2001 Formula One season

2001 FIA Formula One World Championship season Previous: 2000 Next: 2002 Index: Races by country | Races by season

The 2001 Formula One season was the 52nd FIA Formula One World Championship season. It commenced on March 4, 2001, and ended on October 14 after seventeen races. Michael Schumacher won the title with a record margin of 58 points, after achieving nine victories and five second places.

2001 was a year of beginnings and ends in Formula One.

In the form of Minardi’s Fernando Alonso and Sauber’s Kimi Raikkonen, two future world champions were taking to the grid for the very first time at the season opener in Melbourne. Exciting Colombian talent and two times CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya was also making his F1 bow at Williams.

There were new beginnings for French companies Renault and Michelin. After four years out of the sport, Renault returned to supply engines to the Benetton team, while Michelin’s comeback as a tyre supplier would provide Bridgestone with competition for the first time since Goodyear left the sport at the end of the 1998 season.

On the other hand though, the sport was to lose some memorable characters at the end of the year. Double world champion Mika Hakkinen would initially announce his intention to take a one year sabbatical; but eventually, as expected, this became full-time retirement.

Also racing for the last time was Jean Alesi, who passed the 200 race mark shortly before his final Grand Prix in Japan. It was the end for commentator Murray Walker too; for so long the beloved ‘voice of F1’ in the UK. He gave his final commentary at the United States Grand Prix (which would also turn out to be Mika Hakkinen’s last victory in the sport).

The Prost and Benetton names would disappear from the sport at the end of 2001; Prost folded due to a lack of finances while Benetton was rebranded as Renault after the French manufacturer bought the team outright.

The championship was won with ease by Michael Schumacher, who finished a mammoth 58 points clear of David Coulthard in second place. However, while Schumacher may have taken the lion’s share of victories over the course of the season, his Ferrari team were not the only constructor capable of scoring wins in 2001.

Williams drivers Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya would both score their maiden wins in the sport, at San Marino and Italy respectively. The younger Schumacher would also add victories in Canada and Germany, giving the team four wins in total. After three years in the doldrums, this was a much better return for the Oxfordshire based team.

On the other hand McLaren would not enjoy as much success as they had in recent times, but they would still do enough to also secure four wins. These were shared equally amongst their drivers; Hakkinen winning in Britain and America, Coulthard triumphing in Brazil and Austria.

But it was not enough to stop the rampant Schumacher, whose haul of 123 points was more than enough for his fourth world championship (equalling the achievements of Alain Prost). With Rubens Barrichello performing solidly in the second car, Ferrari also won the Constructor’s Championship at a canter.

Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed in the 2001 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Tyre	No	Driver	Test driver(s)
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	Ferrari	F2001	Ferrari 050 3.0 V10	B	1	Michael Schumacher	Luca Badoer
					2	Rubens Barrichello
West McLaren Mercedes	McLaren	MP4-16	Mercedes FO110K 3.0 V10	B	3	Mika Häkkinen	Alexander Wurz
					4	David Coulthard
BMW WilliamsF1 Team	Williams	FW23	BMW P80 3.0 V10	M	5	Ralf Schumacher	Marc Gené
					6	Juan Pablo Montoya
Mild Seven Benetton Renault	Benetton	B201	Renault RS21 3.0 V10	M	7	Giancarlo Fisichella	Mark Webber
					8	Jenson Button
Lucky Strike BAR Honda	BAR	003	Honda RA001E 3.0 V10	B	9	Olivier Panis	Anthony Davidson Darren Manning Patrick Lemarié Takuma Sato
					10	Jacques Villeneuve
B&H Jordan Honda	Jordan	EJ11	Honda RA001E 3.0 V10	B	11	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Ricardo Zonta
						Ricardo Zonta
					11/12	Jarno Trulli
					12	Jean Alesi
Orange Arrows Asiatech	Arrows	A22	Asiatech 001 3.0 V10	B	14	Jos Verstappen	Johnny Herbert
					15	Enrique Bernoldi
Red Bull Sauber Petronas	Sauber	C20	Petronas 01A 3.0 V10	B	16	Nick Heidfeld	Felipe Massa
					17	Kimi Räikkönen
Jaguar Racing	Jaguar Racing	R2	Cosworth CR-3 3.0 V10	M	18	Eddie Irvine	Tomas Scheckter
					19	Luciano Burti
						Pedro de la Rosa
European Minardi F1	Minardi	PS01 PS01B	European 3.0 V10	M	20	Tarso Marques	Alex Yoong
						Alex Yoong
					21	Fernando Alonso
Prost Acer	Prost	AP04	Acer 3.0 V10	M	22	Jean Alesi	Stephane Sarrazin Pedro de la Rosa
						Heinz-Harald Frentzen
					23	Gaston Mazzacane
						Luciano Burti
						Tomáš Enge

Driver changes

The 2001 season featured several driver lineup changes prior to the season, and more changes during the season proper.

Before the season opener in Australia, the following lineup changes had occurred:

• Olivier Panis left his test position with McLaren to take up a full time drive with BAR.
• Ricardo Zonta lost his BAR drive to Panis, and took up the position of test driver with Jordan.
• Although still on contract to Williams, Jenson Button was "loaned" to Benetton for the 2001 season.
• Button replaced Alexander Wurz at Benetton. Wurz had fallen out of favour with team boss Flavio Briatore and moved on to become test driver at McLaren.
• Button's place in the Williams was taken over by Juan Pablo Montoya. (Montoya had been in a relationship with Williams since 1998, and had been "farmed out" to the CART series in 1999, where he took the title in his first attempt, and also a victory in the 2000 Indianapolis 500.)
• Marc Gené lost his seat at Minardi due to sponsorship problems. (Telefonica had been backing Gené financially and therefore helped fund the struggling Minardi team.) Gené signed a contract to become test driver at Williams where he remained until the end of 2004.
• Gaston Mazzacane also moved away from Minardi for 2001, and started the season with the Prost team where he took over for the Sauber-bound Nick Heidfeld.
• Minardi's first signing of the new season was Fernando Alonso, who took over from Marc Gené.
• Tarso Marques returned to Minardi to fill the second seat there after several seasons racing in America. (Marques had driven for Minardi in 1996 and 1997.)
• Nick Heidfeld left Prost to join the Sauber team for 2001. He replaced Mika Salo who signed up with the Toyota team to perform development work.
• Pedro Diniz did not return as a driver for Sauber, but instead purchased 40% of the Prost team and served in a management role there in 2001. (Diniz and Alain Prost had a major falling out during the season. Diniz then sold his share of Prost and returned to South America where he became a motorsport promoter.)
• Kimi Räikkönen was signed to Sauber for a full drive from near obscurity. He had performed some testing for Sauber in late 2000 after dominating the British Formula Renault series, and so impressed Peter Sauber that he was given the full time drive next to Nick Heidfeld. (There were concerns that Räikkönen was too inexperienced for F1, and his superlicence granting was somewhat controversial during the off season.)
• Johnny Herbert decided to leave the Jaguar team in an attempt to secure a drive in American Champ Cars. The deal did not work out, and he was forced to sign on with Arrows as a test driver for 2001.
• Luciano Burti stepped up from test driver to fill Herbert's slot at Jaguar.
• Pedro de la Rosa lost his drive at Arrows to Enrique Bernoldi and signed on as a reserve drive with Prost.

During the season even more changes occurred:

• Management at Prost quickly reached the conclusion that Gaston Mazzacane was not right for their team and he was released.
• Luciano Burti left Jaguar to take over Mazzacane's seat at Prost.
• Pedro de la Rosa then left his reserve seat at Prost for a full drive at Jaguar.
• Jean Alesi quit his Prost drive. This left Prost with none of their starting drivers from the season opener.
• Heinz-Harald Frentzen suffered injuries after a crash and was replaced for the Canadian GP by reserve driver Ricardo Zonta.
• After returning from his injuries, Frentzen's contract was terminated by Jordan after the French GP. The split was not a happy one, and the matter ended in court before the season's end. Zonta took over Frentzen's drive for the German GP.
• Frentzen was then signed to Prost to take over from Alesi.
• Alesi was also signed by Jordan to take over from Frentzen. This meant the Prost and Jordan had simply swapped drivers mid-season.
• Alex Yoong was granted his FIA super-licence during the 2001 season, and replaced Tarso Marques in the Minardi starting lineup. Marques moved into a reserve/test role for the rest of the season.
• Luciano Burti suffered serious injuries during a crash in the Belgian GP. He was forced to sit out the rest of the 2001 season and was replaced by Czech driver Tomáš Enge for the remaining races. This left Prost in the incredible position of having five starting drivers during 2001.
• Tomas Scheckter was sensationally fired from his testing position at Jaguar after being convicted on charges of "kerb crawling"[1]. This left Jaguar with no test drivers for 2001 after Burti's earlier departure.

Team changes

There were no team changes from 2000.

Results and standings

Grands Prix

Rnd	Race	Date	Location	Winning Driver	Constructor	Report
1	Australian Grand Prix	March 4	Melbourne	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	Report
2	Malaysian Grand Prix	March 18	Sepang	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	Report
3	Brazilian Grand Prix	April 1	Interlagos	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	Report
4	San Marino Grand Prix	April 15	Imola	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	Report
5	Spanish Grand Prix	April 29	Catalunya	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	Report
6	Austrian Grand Prix	May 13	A1-Ring	David Coulthard	McLaren-Mercedes	Report
7	Monaco Grand Prix	May 27	Monaco	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	Report
8	Canadian Grand Prix	June 10	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	Report
9	European Grand Prix	June 24	Nürburgring	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	Report
10	French Grand Prix	July 1	Magny-Cours	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	Report
11	British Grand Prix	July 15	Silverstone	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	Report
12	German Grand Prix	July 29	Hockenheimring	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW	Report
13	Hungarian Grand Prix	August 19	Hungaroring	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	Report
14	Belgian Grand Prix	September 2	Spa-Francorchamps	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	Report
15	Italian Grand Prix	September 16	Monza	Juan Pablo Montoya	Williams-BMW	Report
16	United States Grand Prix	September 30	Indianapolis	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Mercedes	Report
17	Japanese Grand Prix	October 14	Suzuka	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari	Report

Drivers

Pos Driver AUS MAL BRA SMR ESP AUT MON CAN EUR FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA USA JPN Points 1 M.Schumacher 1 1 2 Ret 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 Ret 1 1 4 2 1 123 2 Coulthard 2 3 1 2 5 1 5 Ret 3 4 Ret Ret 3 2 Ret 3 3 65 3 Barrichello 3 2 Ret 3 Ret 3 2 Ret 5 3 3 2 2 5 2 15 5 56 4 R.Schumacher Ret 5 Ret 1 Ret Ret Ret 1 4 2 Ret 1 4 7 3 Ret 6 49 5 Häkkinen Ret 6 Ret 4 9 Ret Ret 3 6 DNS 1 Ret 5 4 Ret 1 4 37 6 Montoya Ret Ret Ret Ret 2 Ret Ret Ret 2 Ret 4 Ret 8 Ret 1 Ret 2 31 7 Villeneuve Ret Ret 7 Ret 3 8 4 Ret 9 Ret 8 3 9 8 6 Ret 10 12 8 Heidfeld 4 Ret 3 7 6 9 Ret Ret Ret 6 6 Ret 6 Ret 11 6 9 12 9 Trulli Ret 8 5 5 4 DSQ Ret 11 Ret 5 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 4 8 12 10 Räikkönen 6 Ret Ret Ret 8 4 10 4 10 7 5 Ret 7 Ret 7 Ret Ret 9 11 Fisichella 13 Ret 6 Ret 14 Ret Ret Ret 11 11 13 4 Ret 3 10 8 Ret 8 12 Irvine 10 Ret Ret Ret Ret 7 3 Ret 7 Ret 9 Ret Ret Ret Ret 5 Ret 6 13 Frentzen 5 4 11 6 Ret Ret Ret Ret 8 7 Ret 9 Ret 10 12 6 14 Panis 7 Ret 4 8 7 5 Ret Ret Ret 9 Ret 7 Ret 11 9 11 13 5 15 Alesi 9 9 7 9 10 10 6 5 15 12 11 6 10 6 8 7 Ret 5 16 de la Rosa Ret Ret Ret 6 8 14 12 Ret 11 Ret 5 12 Ret 3 17 Button 14 11 10 12 15 Ret 7 Ret 13 16 15 5 Ret Ret Ret 9 7 2 18 Verstappen 11 7 Ret Ret 12 6 8 10 Ret 13 10 9 12 10 Ret Ret 14 1 19 Zonta 7 Ret 0 20 Burti 8 10 Ret 11 11 11 Ret 8 12 10 Ret Ret Ret Ret 0 21 Bernoldi Ret Ret Ret 10 Ret Ret 9 Ret Ret Ret 14 8 Ret 12 Ret 13 15 0 22 Marques Ret 14 9 Ret 16 Ret Ret 9 Ret 15 DNQ Ret Ret 13 0 23 Alonso 12 13 Ret Ret 13 Ret Ret Ret 14 17 16 10 Ret Ret 13 Ret 11 0 24 Enge 12 14 Ret 0 25 Mazzacane Ret 12 Ret Ret 0 26 Yoong Ret Ret 16 0 Pos Driver AUS MAL BRA SMR ESP AUT MON CAN EUR FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA USA JPN Points

Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Finished, in points Blue Finished, no points Purple Did not finish (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Did not participate Blank Injured (INJ) Blank Excluded (EX)

Constructors

Pos	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Tyre	Points	Wins	Podiums	Poles
1	Ferrari	F2001	Ferrari 050 V10	B	179	9	24	11
2	McLaren-Mercedes	MP4-16	Mercedes Benz FO110K V10	B	102	4	13	2
3	Williams-BMW	FW23	BMW P80 V10	M	80	4	9	4
4	Sauber-Petronas	C20	Petronas 01A V10	B	21		1
5	Jordan-Honda	EJ11	Honda RA001E V10	B	19
6	BAR-Honda	003	Honda RA001E V10	B	17		2
7	Benetton-Renault	B201	Renault RS21 V10	M	10		1
8	Jaguar-Cosworth	R2	Ford Cosworth CR-3 V10	M	9		1
9	Prost-Acer	AP04	Acer V10	M	4
10	Arrows-Asiatech	A22	Asiatech 001 V10	B	1
11	Minardi-European	PS01 PS01B	European V10	M

Qualifying results

Car No Driver AUS MAL BRA SAN ESP AUT MON CAN EUR FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA USA JPN 1 Michael Schumacher 1 1 1 4 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 4 1 3 3 1 1 2 Rubens Barrichello 2 2 6 6 4 4 4 5 4 8 6 6 3 5 2 5 4 3 Mika Häkkinen 3 4 3 2 2 8 3 8 6 4 2 3 6 7 7 4 5 4 David Coulthard 6 8 5 1 3 7 1 3 5 3 3 5 2 9 6 7 7 5 Ralf Schumacher 5 3 2 3 5 3 5 2 2 1 10 2 4 2 4 2 3 6 Juan Pablo Montoya 11 6 4 7 12 2 7 10 3 6 8 1 8 1 1 3 2 7 Giancarlo Fisichella 17 16 18 19 19 19 10 18 15 16 19 17 15 8 14 12 6 8 Jenson Button 16 17 20 21 21 21 17 20 20 17 18 18 17 15 11 10 9 9 Olivier Panis 9 10 11 8 11 10 12 6 13 11 11 13 11 11 17 13 17 10 Jacques Villeneuve 8 7 12 11 7 12 9 9 11 10 12 12 10 6 15 18 14 11/22 Heinz-Harald Frentzen 4 9 8 9 8 11 13 INJ 8 7 5 16 4 12 15 15 11 Ricardo Zonta 12 15 11/12 Jarno Trulli 7 5 7 5 6 5 8 4 7 5 4 10 5 16 5 8 8 12/22 Jean Alesi 14 13 15 14 15 20 11 16 14 19 14 14 12 13 16 9 11 14 Jos Verstappen 15 18 17 17 17 16 19 13 19 18 17 20 21 19 19 20 21 15 Enrique Bernoldi 18 22 16 16 16 15 20 17 18 20 20 19 20 21 18 19 20 16 Nick Heidfeld 10 11 9 12 10 6 16 11 10 9 9 7 7 14 8 6 10 17 Kimi Räikkönen 13 14 10 10 9 9 15 7 9 13 7 8 9 12 9 11 12 18 Eddie Irvine 12 12 13 13 13 13 6 15 12 12 15 11 14 17 13 14 13 19/23 Luciano Burti 21 15 14 15 14 17 21 19 17 15 16 16 19 18 INJ INJ INJ 19 Pedro De La Rosa 20 14 14 14 16 14 13 9 13 10 10 16 16 20 Tarso Marques 22 20 22 22 22 22 22 21 22 22 DNQ 22 22 22 20 Alex Yoong 22 22 22 21 Fernando Alonso 19 21 19 18 18 18 18 22 21 21 21 21 18 20 21 17 18 23 Gaston Mazzacane 20 19 21 20 23 Tomáš Enge 20 21 19 Car No Driver AUS MAL BRA SAN ESP AUT MON CAN EUR FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA USA JPN