Michael Schumacher Wins the Brazilian GP
Sunday March 26th, 2000
Michael Schumacher's 2000 World Championship hopes took another big leap forward at the Brazilian GP on Sunday when he drove his Ferrari to its second consecutive victory of the season. A risky, two stop, lighter fuel load race strategy paid dividends for Schumacher, who made a good start to take second place off the line and then blasted past pole winner Mika Hakkinen to lead the race at the end of the first lap.
Local hero Rubens Barrichello took third place from the second McLaren of David Coulthard in similar fashion at the end of lap 1, but it took him 13 more laps to find a way past Hakkinen's McLaren to make it a Ferrari one-two on lap 15.
The record crowd went wild as Barrichello took the lead for two laps when Schumacher stopped on lap 20 , but Barrichello's hopes of a home victory faded for good along with his car's hydraulic pressure system which sprung a leak leaving a tell- tale trail of smoke and no way to change gears or operate the throttle.
Schumacher's first stop had put him back to second place behind Hakkinen but any guesses as to which strategy would end up being the winning one were soon dispelled when Hakkinen headed to the pits for good on lap 30 of the 71 laps race. His McLaren-Mercedes pulled out of the race with low oil pressure leaving Schumacher with a comfortable lead that he was to keep to the flag.
"It would have been very close had Mika not pulled out of the race," admitted Schumacher after the race, especially as he wasn't without his own problems before the finish.
"I had a problem with my second set of tyres when one turned on the rim as it did in Melbourne. I had a lot of vibration which made the car difficult to drive," explained Michael, who still managed to set the fastest lap of the race just before his second stop for fuel and tyres.
He had a 26 seconds lead over Coulthard going into the last stage of the race, but that suddenly dropped dramatically by as much as four seconds on one lap with 15 laps to go. Like Hakkinen, Schumacher had been warned by his pit of a possible oil pressure problem with his engine. "I slowed up a lot on certain corners in case there was a problem," said Schumacher , but he finally made it to the flag with a 4,3 seconds cushion over the surviving McLaren.
Coulthard was happy to have taken second place. "I lost third gear a couple of laps into the race and it made the car very difficult to drive using only fourth upwards. I was losing time and slid wide on a couple of corners where I needed the engine braking. That's why I lost time and under the circumstances I am very happy to have taken six points for second place.
Giancarlo Fisichella proved the tactics of a one stop race could work as well when ran 51 laps before stopping for fuel. "It was very hard at the start of the race, but as the fuel load lightened the handling was fine," the Italian moving through the field from eighth after starting sixth to finish on the podium at the flag.
It was a similar story for Jordan driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen who took fourth place just 2,5 seconds behind the Benetton after a slow start and a storming finish to his race. "I had a problem with the first set of tyres and had to make my stop early because of bad oversteer and worn rear tyres. On the second set the car was perfect and I could push hard, but Fisichella was just too far ahead to catch today," said Frentzen after setting the second fastest lap of the race on his final lap.
His teammate Jarno Trulli ran a two-stop strategy which took him through the field from 12th to fifth at the finish, but 30 seconds behind Frentzen, the last driver to remain un-lapped by Schumacher's Ferrari.
It was another good result for the Williams-BMW team with both cars at the finish. Ralf Schumacher took the final point of the day 18 seconds ahead of his young team-mate Jason Button in seventh spot.
The Arrows team were impressive in Brazil. Jos Verstappen was as high at third place before his pit stop, but the Dutchman was too exhausted to keep up the pace for the second half of the race and slipped back to eighth by the end, 14 seconds ahead of his own team-mate Pedro de la Rosa who was lucky to finish ninth after a trip through a gravel trap.
Only 11 cars made it to the checkered flag, both Jaguars joining the retirement list when Irvine crashed fighting for sixth place on lap 20 , while Herbert ran well down the field before stopping 20 laps from the flag with gearbox trouble.
With 20 points to Hakkinen's zero, the reigning World Champion is already facing a tough uphill struggle if he is to keep his title from Schumacher for the third year in succession.
PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS
Brazilian Grand Prix
Interlagos, Sao Paulo;
72 laps
Weather: Cloudy, dry
Pos Driver Team Time
1. M.Schumacher Ferrari 1h31:35.271
2. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes + 4.302
3. Fisichella Benetton Playlife + 39.898
4. Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda + 42.268
5. Trulli Jordan Mugen-Honda + 1:12.780
6. R.Schumacher Williams BMW + 1 Lap
7. Button Williams BMW + 1 Lap
8. Verstappen Arrows Supertec + 1 Lap
9. de la Rosa Arrows Supertec + 1 Lap
10. Zonta BAR Honda + 2 Laps
11. Mazzacane Minardi Fondmetal + 2 Laps
Fastest Lap: M.Schumacher, 1:14.755 (207.509 km/h), lap 48
Not Classified/Retirements:
Driver Team On Lap Reason
Herbert Jaguar Cosworth 51 gearbox
Gene Minardi Fondmetal 31 engine
Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes 30 engine
Barrichello Ferrari 27 hydraulic leak
Irvine Jaguar Cosworth 20 crash
Villeneuve BAR Honda 16 gearbox
Alesi Prost Peugeot 11 engine
Heidfeld Prost Peugeot 9 engine
Wurz Benetton Playlife 6 engine
Lap Leaders: Lap 1: Hakkinen;
Lap 2-20: M. Schumacher;
Lap 21-22: Barrichello;
Lap 23-29: Hakkinen;
Lap 30-71: M. Schumacher.
World Championship Standing, Round 2:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. M.Schumacher 20 1. Ferrari 26
2. Barrichello 6 2. McLaren-Mercedes 6
= Coulthard 6 = Benetton-Playlife 6
= Fisichella 6 4. Williams-BMW 5
5. R.Schumacher 5 = Jordan-Mugen Honda 5
6. Villeneuve 3 6. BAR-Honda 4
= Frentzen 3
8. Trulli 2
9. Zonta 1
All timing unofficial