place on the grid and initially found himself behind team mate Jarno Trulli who had started 15th. Trulli dropped down the field, however, after an early spin and could only fight back to 13th, while Frentzen's race was over on lap 30 with a hydraulic problem. The Formula One season draws to a close in two weeks' time, with the second Malaysian Grand Prix in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday 22 October. BAR Honda will be testing at Vairano, Italy this week, 12-13 October. Championship Standings after 16 of 17 rounds DRIVERS 1 M Schumacher Ferrari (champion) 98 2 Hakkinen McLaren 86 3 Coulthard McLaren 67 4 Barrichello Ferrari 58 5 R Schumacher Williams 24 6 Fisichella Benetton 18 7 Villeneuve BAR Honda 15 8 Button Williams 12 9 Frentzen Jordan-Mugen Honda 11 10 Trulli Jordan-Mugen Honda 6 CONSTRUCTORS 1 Ferrari 156 2 McLaren-Mercedes 143 3 Williams-BMW 36 4 Benetton-Playlife 20 5 BAR Honda 18 6 Jordan Mugen-Honda 17 7 Arrows 7 8 Sauber 6 9 Jaguar 3